On Tue, 24 Aug 2010, Robert wrote: > And at what point do exorbitant taxes cause us to become a slave to the > government?! Never in a democracy, I guess. But the highest taxes in the world are in Denmark and they also have the happiest people in the world. So I guess high taxes are good. One reason is that everyone does fairly well, so people don't feel pressured and they choose to do for a living what they like to do -- they don't struggle for bigger earnings by taking a job they hate. http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=4086092&page=1 Costa Rica is another happy country. Apparently this has something to do with their getting rid of their military-industrial complex and spending their money on education: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/07/opinion/07kristof.html In the USA we have low taxes and a big military budget. Maybe the resulting misery is the real underlying cause of Tea Party maniacs' incessant, angry complaining. If we'd just slash the military budget and raise their income taxes to about 55%, they'd be happy. It's worth a try. Mike