According to the wordassociation.org, often the tax payers associate tax with death. People say the contemplating taxes are what we stand to lose not what we stand to gain, and that it is why it is being related to death. Though tax brings long term benefit, but from a study, it was seen that people are more than happy to drive for 30 minutes to get a tax free product rather than getting the same product which included tax and was also discounted.

The question of concern is, why do people hate tax so much? An obvious reason could be that they don’t really know the benefits of taxation. In a survey, people were asked whether they had used any goverment social programs, and it was concluded that they had not. It is merely because the goverment  hadn’t marketed them well.

There is another reason Americans hate taxes so much. In countries like Netherlands, the citizens have to pay taxes within their stratosphere and it’s about 52 %, and it is applicable to most of the citizens. On the other hand, in USA, it is nearly 40 % and it is applicable to a small percentage of the population. Even a study showed that countries that have happiest citizens are those where tax is applied with a progressive rate i.e. the richer you are, the more tax you will pay. Progressive tax system is not applied in USA in particular, but Americans are ranked high in happiness which shows that the tax system is not the only reason for satisfaction.

The key question that arises now is that what the US goverment can do to make the experience of paying tax a happy one. The state President in his Union speech in 2011 said that American taxpayers will be able to see how their tax dollar is spent (It can be seen at the White House website). However, providing some data cannot simply change the attitude of the tax payers.

We in our research have tried to make this information kind of arresting, too. A site was developed in Boston where the residents can report all sorts of problems which require the goverment’s action. Changes were made in the Boston Website by creating a running tally of all the services requests opened by the citizens and closed by the employees. We also included a map that had blue and yellow color-coded pins that showed the exact spot in the city where the requested service had been opened, as well as, closed. This actually worked. People felt that the goverment has started to consider their woes and it is doing a good job. Some of them even thought that it deserves more credit now.

Another change in the tax system was enabling the customers to decide where their taxes should be spent. Should it go to education, defense or healthcare? One of our research has proven that a thought that our wealth comes with a responsibly to others can change the feelings of the citizens while paying tax. This can give birth to sense of responsibility and citizens can actually start feeling obliged to pay tax without any pain.

About the author

I love to write creative articles. I have been writing on different social and religious topics for 2 years now. Give me a creative topic and I will write it for you.

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Muslim Council of Britain assistant secretary Ibrahim Mogra replies to the Independent report claiming that he and the MCB had instructed Newcastle United's Muslim players not to wear a new shirt advertising the Wonga loan company.

See also "Newcastle United, Wonga.com and Muslims", MCB news report, 12 October 2012

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It is quite uncertain that Iran will wage a war against the United States. It seemsto be very scary when we think about it. It seems as we are getting closer to the World War III because a lot of tensions have been built between Iran and the US and every country that is with the shoreline of the sea of China. There would be a great trouble if any of these countries attacks. In actual fact, something very big would happen if the war will begin but it also depends on the country that is willing to exchange blows.

Now there seems no way through which the war between Iran and United States can be stopped as Iran has supported the rebels in Iraq all the times. People are naming this expected war as a World War III. In addition, they are determined to have a war as they have intimidated that will blow off Israel from the map of the world. Iran has also threatened that she is going to buy an ICBM platform and weapon system from China and Russia. They are also testing the secret confidentiality missiles and the underwater torpedoes. It is becoming apparent that a war is going to take place between Iran and Unites States as Iran is continuously making threats and making weapons more willingly than reconstructing their cities which have devastated from the recent Earthquakes.

It is still a question that is the preventative action by Iran appropriate. Some are in favor of Iran and some oppose all the pre-emptive actions which Iran is taking. Ahmedinijad is the leader of Iran has made an announcement that the Nuclear Program of Iran was only for the energy generation and other peaceful uses and that Iran has no interest in making the nuclear bomb. It is very difficult to say that why Iran is urging at the free world and she is really hoping to gain from the underhanded connections. It is very fearful and frightening when anyone talks about this World War III.

Iran is currently controlling the channel of Hormuz which is channeling out approximately 4% of the oil supply of entire world. It is not affordable for Iran to cut off the entire world from the small oil export anymore. One thing that has been learnt through the Arab Sprig is that any kind of volatility in a region drives the prices upwards. The strike of United States on Iran would definitely increase the volatility in the region. It means that apart from the disruption in oil supplies by Iran, she can still be held responsible for the rise in prices due to the volatility caused by this World War III.

The war drums are beating against Iran louder and louder. Iran is the next target of United States. Iran has ignored all the warnings of United States and this would probably the reason of this World War III between Iran and United States.

