You may not be interested in taxes, but taxes are interested in you. Just as television fare exists in order to serve as a platform for advertising, likewise many U.S citizens exist in order serve as platforms for federal, state, municipal, and school district tax exercises.

At one level, the average citizen is clearly meant to remain oblivious as to the workings of the tax leviathan. The Treasury Department recently proposed a 603-page rule regarding business tax liability. One of the more exciting pages reads in part: “Proposed 1.56A-22(d)(1) generally would provide that (i) the ceding company in a ‘covered reinsurance agreement’, as defined in proposed 1.56A22(b)(4) … ” Even an Inquiring Taxpayer is not inquiring enough to wade through 603 pages of that.

At the local level, taxpayers have a fighting chance of understanding their role in the game, but only a fighting chance. For most property owners, taxes inexorably rise. For a favored few, tax breaks are bestowed. Somehow, the rising taxes for the many are always explained as both fair and minimal. And the tax breaks for the favored few are always explained as “win-wins” for the community.

Have you ever heard a city manager or school district board president say something like, “Property owners are going to take a big hit this year?” Or, “We could have squeezed a little fat from last year’s budget?” Or, “We definitely need to explore new funding mechanisms?” Have you ever heard an Industrial Development Agency........

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