Move! If you don’t want to pay federal and state income taxes just move to another country! Its the advantage of living in a free democracy, if you don’t think you are getting your money’s worth from your taxes just move to another country where you think it will be better. Where exactly will you move? In study after study Scandinavians seem to have the highest standard of living but their taxes are way higher than ours so don’t move there. The six countries with the lowest tax rates are Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE and Zambia, Qatar, and Namibia. You can legally pay next to nothing in taxes if you move to one of those countries. If high taxes here make you so mad, why haven’t you moved to one of those countries???
Thats the great thing about America, if you don’t like the way things are run then you have two choices:
- You can make a difference by voting, running for office, or working with any number of organizations to make positive changes in the country.
- You can move to another country!
If you are unwilling to do number 1 and work for positive change then you have to take what you get and have no right to complain. I have travelled to several dozen countries over the last four decades and lived in Europe for two years and yet I chose to come back here to the USA and live. Is America perfect? Of course not! I could go on for hours about our horrible and serious problems. In my book the biggest problem America faces is the power shift that has taken power from the citizens and given it to the corporations. Each country has its good points and its bad points, you cant have it all. On my overall scorecard though, USA is in the top 20% and I happily pay my taxes as part of the privilege of living here.
So anyway on April 15, tax day, when people around the lunch table start complaining about taxes remind them that they have a choice.
What does this have to do with fitness? We all have choices. Every hour of every day you make important and life changing decisions. The most important decision is the next one you make. Pizza at lunch hour or a jog and a healthy homemade sandwich? You have control of far more than you think you do. Just as easily as you can decide if you are being healthy or not at lunch, you can decide where you want to live. You DO have control. You are NOT a victim. Make informed choices in life and be prepared to live with the consequences of your decisions. Life is about choices, hard choices. So many people take the victim approach and throw their hands up – “I CANT lose weight, I have the obesity disease”. Or, in the case of someone on Facebook, “I CANT move out of the USA, I have family and friends here”. NO! In both cases you have made choices. You CAN lose weight, you CAN move to another country but its really hard and you have chosen not to – live with those choices!
So many people these days seem to feel entitled to everything. They think they should be able to look like Jeff Seid in a year if they “workout hard”. People who “cant” lose weight expect their insurance company to pay the $25,000 for a gastric bypass operation. Teens think their parents should pay for their iPhone while they are in high school. People want the benefits of citizenship but dont want the responsibilities. Somebody has to pay for the countries infrastructure -emergency rooms, roads, drinking water, the power grid, and sewer treatment plants. Want an enlightening discussion? Talk a veteran who has served in Iraq or Afghanistan about sacrifice and responsibilities of citizenship. Paying taxes is a heck of a lot easier than the incredible sacrifice these folks have made. If you want to reap the rewards, be prepared to pay the price. Things worth having require hard work and sacrifice. April 15th is sacrifice day.
Thats the connection.