Cheer Up: Why The Payroll Tax Increase Is A Good Thing

By tomorrow, every working American will have received their first paycheck of 2013. A lot of folks (77 million tax payers) are pretty angry over their smaller paychecks this year. As we all know, this is due to the expiration of the Social Security tax holiday which raises the tax on earned income (up to about $110,000) from 4.2% to 6.2%. That extra 2% may sound small, but it's noticeable when it's your money.

Since the President signed the American Taxpayer Relief Act, we've listened to wonderful stories about how we were saved at the 11th hour from tax hikes on the middle class. It hasn't really been mentioned until paychecks started going out that our taxes have in fact gone up.

I'm not here to bellyache about it. I submit that the payroll tax increase is a good thing, and here's why:

Government costs money. I know that, but many Americans fail to grasp this concept. For too long, those in favor of bigger government and more spending would vote for whomever would take care of them because someone else (rich people) would foot the bill. With the expiration of the payroll tax holiday, everyone is kicking in more taxes and everyone is unhappy about it.

I think this can open people's eyes. You don't want to pay higher taxes? Me either, so lets get on the same page and start cutting some things from the budget.

There will always be taxes, but there will never be an amount of tax revenue that will satisfy the folks in Washington. They will constantly come up with more ways to spend money. It's what they do.

So cheer up, wake up, and stop asking what the government can do for you. Work. Raise your kids. Save your money. Let's all take care of ourselves and start voting for less programs and less waste.