New Year, New Way
Robert Herold,
Pacific Northwest Inlander,
Dec 29, 2003
I like this analysis of the use of certain words in news coverage, usage which has bothered me for some time. "To have a chance," writes the author, "we will need to strike the word "taxpayer" from our vocabulary." Quite right. The use of the word 'taxpayer' signifies some sort of special disconnected citizen, one who views any investment into society as a burden. "Citizens are up to something very different," he notes. "In a democracy, citizens engage in a process we have come to call 'self-governance.'" Though I pay taxes quite willingly, I am not a 'taxpayer' - I am a 'citizen' who regards the investments I make in education and other services to be the price I pay to live in civilized society.
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