I just came across an interesting news story that I’ve been previously unaware of. Apparently, back in the late 1800’s during the Spanish American War, our Government enacted a luxury tax of 3% on all long distance calls placed in the United States. Billions if not Trillions of dollars in taxes have been collected on that premise over the last century. Since the telephone can hardly be considered a “luxury” nowadays, folks have taken the I.R.S. to “task” over this in the courts and have won over and over on appeal. It appears that “Uncle Sam” has finally conceded defeat and the tax will be eliminated and Billions of dollars refunded. Does this mean we can expect another check in the mail?

I’ve yet to see anything the “Government” can do that the private sector can’t do twice as efficiently for 1/2 the cost. This in my mind, is the “EVIL” of Government. We in essence give politicians an “Open” checkbook with very little accountability. Our politicians create a huge bureaucracy around whatever they do and our tax dollars get squandered away.

We all watch “Special Reports” on 60 minutes when a Charity gets investigated and we are appalled to find out that only 25 cents of every dollar donated actually goes to the “cause”. I often wonder how much of our tax dollars go towards doing something productive.

I’m not going to be that “hard core” Republican screaming for tax cuts nor am I going to be the “Left Wing” Liberal trying to create a Government Program for everything under the sun. All I’m saying is that I think Uncle Sam needs some liposuction to get rid of all his “pork” and we need to get back to basics and eliminate the deficit so we don’t mortgage our children’s future.