Paying taxes is like doing the dishes — it sucks. It doesn’t matter if you’re black or white, a professor or student or, even, a boomer or a zoomer; it’s a truth that we all hold to be self-evident. Trust me, I’m fully acquainted with the evils of both. I'm a dishwasher at a dining hall, and after hours of washing plates, a portion of that money earned is taken by taxes.
It’s no mystery why everyone hates doing the dishes. It’s a trivial, time consuming task that gets you wet, makes you acknowledge how much you eat and worst of all, it only solves a temporary problem — those plates are going to get dirty again.
Taxes, however, are not trivial, and you’re most likely dry while filing them. Taxes don’t solve temporary problems either. Instead, they fuel the American dream. It’s taxpayer dollars that fund the public transportation system that brings parents to work, pays for the schools that educate our future leaders and finances the soldiers who protect our freedom.
In reality, the hatred of paying taxes comes from a mistrust about how they’re spent. There’s agreement that there should be more money spent on things like education and veteran benefits but deciding what should be cut is not as straightforward. Here’s a start: cut corporate welfare — it’s hurting all of us.
Corporate welfare is government support or subsidy of private business, such as by tax incentives. Those subsidies tend to benefit the wealthiest companies in the nation like Amazon, Boeing, and Walmart. Often times, those payouts are justified by claiming those companies create jobs for everyday Americans.
Except it doesn’t always work out that way. For instance, after the state of Washington awarded Boeing an $8.7 billion corporate payout in 2013, they repaid the state by cutting nearly 12,000 workers. Or look at Amazon, the company owned by the richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos, has received $2 billion in government subsidies since the start of the century, while some of its workers rely on food stamps for meals.
Everyone knows Jeff Bezos is a brilliant entrepreneur, but few know he’s a welfare queen.
In 2012, corporate welfare cost taxpayers over $100 billion per year. That number’s only gone up, and with a spiraling national deficit, fiscal responsibility needs to return to Washington, D.C. The only way to fix that issue is to vote in politicians that are against the policy.
Often times, policies like the Green New Deal or Medicare for All are described as a “leftist fantasy” and a “socialist dream” respectively. When speaking about social welfare, Trump said, “people are taking advantage of the system,” but hasn’t directed that same ire at his own tax cuts for the wealthy.
The only way to end this horrible line of policy is to vote for politicians who want corporations to pay their fair share. Unlike washing dishes or doing taxes, voting puts power in your hands. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Democrat or Republican, sick or healthy, debt-ridden or financially free — ending corporate welfare must be on everyone’s agenda.
Adonis Fryer is a freshman studying communications at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. Do you agree? Tell Adonis by messaging him on Instagram @adondonf.