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Anyone wondering why Rep. Michele Bachmann would launch a witch hunt against Muslims or why the Republican Party would add a plank to its platform opposing Shariah law need look no further than a new poll conducted by the Arab American Institute.

The poll, released today, asked Americans for their views on various religious groups, as well as on Arabs and Arab-Americans. It also asked respondents how confident they would be that a Muslim or Arab-American holding a position of influence in government could do their job without letting "ethnic loyalty … influence their decision-making."

The results are split sharply along partisan lines. Overall, Republican voters hold strongly negative views of Muslims, with 57 percent saying they view them unfavorably and just 26 saying they view them favorably – more than double. The numbers are similar for Arabs, whom Republican respondents view negatively by a slightly smaller margin of 26 percent, 53 to 27 percent. When asked about "Muslim Americans" and "Arab Americans," the numbers improved slightly, with a 12 and 15 percent net unfavorable rating, respectively.

By contrast, Democrats held favorable views of these groups by margins of at least 20-35 percent in all four cases. The view of Muslims and Arabs among Democrats was still less positive than other religious groups included in the survey, however, underscoring a resilient problem of post-9/11 America. Still, Democrats gave no group a net negative rating, while Republicans gave negative ratings to Muslims, Arabs, Muslim-Americans and Arab-Americans.

On the question of Muslims and Arabs in the government, the results were similar. While about twice as many Democrats said they were confident a Muslim-American could do his or her job and that ethnic loyalty would not interfere, the results were flipped among Republicans. A slim majority of 51 percent said ethnic loyalty would trump job responsibility, while 25 percent said they were confident Muslim-Americans in government could do their jobs.

Salon, 23 August 2012

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In the last post I discussed the first two reactions and points of view regarding the breaking news of the dissolving of the parliament, so here I will discuss the last point of a view and a quick analysis of what happened.

The third point is the fact that this is the last nail in the coffin of the revolution, it is so clear now, and this is my pinion only, but the SCAF has successfully killed the revolution, and it is also clear that after this, that Ahmed Shafek is going to become the president, so I refuse this political manipulation, especially after the people who got injured, lost their eyes and the martyrs who died.

Come to think of it, after a year and a half from the revolution. We have no constitution, the only elected power was eliminated, so no one in power at the moment was elected by the people and the trial was a game and most of the people including the sons of the president and the helpers of the minister of interior got their innocence, only one last step is left, which is the upcoming step which is having Ahmed Shafek as president.

The reason behind all of this is that when SCAF took control, he searched for the most powerful political party at that time, the Muslim brotherhood, they made a deal with them to give them the parliament in order to turn a blind eye on what is happening in El Tahrir and to the protestors, this way, they got the loyalty of the Muslim brotherhood and they made the people hate them. Then when it is time and they don’t need them anymore, they dissolved parliament with having a lot of people hating them for their performance in the parliament, I am one of these people. I have to tip my hat off to SCAF for planning that far ahead.

The solution for this and I’m sad to say this, is a revolution because I don’t want my kids while answering their history exam to be questioned, specify the reason behind the failure of the revolution of the 25th of January. Tahrir did it once and it shall do it again my only hope that people unite and pay attention to the dirty game being played and stand against it as we once did. And history repeats itself, because this is the exact thing that happened to the revolution of Romania, the same scenario. But I hope we do bring ourselves a different ending.

On another note, today was the first of two days of the second round of the elections, I already voted this morning, so be ready to hear from me as the primarily results starts to come in.

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Of course, as we all know, 1/3 of the parliament was dissolved and resulting for it the whole parliament was dissolved because it was judged to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. The reason behind such ruling has been discussed in the previous blog. This is considered a huge loss for the Muslim brotherhood and the Islamic parties because they had a majority in the parliament. First of all, I am having mixed feelings about it; I don’t know should I be glad or sad.

I will discuss this situation form 3 points of view so I can try to figure out how I should feel about this.

So the first point is my opinion or reaction that I should be happy, because no one was glad with the performance of the parliament and the laws they discussed and their reaction to what the SCAF was doing to the protestors and especially their reaction against the massacre of Port Said. And of course who can forget them thanking the SCAF and saying that people should not protest anymore and that the Army and the SCAF is a higher power that shouldn’t be protested against. So, I should be glad that we got rid of them, but if we turn a blind eye to what the SCAF is doing, knowing that what he is doing is unfair and fraud because we like the result is a concept that I refuse. Because this is exactly what the Muslim brotherhood did, as when the SCAF thrown them a bone of parliament, they turned a blind eye on everything and left the protestors getting killed and injured by the SCAF and they didn’t act, all of this in order to secure their chairs at parliament, and look what good did that make them, now the chairs that they so desperately needed and pursued are no more. So the concept of turning a blind eye on unfairness because it serves me good is totally unacceptable. Because sooner or later it will come back to haunt you, look what they did, and how it ended up for them.

