Poppies and Taxes (that are too low)

This is our neighbor's dog--who came along for a hike down the canyon this morning. I found a few California poppies in bloom. The spring flowers are all starting to show up. Beautiful!

As if to substantiate my post yesterday about the cell phone becoming the new dog, I watched a NERD TV show yesterday (on CSPAN's Book TV) that had a guy who stated the same thing in a recent book. Essentially, we used to be connected with biology but now it is technology. Nice to have some confirmation.

And Joni and I struggled through our taxes this afternoon. I know that a person probably shouldn't write about taxes. A person, especially, shouldn't write that they aren't paying enough in taxes. But, alas, that is the circumstance for Joni and me.

On $63,000 of income last year, we paid $1,500 to the Federal Government and $500 to the State of California. We were helped out by a tax credit for our new woodstove. We also write off all my travel expenses for my job (a per diem rate for food for the Napa Valley and also my lodging). Turns out that our household paid only 3.17 percent total, for both State and Federal taxes.

Moral quagmire: should I redo the taxes to pay more?

Yes, I would if our taxes actually provided universal health care for all. And I would if so danged much money didn't go to the military. We actually could have made our tax return such that we wouldn't pay any taxes (I didn't claim my mileage). Technically, I could do that. I didn't. It's called sharing.

Commments? Discussion? Derision? Hoots and Hollers of disgust?