Reasonable taxation a necessity in U.S.

Dear Editor: After America declared independence in 1776, it was a rough road for American patriots.

The Continental Congress and then Confederation were poor as a church mouse for years. The British continuously waged wars, and New York was a bastion of loyalists working against the new democracy.

America had to seek loans across Europe, until we passed customs duty on all imports, as the only source of revenue for America under the progressive ideas of taxation instituted by Alexander Hamilton as the secretary of Treasury under the republic created with adoption of the Constitution. American democracy would have been a flash in the pant without tax money.

Things have not changed much. The populace complains about taxation while wanting national security, Social Security, education, roads, railways, airlines, health care, and support for veterans, among other benefits, all without paying.

There is no free lunch for the people or the government. Reasonable taxation is an absolute necessity for all democracies. In India, very few people pay tax, and the infrastructure is 50 years behind China’s. China has infrastructure, but no democracy. Congo is the richest in natural resources, but with no government to tax or extract those resources, and has no democracy.

If you are an American patriot like myself, voting in every election, enjoying the best of democracy, you should be willing to pay all taxes necessary to assure a happy, productive society. You are welcome to pay no tax and move to China, India, Russia or even Congo.

Thomas Koshy, Kingston