Taxes. . .As unavoidable as death

**Warning**
Another rant is about proceed from my brain
to my fingertips and onto the screen.
Reader beware.

"And he laid a tax of one fifth part of all they possessed, a fifth part of their gold and of their silver, and a fifth part of their ziff and of their copper, and of their brass and their iron; and a fifth part of their fatlings; and also a fifth part of all their grain."

Mosiah 3:11

I came across that passage in the Book of Mormon awhile ago and have been thinking about it for quite some time. Mosiah chapter 11 introduces us to King Noah and his wicked priests. They taught all sorts of falsities, distorted the word of God, and led the people to do all sorts of abominations. This wicked King and his cabinet priests lived off the backs of the hardworking citizens of the country kingdom. The taxes to support this wicked king and his cronies were burdensome to the people. The king built all sorts of social programs lavish buildings and hacked away at the constitution his father’s righteous teachings.

What’s had me thinking about this is my paycheck stubs. The quoted passage describes one fifth as a burdensome tax and describes the government that took that much in taxes as wicked. One fifth. Twenty cents on the dollar. One twentieth. That number has set me musing. When I do the math on my paycheck stub, I find that I’m being taxed at almost 40%. That number comes even after I deduct my 401(k) from the withholdings. 40%. 40 cents on the dollar. Two fifths. Four tenths. Almost half of my paycheck is being withheld for taxes. Now I know, I’ll get a refund in the spring (or at least I’d better), but James and I have no deductions to speak of (last year I qualified for a $12.00 deduction for interest paid to student loans, wooo whoo). We don’t have a mortgage, kids, or medical expenses, so all the big deductions are, well-unavailable. We’re going to be taxed out the nose, but lets say I do get a refund. Based on last year’s taxes, I will still be paying approximately 30% to local and federal governments. That number makes me sick and frankly, it makes me wish our government were at least as righteous as that of King Noah's.