Tax Day thought from my late-Grandfather

[rpannier]

My great grandfather and his brothers started a company a Pittsburgh, PA, that my grandfather and his brothers built up into a million-dollar+ corporation by the late 1940's.

His tax rate was in the upper 10% of Americans and my dad said, "Your Grandfather never grumbled about paying taxes."
He made a large amount of money and (according to my father) paid his taxes and donated liberally to many different causes.
He voted for every school bond issue that came up -- yet my father and aunt went to Catholic School.

He never looked down on people who did manual labor for a living -- My great-great grandfather had come from Europe and made furniture for a living when he came.

When my dad was in high school, he asked my grandfather why he didn't complain about taxes, my grandfather said, "Will (my dad's name), it's an investment in your future and god-willing, in my grand children's future."

It's sad that someone who paid as much as he did in taxes saw it as an investment, yet people who make more money (and pay a smaller share) than he did and people who have reaped the benefits of our system see it as an unfair burden

[RKP5637]

1. +1,000 +++ n/t

[Dappleganger]

2. He was very wise.

If more people looked at each other as investments in our world instead of yelling "I've got mine!" all the time, the US would be a much better place to live.

[Booster]

3. You had a very wise and nice Granddad.

[silverlib]

4. Trips with my dad...

He never did it in a preachy way, but he often remarked about things we encountered - a nice new school, funded by
our taxes or a beautiful new highway, funded by our tax dollars. By doing so, he taught me young that paying taxes made us the proud owners and participants in something larger than ourselves.