Lots of rich Americans are becoming British citizens to avoid paying a little more in taxes. It’s easy to denounce them for the traitors they are – but are you any better? Maybe you aren’t shredding your passport or parking your money in the Caymans, but maybe that’s because you don’t have that much. Maybe instead, you bitch about taxes, government and paying for your neighbor’s health care.  You may not know it, but you are just as bad as the people leaving the country – that’s just the end of the journey for you who expects low taxes and safe bridges. To you and the wormy expats, America is just a piggy bank refilled by the tooth fairy and your funny Uncle Sam.

You forget that there is always a charge for something great: in our great country, the charge is your tax bill.  Any other understanding of America and taxes is fantasy or delusion.  America is America because each generation chips in and rebuilds it for the next. 

And, by the way, America deserves some credit for your achievements. Regulated markets, courts, laws, research, cops, schools, mails and roads are just a few of the things government does that make it possible to get rich here.  Do you really think that if you had been born in a poor country under a dictator’s rule that you would have the same outcome? But, you continue to scream and whine and thrash on the floor about taxes. You can’t live in a house you never repair.

Paying taxes is your ante for living and working in America. We can’t have America without taxes. We can’t continue to be America if the most prosperous play golf but stiff us on the greens fees. The next time you hear someone complain because their tax bill went up to pay for schools, or bridge repair or health care, tell them you love your country and you are proud to give back just a tiny bit when it has given so much to you. Pay your taxes. Save your country.