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To oppose taxes is to reveal your ignorance. If you accept the fact that we need government, we must have taxes. If your objection is to the amount of taxes, you need to direct your attention to government spending, not taxes. Taxes go down when spending is reduced. Railing against taxes only distracts from the real problem. If you don’t like paying taxes, you should pay attention to what your government is doing and how efficiently it does it. Here's what I said in an email to Leon Drolet of the Michigan Taxpayers Alliance:

Leon,

Attacking taxes and the politicians that support them may get you attention, but it is a cheap shot. You know as well as anyone that government costs money, more than can be raised through bake sales. Taxes are necessary. No politician wants to raise taxes, and it takes a lot of courage to do so when it makes them targets for abuse from people like you. Wouldn't it be more productive to direct your attention to ways to cut spending? Or ways to spread the tax burden more fairly, so that everyone pays their share? There are certainly instances of waste in state government, but there are also important things the state should be doing that it can't because it doesn't have enough money - things like fixing roads and bridges and protecting the environment. Taxes are not the issue. The issue is taxing fairly and efficiently, and then spending the money wisely. It might take a little more thought, but it is the right thing to do.

The only legitimate tax issues are fairness and administrative efficiency.  My ideal tax is an income tax where all income - wages, profits, rent, interest - is taxed, all at the same rate. The only deduction is an allowance for each family member that protects income below the poverty level. We don't want to tax people into poverty.

Michigan's taxes are neither simple nor fair. The following chart provides a summary of our tax system as it was in 2005. It is based on a chart on page 76 of a Citizens Research Council publication called Outline of the Michigan Tax System.

Collections from Major Michigan Taxes, 2005 (in Millions)
Income	Personal Income	$6,039
Business Privilege	Single Business	$1,937
	Unemployment Compensation	1,513
	Oil & Gas Severance	55
	Insurance Company Retaliatory	241
	Horse Race Wagering	11
	Corporate Organization	20
	Casino Gaming	146
	Airport Parking Excise	18
	Quality Assurance Assessment Fees	510
	Subtotal	$4,450
Sales-Related	Sales	$6,610
	Use	1,396
	Tobacco Products	1,186
	Beer and Wine	52
	Liquor Excise	112
	Liquor Markup	186
	Subtotal	$9,541
Property	Utility Property	$100
	Estate	107
	State Real Estate Transfer	120
	State Education	1,794
	Subtotal	$2,320
Transportation	Gasoline	$930
	Diesel Fuel	146
	Motor Vehicle Registration	867
	Other	24
	Subtotal	$1,966
	Total State Taxes	$24,317

Total Michigan personal income for 2005 was $331.304 billion (source: 2006 Economic Report of the Governor, page 41). According to an IRS report of individual income and tax data, the adjusted gross income (AGI) for all Michigan taxpayers in 2005 was $226.439 billion. At $24.317 billion, total state taxes were 7.3% of total personal income and 10.7% of total AGI.

What this shows is that we could replace all state taxes with one tax: a 10.7% tax on AGI. Not that we should, but we could. It certainly would simplify things.

Total AGI is less than total personal income because not all personal income is subject to the federal income tax. For me and my wife, the difference is pretty clear. Our income for 2006 was from Social Security, pensions and interest (see table below). The "gross distribution" is the amount before federal taxes and insurance premiums are deducted. The "taxable amount" is the portion that was subject to federal taxes. Only a portion of our pensions are taxable because the rest comes from after-tax contributions we made while we were working. The taxable portion of my Social Security benefit was calculated at tax time (see 1040 Instructions, page 25). 

Now let's look at the different types of state taxes:

Income Tax
Sales and Use Tax
Business Taxes