The second point is being a Christian Egyptian, and I can’t help but to feel glad that the Islamic parties don’t have the parliament and the majority and that they will no longer be the ones responsible of writing the constitution. And no one can blame me for saying that, because we all have seen what their ideology is and their performance in the parliament.

That’s it for this post; follow my next post for the third point and my analysis of what has happened.

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After 9/11 attacks of world trade center, Anti-Islam extremist politicians and groups became active. They were provided with a reason to create a negative image of Islam and Muslims. They started propaganda and pictured Islam as a terrorist religion and Muslims as terrorist, extremists and disloyal to others.

The dilemma of Islam being misinterpreted in America has its profound roots in the anti-Islamic attitude by the Western writers and media as well. They can’t bear Islam to flourish at their homeland. Contrary to this, Islam is a religion of humanity, peace, justice and love. The basic moral values Islam provides are same as all religions. There is no difference between US constitution, Bill of rights and normative values of Islam. They are almost identical. For this reason, people should believe that following Islam and being loyal to America is not a distinction.

The values and teachings of Islam come from two main sources…The Qur’an and Hadith. They provide complete direction in every aspect of life.  Islam respects the values and teachings of other religions as well. It gives the followers of other religions the liberty and freedom to perform their religious duties. The Fiqh Council of North America and the members of FCNA (body of Islamic scholors) strongly believe that Legal, moral and social systems in West are fully compatible with Islamic rules and set of laws. This is the proof that following Islam and being loyal to America are two sides of a coin.

We need to make it clear that there is a misunderstanding and contradiction or negation between being Muslims who are faithful and committed to ALLAH and being loyal and trustworthy citizens of America. It is a misconception especially after September 11 that a Muslim can never be a loyal American.

American Muslims have no issue and problem to follow the laws of the land.  They feel that they have the same duties, obligations and civil rights like all people living on US land. All Muslim Americans feel that they are also participants to solve the social problems because Islam bounds the Muslims to involve positively in the society they belong to. They want to keep social contacts with US citizens and want to live in peace and harmony. Being a “Muslim” or following “Islam” is not at all hindrance in doing so.

Efforts should be made to disclose the propaganda against Islam and Islamic values by anti-Islam agents. It is the time to tell them that American Muslims are faithful and loyal to their religion as well as to America. Following Islam and being loyal to America simultaneously is a moral obligation for them. A lot of hard work is still required to change the perception about Islam and its core values. But nothing is impossible. American Muslims should keep trying by their behavior to tell the opposition that they respect the soil of the land they live on.

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You have to admit, whenever you read such title “Christianity and Islam” you predict that the article would be comparing between the two religions, telling you which one is better, and what are the differences, and how wrong is Islam, or how wrong is Christianity. As if it is some kind of competition. Well, I am glad to tell you that this is not that kind of article. I will not tell you to leave Islam and join Christianity because Islam is so and so, and I will not tell you to leave Christianity and join Islam because Christianity is so and so.

I am totally against such comparisons, I see a lot of programs on T.V whether Islamic channels or Christian Channels, they devote their time to prove how the other religion is wrong instead of focusing on their own religion. In order to prove that you are right, you don’t have to prove others wrong, all you need to do is practice your religion in a way that would make people notice how good it is, if it is their will to come to your religion, so be it, if they don’t want, then it is up to them. Would Islam or Christianity become greater if people join them? Of course not, these religions are great without anyone joining or switching to them, they are both the word of god. All you have to do to serve your religion, practice it as your book tells you, preach how great it is, only then, you will be serving your religion, not by attacking other people’s religions and religious beliefs.

So, I have decided instead of building walls by showing the differences, I would build bridges and show similarities between Christianity and Islam, and this is what we all should do. Differences keep us far from each other, similarities brings us together. For instance, if you watch the news about the Middle East, then you must have seen Muslims screaming the word “Allah”, some people actually think that Allah is the Muslim God, while in fact, “Allah” is simply the Arabic translation of God, they are praying to God, but in their language it is “Allah”. Did you know that as a western Christian, you pray to Allah as well, in the Holy Bible, God is translated “Allah” because they are both the same meaning.

Another thing, both religions are religions of peace, whatever extremists do, it is their own doing, they are not following the Holy Qur’an or the Holy Bible, they only take it to gain power and use it as a cover for their actions. Don’t you think for a moment that any of God’s Holy books would tell someone to kill an innocent man, or molest a young boy, this is not God’s words, this is our own doing. We need to know the difference between two things, the word of God and what humans do; it’s our human nature that does these evil things in the name of God.

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