Let me tell you how it will be;
There's one for you, ninteen for me.
'Cause I'm the taxman
If you drive a car, I'll tax the street.
If you try to sit, I'll tax your seat.
If you get too cold, I'll tax the heat.
If you take a walk, I'll tax your feet.
'Cause I'm the taxman
And you're working for no one but me.
How many of you remember this song by the Beatles? The late George Harrison wrote it. Taxes in England were so bad for wealthy people that many celebrities moved to the states to avoid them. But why am I writing about taxes now? Because of these pictures I took today. We were out running errands and passed a local tax preparing service. Their symbol is The Statue Of Liberty, and to my horror, this is what I saw. They had a man standing out on the edge of the highway dressed up as Lady Liberty, dancing around, waving, and trying to entice people into their business. Nothing wrong with that, except for the weather. It was absolutly freezing, under 25 degrees, with a cutting wind. The poor man had on a costume appearing to be made out of only a sheet over his jeans, as he danced around to keep warm. He had a scarf around his nose and mouth, and sunglasses on to try and cover most of his face. Behind him was the tax place with Lady Liberty on the roof. It was so cold that she had partly deflated, leaving her with a broken arm. In bible times, tax collectors were lumped together with sinners, pagans, and prostitues! They were trying to make a decent living, but were just hated, probably much more than today. I believe that many of them were extremly crooked back then. Luke 19 tells us about Zacchaeus, who was a wealthy chief tax collector. He wanted to see Jesus very badly. Being too short to see above the crowd, he climbed up a tree to get a good look. Jesus rewarded him by staying at his house. Zacchaeus then offered to give half his possesions to the poor, and pay back those he had cheated four times over. This is what just the presence of Jesus did to him.
"Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment, but also because of concience." Romans 13:5
2 comments:
I remember that song very well, in fact most Beatles songs I still remember. That poor man does look cold, I hope he was wearing thermals underneath that outfit.
Speaking of tax men as crooks I was reading a news story yesterday about how the feds are going to require all the tax preparers to go through certification. Many independents hang out their shingle just before tax season, they may or may not be experienced. It seems many folks are winding up with massive errors on their returns because of shoddy work.
Hi Ginny,
The trees in my post today just grow that way. I've researched them a little and all the photos I saw show the same long bent branches. I did a post a couple of months ago showing them in the fall and spring. It's at http://squirrelqueen2.blogspot.com/2009/11/trees-revisited.html
They are gorgeous trees.
Have a great weekend,
Judy
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