Taxes Fund Our ‘Civilized Society’

• By Rep. Charlie Rangel
• Special to Roll Call
• Sept. 24, 2007, 12:23 p.m.

Few domestic issues have the potential to unite or divide our nation like tax policy. This is regrettable because taxes are the price we pay for civilized society and for our national security. We should not send the bill to our children. Our volunteer tax system depends on the public believing that every individual pays his or her fair share or we will not continue to have the high level of voluntary compliance that we rely on to collect our taxes. Unfortunately, recent changes to our tax laws and the failure to move forward on comprehensive reform have resulted in a tax code that is complicated, outdated and skewed in its benefits to the wealthy.