A strange thing tends to happen this time of year: Many people who typically have some distaste for the government end up praising it. These suddenly-brainwashed people feel rewarded by what appears to be government benevolence, for Uncle Sam will soon be giving them a sizable tax refund.

"Brainwashed" might seem to be a harsh description of the mindset of these folks but it is a very truthful assessment proved through a basic analysis of human behavior. Think about how often you hear people bragging about how much money the government is giving to them via refund. Only brainwashed individuals could be made downright giddy by the act of an enterprise returning to them only a little of the money that was rightfully theirs to begin with.

While this glee occurs they completely ignore what really matters. They are focused so intently on the last line of a 1040 form’s calculations that they completely ignore the what are the most important lines on the document and its supporting schedule. If they were behaving logically they would instead focus their attention on federal, state, and real estate taxes paid. It is from those line items that one can understand how much of one’s hard-earned money is really being taken away rather than returned. But, the system inhibits such an inquiry because it is devised in such a way by the IRS that the instant gratification of a check in your name trumps the thievery that preceded it.

This is only one piece of the federal government’s taxation mind game. The IRS’s refund victory can only occur due to the act of income tax withholdings. Looking back through history these withholdings were brought about through the best of intentions as a scheduled – rather than lump sum – collection of taxes that were meant to consistently fund our forces in World War II. Unfortunately, the best intentions oft become soured. It didn’t take the post-war government long to figure out that it created a profound method of collections that could be applied to all future taxation and that would, for all intents and purposes, create a passive captive audience.

For starters, by demanding that every business act as a tax collector on its behalf the IRS could make the taxpayers wrongly point a disappointed finger at their employers. A tax-deflated paycheck or bonus can be frustrating to a hard worker and it is easier for them to blame than the one who issued the paycheck (the business) rather than the one who pilfered from it through the backend (the IRS).

Secondly, the weekly infringement upon one’s financial well-being softens the blow that government yields. If these withholdings did not occur and Americans were obligated to pay a massive lump sum on April 15 then the taxpayers would realize how badly they are being mistreated. The ecstasy of tax refunds would be replaced with the agony of cash outlays. Based upon Census Bureau statistics, the average taxpayer would have to write a check to the IRS in the range of $3,500 (married, spouse not employed) to $5,700 (single).

Most taxpayers would be utterly mortified - if not borderline revolt-minded - by such a massive payment. Withholding quells such dissent and it is without a doubt our government’s greatest brainwashing trick of all. By slowly and deliberately taking from the taxpayers and keying on human passiveness the IRS can confuse and confound them in regards to what the final bill will be.

These sorts of epic mind games truly limit the "concerned citizen" mindset in America. The average person pays little attention to what happens in politics and governance because to them there is no reason to care…government’s most abusive act – the leeching of our pocketbooks - is kept almost clandestine, muted to the point that the average person does not realize how much they’ve "invested" - and truthfully lost - in the floundering system around them.