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Feeling Taxed



If we can see the long-term payoff of an action it’s easier to make the tough choices in the moment, but sometimes it’s hard to make the connection between a sacrifice today and a benefit tomorrow. Earlier this year, we had moved out of our house to move into a new home we just had built. Even though our old home sat empty, I was still paying the mortgage on a structure no one was using. It was benefiting no one and those payments felt like a tax. Like money just going out the window. It was especially frustrating to pay the property taxes on the empty home no one was using. Talk about adding insult to injury!

Now speaking of taxes, I realize they provide for necessary things, but as I sat here this morning paying the second round of property taxes on the year, I couldn’t help but feel some futility in the payments I was making. On the tax invoice, they will itemize the breakdown of where that money is going once you write the check, as if seeing how my hard-earned cash will be spent helps justify the rates I am charged, “Oh cool, magpie rehabilitation, yes I guess that is important!”

Okay, so it isn’t that detailed, but it does show about half the taxes are going to the school district. I believe education is important, but my kids are homeschooled so that wasn’t too fulfilling. The next line item was “fire.” I am guessing this is for the fire department and we aren’t paying some service to randomly start fires. (If the latter is the case though, I’d like to be a part of that team.) Perhaps this is going to fire research? I can only assume “wheel-reinventing” is on here somewhere as well. Anyway, it makes me feel better to think that money is going to the local fire department so I’m sticking with that. After all, my family has had to utilize the ambulance a couple of times over the years so that is important … oh wait, we were charged separately for that …

Okay, so the next line item is Police. I can get on board with that. Police are important. But I don’t really call the police. At least not 911. Because of some work and personal relationships, my family is very close to a number of officers, detectives and command staff, not to mention, about half the SWAT team. So, if we have an issue, we typically call a specific officer, not wanting to tie up the emergency line. Plus, I don’t want to overreact if it’s not an actual “emergency.”

“Hey, Jon, some vehicle I’ve never seen before just drove into the neighborhood, pulled into my driveway to turn around and then left. Very suspicious. He must be casing the joint.”

“Understood, would you like me to shoot him?”

“Either that or an airstrike, obviously this kind of egregious behavior must be stopped immediately.”

“You’re right, just mark the vehicle with an infrared tag and I will call in a gunship for an airstrike.”

This is already getting long and I might be getting off track a bit, but here is my point: if we don’t link the short-term discomfort with a future benefit, it’s very hard to continue making the sacrifice. It ends up just feeling like a tax. And no one I know voluntarily pays taxes just for the sheer glee found in sending off money into the great unknown. If the connection isn’t made, we are likely to quit making the payment.


Find the future benefits in the “payments” you are making today. They could be sacrifices in a relationship, in education, diet, exercise, career, etc. Identifying those long-term payoffs will make it easier to continue “writing the checks.” Meanwhile, I am still struggling with these property taxes. Maybe I will start making some 911 calls …

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