Popular content  Taxes and Didactics  Draw from others the
lesson that may profit yourself. — Publius Terentius Afer, The
Self-Tormentor 190-159 B.C.  Prominent people have, over the
past few months, taught us things about taxes for which we
should be grateful. Our teachers have gone from the very lowly
(see Joe the Plumber) to the very sophisticated (see Tom
Daschle).  Joe taught us the very simple lesson that the
government imposes taxes on people who have income and the tax
must be paid. Income is elaborately defined in the Internal
Revenue Code but for Joe’s purposes it was most likely the
modest amount he earned by working. Joe failed to pay those
taxes and the county placed a lien on his property to insure it
would eventually get its due.  Our next instructor was Timothy
Geithner, Secretary of the Treasury and currently in the news
because of his actions with respect to AIG bonuses. What we
learned from him has nothing to do with AIG and is not terribly
helpful to the average taxpayer. We learned that t