Posted on February 18, 2002 - by deCadmus

No taxation without…

I find myself paying taxes to a state in which I do not live, apparently because I also did not live there last year. My not living there last year resulted in a refund of taxes that had been already taken from my paycheck. The refund of those taxes came in the form of a check from that state that I do not live in… and though it was my money to begin with, the fact that the state issued the check is apparently an iron-clad gotcha in terms of taxation. Thus, I owe the state that I do not live in a percentage of the money they refunded me… only because they refunded the money.

What, you ask, has this to do with coffee?

Why, the Boston Tea Party, of course. A circular system of taxation imposed by Britain — a place in which the American colonists did not live — fomented aggravation enough to cause those colonists to dump 342 chests of British tea into Boston harbor. Enough tea, I am told, to brew 24 million cups. In the wake of the Boston Tea Party, these newly sprung patriots swore off the brew, turning instead… to coffee.

Tomorrow I will return to that state in which I do not live. And while I’m there, I’m gonna flush a tea bag.