[speaker002:] not very good it's not been a good day
[speaker001:] I went I turned mine in about twelve hours early at noon
[speaker002:] I don't know I finished mine up about eleven and left it here with Carolyn so I hope she's turned it in
[speaker001:] are you eating
[speaker002:] I just go ahead I'll stop eating I just barely got home from the university I just barely got home from the university
[speaker001:] no it's okay say what  tell you what we can do is uh I can punch the uh one then we after five minutes when the uh uh voice comes on we can talk all night if we want
[speaker002:] okay go ahead fire away
[speaker001:] uh I love the irony of uh talking about this subject on April the fifteenth but um I'm afraid I'm I'm I'm probably in the minority I I actually don't think that we uh pay too much in this country um um particularly uh in this part of the country where um I guess
[speaker002:] I agree with you
[speaker001:] I do have a uh a bone to pick with um uh the way taxes are distributed um I just finished fuming at the fact that we pay an eight and a half percent sales tax and no income tax when the income tax could have been deducted from a federal form and the sales tax can't I think that's regressive and uh um it's kind of dumb
[speaker002:] I hate the eight and a half percent sales tax but then on the other hand I don't mind that it's only on you know things that aren't like groceries and that it's not on them
[speaker001:] well I mean nobody taxes groceries do they where
[speaker002:] oh yeah they do in Arizona
[speaker001:] is that right
[speaker002:] um-hum we have a pretty low income tax I mean pretty low tax rate here oh I think that the sales tax they just got to do something about it
[speaker001:] right it's
[speaker002:] but that's the politicalness of trying to not create any new taxes
[speaker001:] right but I guess when I hear when when I see the comparison between the United States and uh any other western country uh their their rates are like uh forty one forty two and ours are like thirty six thirty seven you know if you compute it as a percentage of total income all taxes lumped together we actually do pretty well there's there's there's no other country that's that is taxed as low as we are
[speaker002:] well and I still think having lived in Europe for awhile you know the difference in living conditions are certainly well worth uh what we pay for it
[speaker001:] yeah uh-huh I'm I'm not sure I understand what you mean
[speaker002:] well I mean I think I was in Germany you know for several years
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] and I'd a lot rather pay taxes here and have what we have than have to live there
[speaker001:] oh you mean lowest end of living in spite of lower higher uh yeah I suppose that's true yeah um probably more less so now than it was ten years ago or whenever but
[speaker002:] higher taxes yeah still is that way to some extent
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] I think the other problem is you know it's it's easy to complain about taxes because they're something you theoretically can do something about
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] but I look for example and you you're not in the quite in the same situation but like school taxes for me biggest bargain in the world I wish I didn't have to pay any more for for to my physicians in a year than I had to pay for all of my school taxes
[speaker001:] right right yeah yeah since uh I send my kids to parochial school that's uh
[speaker002:] yeah that that's probably a little tougher on you
[speaker001:] it's not it's not quite the bargain that a guy would think but I mean I pay them gladly that's a decision I think it's a dumb decision on our part because countries like Canada and England and Germany do perfectly well with a uh two tract system in which religious schools coexist with secular schools for the with the same tax money but uh I mean that's uh that's the way the Americans want to interpret it I guess that's all right but yeah I and if I were uh when I was single and again when I'm retired I will not mind paying uh what it takes to keep the schools good that's always been a high priority you know
[speaker002:] no I think that's just you though
[speaker001:] I do think yeah that's true I think in places I think in places like California people are beginning to find that in in areas that are fairly well off if you add the um uh people of various sexual persuasions and those who never intend to marry and those who are retired and those who are um just looking for fun they people with families turn out to be such a small minority that they can't get the tax bill passed no matter what happens
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] and uh there are big sections of the country where people with children of school age are such a small minority that they can't get anything done that seems um um like a cultural lapse I mean people were always used to be willing to ante up for the schools they
[speaker002:] of course I think with the graying of America we're gonna see that problem in lots of places
[speaker001:] right yeah people would rather um increase the fire department and cut down the schools because it means more to them but I think it's sad
[speaker002:] or build roads
[speaker001:] selfish and shortsighted yeah well uh