Today I sent in my income taxes. As I do every time I file, and every time I vote, I said a bracha: Baruch…She-asani ben chorin. Praised are You, God Who has made me a free person. It's part of the daily Birchot Hashachar, the blessings that we say as we enter consciousness each morning.
When we vote, it's an obvious marker of freedom. Taxes are different. I think of the money I give to the government as the fees that fund my freedom. They pay the police and support the justice system, pay the soliders who protect our freedom, keep the roads safe and orderly, educate our children to be free citizens, and go some way to preserving the "general welfare" so that we remain a free society. Consenting to the taxes and then actively paying them are a way I participate in the nuts and bolts of freedom.
Leave a Reply