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Rangewriter

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Rangewriter

Tag Archives: community

Gallery

Random acts of kindness –squared

30 Sunday Nov 2014

Posted by rangewriter in Travel & Adventure

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

Ben'sBells.org, community, empowerment, giving, intentional kindness, random acts of kindness

This gallery contains 5 photos.

It’s happened twice within a month. Small acts of kindness have seized me in midstride. The first time I was …

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Gallery

So many pups to see; so many butts to sniff . . .

05 Sunday Oct 2014

Posted by rangewriter in Photography

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Boise, community, costumes, dog adoption, dogs, fund raising, Idaho Humane Society, shelter dogs

This gallery contains 18 photos.

Where would the American economy be without fundraisers? Everywhere we turn these days, someone is inviting, cajoling, or shaming us …

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Gallery

Beer, Bikes and Bemusement in 2014

16 Saturday Aug 2014

Posted by rangewriter in Photography

≈ 20 Comments

Tags

Beer, Boise Bike Project, community, family fun, parade, SWIMBA, Tour de Fat, Treasure Valley Cycling Alliance.

This gallery contains 70 photos.

For those who don’t know, Tour de Fat is the community event for 10 lucky cities across America. Between May …

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Gallery

Is an “Active Citizen the same as a “Good Citizen?”

30 Wednesday Oct 2013

Posted by rangewriter in Everything else

≈ 19 Comments

Tags

Activism, citizenship, community, philosophy, sociology

This gallery contains 1 photo.

Today is garbage monster day. Everyone in my neighborhood puts their garbage cans out in the alley for the garbage …

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The American tax system is busted

14 Monday Oct 2013

Posted by rangewriter in Everything else

≈ 20 Comments

Tags

Budget, community, Government, IRS, Taxation, taxes, United States

This may be the only thing all Americans agree on. In addition to the yearly tax frenzy in April, we pay taxes throughout the year on myriad items. Often these incremental taxes are off our radar, buried in monthly bills and daily expenses:

  • On retail & grocery sales
  • At the fuel pump & auto licensing bureausIMG_1226
  • Tacked into telephone & cable bills
  • Added to utility bills
  • Added in various formulas to property tax bills
  • Estate taxes

We pay taxes in so many ways that it takes a mathematical genius or an economist to really know what percentage of our personal budget is siphoned off for the greater good.

I am curious how much of our personal budgets should be set aside to keep the country humming. If we could scrap the entire mess we’ve got, if we could envision a new way to fund our community, both local and larger, how much of our wallet would we happily part with? I think this concept is hard for Americans to even fathom. When I ask the question, I get all sorts of push back about formulas and flat taxes vs. incremental taxes. I am posing a purely theoretical question.

So far I’ve received answers that plumb both extremes:

One individual is happy to pay 40% of her income. But she does not live in America. She lives in a country in which her contribution buys her “great public infrastructure, a health system covering her and her family with good (not luxurious, but reliable!) health care, good schools, free higher education, and PEACE OF MIND!”

At the other end of the spectrum, one person suggested that 15% should suffice.

Of course, what we are willing to pay is also predicated on what we expect to receive for what we pay. And that is a whole other can of worms. For now I am interested in one simple question:

All things being equal, how much of your income would you feel was a fair contribution to the country we are all so proud of when we aren’t gnashing our teeth and pointing fingers at each other?

There may be a follow up question, if I have the courage to pursue this polarized topic.

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