I still remember the first time I got a paycheck from working at a local fun park. I had worked a lot during those two weeks and was expecting a $300 paycheck. I had already worked up a plan in my head of what I was going to do with the money. And then I showed up to work to pick it up and was totally surprised to see that it was only about $245. I thought they had forgotten to pay me for a day or two so I went to the office manager and explained the situation to her and she let me know that it was a smaller check than I was expecting because I had to pay taxes.

Don’t get me wrong, I knew when people made money that they had to pay taxes. But I didn’t realize exactly how much I would be paying to the government. My pay stub showed me that if there’s one thing the government likes to do it’s tax people. After all, there are federal taxes, state taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, excise taxes, social security taxes, Medicare taxes, capital gains taxes, corporate taxes, and local taxes. I don’t know about you, but I hate paying any taxes at all… let alone taxes on so many different things.

And as a US citizen, you’ll be paying these taxes throughout your entire life.

Would you dare to say you don’t hate taxes?

Credits: Chris Stallman