Why I'm a Conservative (part 2 of a continuing series)

Taxation.  Now, I believe in paying my fair share for defense, roads, etc, but I strenuously object to the following:
 
- taxation only because they can, not because it makes any practical sense, and penalizing specific taxpayers. 
 
The whole taxing of tuition benefits is an example.  Most students who are taking advantage of this benefit don't have the financial wherewithall to go to school full time, so they take a more-than-likely underpaid job at a university to get tuition.  Then they're taxed on money they never see.  Thus drastically decreasing their take home pay.  Try that in a city like DC, in which housing costs are thru the roof.  You see the problem.  Yes, initiative bad! 
 
Also, car taxes.   So, you've had federal and state taxes withheld from your paycheck.  Then you paid sales tax on the vehicle.  Then, you must pay a tax for the privilege of actually owning the car. Now, how is that fair? Is it any wonder that neither Jeff nor I own a car?
 
- taxation for yet another self-perpetuating social (engineering) program. 
 
I have a big problem with government "charity" (ie, government shouldn't be in the charity business).  We've observed what started out as a safety net for widows with children turn into a way of life for many.  Then it became an entitlement, a right, that has, is and will be very difficult to dissolve.  Part of that difficulty is that this ethic is passed on to the kiddies, whether thru stated teaching or observed behavior.
 
- "Robin Hood" taxation - taking from the rich to give to the poor. 
 
Why is that in a society with great economic mobility possible, we find it necessary to punish the rich to give handouts to the "poor"?  Giving money to folks doesn't make them any more likely to succeed financially; it makes them dependent on that handout.  Forcing the better-off to give away larger portions of their earnings promotes a message that says - it's bad to have money.  Isn't that the American Dream to be financially successful & secure, to rise to a higher financial station than what you started in, thru your own efforts and talents?  Hmm.  And who are these poor and why should anyone be forced to give them money?  We as taxpayers are supposed to - at least in the liberal mind - give away our hard-earned cash without any regard or control over what these poor spend it - which could be more kids, drugs, luxuries (like TVs and other entertainment electronics), alcohol, cigarettes, etc, and without observable progress, results - specifically, less folks "needing" our money. 
 
This hasn't been an exhaustive examination, but you get the picture.  Taxation for governance, defense, and infrastructure - Fine, used pragmatically.  Taxation for social engineering & Nanny State support - BAD, BAD, BAD!
 

(to be continued)