as a verb, to tax has been in the language a long time, first appearing in the 13th century. its noun form is the same word as task – simply a different pronunciation (think of aks and ask). task is the original form (just like aks has the pedigree – something many find a little hard to bear). the meanings of task and tax eventually diverged and the words parted company. they still share a sense of “obligation”, of course, but the link is now pretty remote.
interestingly, in this year’s budget speech they did make a few joint appearances in the form of the “new operational taskforce within the australian taxation office”. a new figurative meaning appeared in the 1600s and both the verb and noun tax took on the sense of “burden, strain” (and the budget’s repeated “tax burden on australians” perhaps struck some as a bit of linguistic overkill).
as the word, tax is used and felt in the mundane living, it implies a burden. and burden is felt painful, both physically and mentally. so one always seeks ways and means to lower the burden, if not being able to totally eliminate it.
of course, as british linguist j. r. firth once famously put it, “you shall know a word by the company it keeps”. the meaning of tax does derive in part from its constant companions, and in both the budget speech and the reply these were overwhelmingly agreeable companions like cuts, relief, concessions, discounts, incentives, (lower) rate, tax-free, offset, deductions, breaks, subsidies and plan (“support jobs”).- from: the conversation/ the linguistic dirt on that dirty little word tax. —from internet.
……………………………………………………
the rich english migrants carved out the continents from the british empire to eliminate the “the taxation without the representation” by themselves becoming the tax collectors, and the tax lawyers are always able to help the rich to find ways to avoid paying taxes.
there is an old indian saying: “where there are the greedy, the cheaters will thrive there,” so there is the big enrollment in economics related subjects in schools, and parents wishing their children learning such subjects that are all connectected with commerce. in employment related way of life there is not a word written on the public service and how it works, that is, how the government works: the roads and all the public services, do not happen by themselves. somebody has to do it, and it costs money, which is collected from the public by the way of taxation. of course, in people’s perception the government means the bureaucracy that they perceive as only the hindrance to their activities that require permits and fees. and there, too, the ways and means are employed to bribe either for not paying the fees or lowering it.
one of the ways the founders of these new territories introduced was first to define who were the citizens of these new states, one of which in particular is the u.s.a. citizens who owned land along with the other properties they had inherited from the bible - women and slaves. thus laws were written to protect these owners in retaining their ownerships by excluding the landless, slaves and women. without the rights to have a say, these people were abused every which way. owning land meant working the land. and working on the land. this was the principal reason for owning slaves.
the matter becomes very simple when one begins to understand the difference between what is from what is expressed in words. that is, the difference between seeing and thinking seeing it - mistaking thought as reality. thus, a capitalist governance presented as a democratic way of governance. see it from the perspective of the non human life, not presented as shown from the telephoto lens of the professional wildlife experts, aided with the plethora of musical assemblage, photo lab editing, and commentaries. one may get a glimpse of the natural life of the creatures if one turns off the sound, and just watch the visual happenings in the wild.
there, one observes that all motions of life of every creature are interrelated. birth and death in nature, whether in the ultra urban living or in the remote jungle happen unplanned. even in the modern planned parenthood there is the difference between planning and conceiving. the unknown glitch happens even in the soda pop booth, and the customer kicking the box in frustration. place a tender gazelle being devoured alive, along with the cancerous microbes eating away the living human person.
in such non human, natural observation emerges a different, yet non-exceptionally precise governance of the interrelationships among things and beings in nature, without it becoming a blueprint for every creature's mundane living. this is in stark contrast among the civilized society. there, the higher up a person is in the chain of command, the more one is burdened with the empty, non essential rituals. just look at the dress code of the head of a state, a general, a pope, or just about anyone who heads an institution. listen to their speeches. it is all sheer mouthing the words of their subordinates hired to put words in their mouth.
visualize the state dinner. it is paid for by the taxpayer, who is kept out. except for the description of the event, it is anything but a dining. men dressed in the three piece suits and lapel pins, et al, and women in the latest replicas of mannequins; and the decor of the dining hall. contrast it with a herd of elephants, or wildebeests, flocks of birds, or even non human primates. none of these creatures eats differently whether eating alone or together. each one eats attentively, and stops abruptly with the slitest disturbance, like the clapping of hands and the flock of birds takes to wings.
now consider the taxation making it possible for the urban humans to change the way of life from naturally happening form to thought out forms, the formal living. first of all, whatever is not elementally existent in nature requires shaping the thought out form. and it requires more energy than a single human person has. a weaver bird builds its nest with its beak weaving the straws picked from the ground; and it does this while flying. now the much visited and praised monumental structures built by humans rise from the pen of man that shapes his thoughts on paper. but the draftsman has neither the skills nor strength to transfer the blueprint into a freestanding three dimensional structure - a taj mahal, a sistine chapel, a pyramid; or everything else manmade.
so when it requires additional help, one may solicit it from spouse and kinfolks, and when not getting it amicably, thinks of bribing and even force to make it happen. this created slavery, the prisoner work and also its modern form, the earning a living. a wage earner is induced into thinking that one is free, not bonded. but the very thought implies that the living has to be earned. as the commerce created social life is formed, the living is possible only when one earns the means to being alive -- food cloth and shelter by working for another person who is rich.
it is simply a bully growing into a rich person. at the start it is only a physical fight between two disagreeing persons, and the winner acquires the submission of not just a person who lost, but also the frightened onlookers. a street bully graduates in stages to become the area bully and creates a gang of lesser bullies. he then demands the protection fees from the frightened lot. that is taxation in primary stage. then a brainy businessman forms an alliance with the bully, and expands his business domain. that is the origin of the east india company and the british empire. in fact, that is how all empires are formed and functioning. the u.s. is no exception. its recent president donald trump differs from the previous president obama only in his gangster vocabulary, but not in his bully actions. the rival gang wars for acquiring profitable stance are now fought with bombs and drones.
in this gangster game of dominance, all for means that krishna applied to unsuccessfully win over a rival of krishna’s cronies; he tried to convince him of the advantage, tried to bribe, sought the weak points and finally applied punishment - the battle of mahabharata in which the opponent karna, the cousin of pandava was killed. modern political game of gains has not changed, including the use of chemical and atomic weapons described in the epic, genocide and total disregard for the destruction of environment.
the donor and donation. donor person is not a species naturally existing on one’s own. the word: donate is in use for a long time. in sanskrit language it is:‘daana’ literally meaning giving. it is without the adjective, charitable not attached to it.; the giving distinguished from charitable giving. the controlling rich calculated the worth of all commodities from the standpoint of their advantage by introducing the token of exchange in place of the actual thing in bartering system between two persons, which had no need for the middle man. the rich not only placed themselves in the middle to get their cut, but also maintained the absolute right on printing this token currency.
in the commerce created living everything has a value. so, too, the charitable giving has a value. it is a giving for creating a favourable condition in thought, speech and actions anticipated. just look into the “funding provided for” (the national public television expression) the various things. see who donated, and what the receiver does with it that has the hidden and not so hidden benefits for the donor.
an ecological natural interaction in thought, speech and action is one that leaves no aftereffect of obligation and gratitude in the giver or receiver; it happens spontaneously at spur of the moment. and it impresses only those who miss out being the donor who could have received the benefits of glory attached to it.
reflect on your acts of giving; is it spontaneous, or a payment in advance for the expected return?
