> > First of all, do you think anyone would actually /admit/ to being married if it meant they had to pay /more/ taxes? People who get married do so in two senses -- a religious sense, from which the "meaning" of marriage is derived, and a legal sense, from which the state benefits are derived. That's stuff like not having to make out a will to your spouse and, yes, being able to file taxes differently. It's possible for two people to be married in a religious sense without being married in a legal sense -- this is that state in which gay marriages (true ones, anyway) exist if gay marriage is not recognized by the state. But that's a different issue and I don't want to talk about it here. If /not/ being married /saved/ people money, then I think a lot less people would be married, at least on paper.
>
> Who's to say that isn't already happening? Frankly, I think it is.
>
> I abstain from the rest of this thread except to say that the portion of my taxes that goes to the education of America's children is probably the one tax I don't resent paying at all.

I don't resent paying it, I really don't. I sincerely appreciate the public school system, the government's upkeep of the roads, having police and firemen, city parks, etc. I appreciate the availability of *lots* of stuff the goverment does for me and I don't use. But I'm in an extremely high tax bracket because I've worked my butt off to get here. Hell, I grew up on food stamps and the free lunch program at school. Because of the area I was raised in, I have a great education that I received in a public school. My dream job is to be a teacher, but I don't do it because know I can't support myself very well doing it -- and I would have nothing to fall back on *except* government aid. It just peeves me to have worked so incredibly hard and become relatively successful, *especially considering how low my starting point was,* and to pay more than a family pays. Like I said in a different post, I wouldn't even mind paying the *same* as a family. But more doesn't sit well with me.

Mou"don't forget, I still pay it... just don't necessarily like to"sie