“The taxes are indeed very heavy, and if those laid by the government were the only ones we had to pay, we might more easily discharge them; but we have many others, and much more grievous to some of us. We are taxed twice as much by our idleness, three times as much by our pride and four times as much by our folly; and from these taxes the commissioners cannot ease or deliver us by allowing an abatement.” –Franklin.

WHO is there among us who has not complained of high taxes and yet how many of us can truthfully say that idleness, pride and folly are not costing us more than all of the other taxes that we pay–federal, state and local.

Taxes are a great burden but “Taxes are the sinews of the state.”

What we tax ourselves through lost time and opportunity, what we tax ourselves through false pride and in an attempt to outdo all of our neighbors and what we tax ourselves for our follies– these are not “the sinews of the state” and are not things which serve to build character and position.

It is altogether likely that most of us waste some time every day and decrease our earnings just that much. Even that person who is paid by the month cannot increase his earnings until he increases his earning power. Earning power comes only through more intensive work and the worker’s application to the business in hand. “Life is a short day; but it is a working day. Activity may lead to evil but inactivity cannot lead to good.”

The taxes which our pride assesses against us are the most burdensome of all. Our piano or phonograph, our dining-room table, our best dresser cover, our shoes and everything we pos­sess must be better than similar things owned by our friends. They must not only be useful and good and beautiful but they must cost more, just as a matter of pride. Pride in the useless spend­ing of money is a poor pride to indulge and such pride taxes the American people untold millions every year.

Those other taxes that our follies assess against us are also as burdensome as they are unnecessary. The buying of entertainment, which we are too sated to enjoy, is the purest folly. The pur­chase of things for the mere joy of spending money is the commonest and the worst folly.

What house does not contain stored away in the closet or attic things which were bought in a delirious hour of spending and for which real use will probably never be found.

It is not possible for us to prevent the state from assessing taxes against us because the state must have money to maintain itself and protect and serve its people. There is nothing, however, to prevent our wiping out a lot of the taxes we have been paying and prominent among them are the taxes of idleness, the taxes of pride and the taxes of folly.

This should not be laid aside with the thought that it does not concern you personally. There is probably no one in this community who did not pay unnecessary taxes last year through idleness, pride or folly.

The unnecessary taxes which the people of this Country assessed against themselves last year probably amounted to several billions of dollars. It is difficult to foresee what could be accomplished through the expenditure of this sum for better things and more worthy purposes.

“It is not how much we have (or how much we spend) but how much we enjoy that makes happiness.”

“Happiness consists in the attainment of our desires and in our having only right desires.” –Augustine.