"If people don't want to pay taxes, they need to stop making money. It's as simple as that. Look at me, I haven't paid taxes since 1992."

It started out as a joke from a bum in a short script I wrote, but there is more than a hint of truth to it. Like it or not, the tax man comes knocking every year. People grumble, whine and moan about Uncle Sam taking a bite out of their American Dream, but they need to get over it.

A little over 225 years ago, our forefathers complained that there should be no taxation without representation. Nowadays, most of us are oblivious to who actually represents us and just want no taxation. Such is the way of things.

I don't complain about taxes, mainly because I've never made enough to pay any significant amount of money to the IRS. For two consecutive years, I made over 17 grand, and I actually had to write the government a check. I didn't grumble. I quietly wrote the check and went to work some more. Why don't I care about taxes? I hardly make any money. As a result, I don't spend hardly any money. This is not the capitalist way, but it's not really anti-American either. It's just the Jungle way.

I'm not opposed to making money. I take checks and change whenever I get the opportunity, but I've always refused to slave over a redundant and insignificant job for more than a year or two. I've also refused to obtain money by any means necessary (i.e. screw people over to make an extra buck or two). This means I've eliminated myself from jobs like car salesman, telemarketer, insurance agent, contractor, preacher man, blackjack dealer, or owner of a Major League baseball team.

Most people do not subscribe to this philosophy and go to work earning thousands of dollars a year. This is not a bad thing. The middle class is what keeps a nation like America puttering along without major road bumps. I've met the middle class, and they're a nice bunch of folks. They have nice, clean houses, they have nice cars, they have nice pictures of family on the wall, and they just want everything to be nice. Millions of Americans make up the middle, and that's nice.

Only when these people have to give up something does their nice persona vanish. They grumble, itemize, cheat, lie and scheme to keep from paying some of the thousands of dollars back to the government. They start to say things like "I don't want my taxes going to fund no abortion clinic." "I don't want my taxes to go toward drug rehab." "I don't want my taxes to go anywhere but back into my pockets."

I'm here to tell all these 'don't want my taxes' people that you don't have a say in the matter. If you made 50 grand, then you owe about ten grand to the government. It's been that way since before you and I were born, so shut up and pay your dues. All those people who put American flags all over everything should realize that taxes are as much a part of American life as the Star Spangled Banner. If you make money, you have to give a kickback to the government. Simple as that.

If you don't want to pay taxes, stop making money. Stop living a lifestyle that requires twenty to fifty thousand dollars. Stop scheming and hustling to make an extra buck. Because the government wants a quarter of every buck you make.

If you want to keep making the money, then shut up and pay the man. In case you didn't know, the man is the one who lets you have the money in the first place, and he doesn't really care what you think about him asking for some back.

Chris Jungle hangs out at the poverty line.