A Billion Taxes

Ann-Marie Murrell February 21, 2012

138 1 minute read

Sorry to say this friends and family (especially my mom), but usually when I get a forwarded e-mail with a dozen people attached to it I delete it. I refuse to send a forward to “10 of my nearest and dearest” just to prove that I love Jesus.

But then other times I’ll get something that makes me say ‘hmmm, interesting!’ This is one of those. I’m not sure where it originated, but it’s got a great twist on what a ‘billion’ really is. (I added a few of my own twists, just for effect.)

“The next time you hear a politician use the word ‘billion’ in a casual manner, think about whether you want the politicians spending your tax money.

A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into perspective.

A billion seconds ago it was 1959.
A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.
A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate our government is spending it.

After Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu (D) asked Congress for $250 billion to help rebuild New Orleans. If you break down all those billions,

All 484,674 residents of New Orleans (every man, woman and child) would get $516,528.
If you have one of the 188,251 homes in New Orleans, your house would get $1,329,787.
If you were a family of four, your family would get $2,006,012.

And where did our government get all those billions and trillions of dollars? Yep, they got their money from you and me via taxes.

Building Permit Tax 
CDL License Tax 
Cigarette Tax 
Corporate Income Tax 
Dog License Tax 
Federal Income Tax
(Fed) Federal Unemployment Tax
(FU TA) Fishing License Tax 
Food License Tax 
Fuel Permit Tax 
Gasoline Tax 
Hunting License Tax 
Inheritance Tax 
Inventory Tax 
IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax) 
IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax) 
Liquor Tax 
Luxury Tax 
Marriage License Tax 
Medicare Tax 
Property Tax 
Real Estate Tax 
Service charge Taxes 
Social Security Tax 
Road Usage Tax (Truckers) 
Sales Taxes 
Recreational Vehicle Tax 
School Tax  
State Income Tax  
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA) 
Telephone Federal Excise Tax 
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax 
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Tax 
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax 
Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax  
Telephone State and Local Tax 
Telephone Usage Charge Tax 
Utility Tax 
Vehicle License Registration Tax 
Vehicle Sales Tax 
Watercraft Registration Tax 
Well Permit Tax 
Workers Compensation Tax

(And to think, we left British Rule to avoid so many taxes!)

Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago and our nation was the most prosperous in the world.   We had absolutely no national debt; we had the largest middle class in the world and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.   What happened?”