On April 15, I went to the

dentist excuse me, the oral surgeon to have two teeth removed. As if this

were not painful enough, these extractions occurred on Tax Day.

Getting teeth pulled and on

the same day that taxes are due? More than one person asked if I was a

masochist. I'm not. But after the medication wore off, I started to think

about pain and taxes.

The much smaller number in

my bank account after forking over money to the government hurt a lot

more than my mouth, and will continue to do so into the future. After

all, visiting the oral surgeon had a positive purpose: to stop further

decay and trouble with my teeth.

However, it's hard to see much

positive coming from being shaken down to such a great extent by government.

Don't get me wrong, I'm no anarchist. We need government to protect life,

limb and property. Unfortunately, government has grown far beyond these

core duties, reaching massive levels at the federal, state and local levels.

As a result, the bulk of my money taken by the government is simply wasted.

Of course, government waste

is nothing new. Over the years, countless organizations and individuals

have offered a wide range of ideas to get the size and cost of government

under control.

Nonetheless, government continues

its relentless expansion. It gets bigger when Democrats are in charge.

It gets bigger when Republicans are in control. It gets bigger with divided

government. Sometimes government grows at a rapid pace, at other times

at a slower rate. On rare occasions, spending levels for a year or two

might decline slightly or remain flat. But this always is a temporary

phenomenon, and spending quickly resumes its ascent.

I think part of the reason

for government's relentless expansion is due to the lack of pain when

paying taxes. During World War II, the federal government began withholding

income taxes from the paychecks of wage and salary earners. As a result,

many people stopped looking at their total earnings, and instead focused

on take-home pay. If you never get your full income in the first place,

taxes paid simply don't hurt as much.

Getting rid of withholding

would cause real pain, and the good kind of pain that has a productive

purpose.

If you have your own business,

for example, you have to write checks to the United States Treasury and

most states four times a year in the form of estimated income tax payments.

I have a full-time job where taxes are withheld. I also have a business

where I write out checks quarterly to the government to cover taxes. So,

I can say firsthand that having my money in hand and then having to write

a check to the government carries far greater weight. Actually writing

out checks to the government generates a lot more thinking and questions

about the size and scope of government.

From 1913 to 1942, income taxes

were paid in quarterly installments during the year after the income was

earned. Returning to such a system would mean that all income earners

would have to sit down four times a year and write out a check to the

government.

It would be a wonderfully painful

experience. For people who rarely give a thought to taxes and government,

they'd start wondering where their money was going. What exactly are these

politicians in Washington and the state capital doing with the money I

worked so hard to earn? Couldn't I put those dollars to better use by

investing, paying for my kids' education, giving it to my church, fixing

up the house, or even taking a much-needed vacation? Many individuals

would start to question the income tax itself.

For those of us concerned that

big government and high taxes cause real economic harm, then having more

people asking such questions would be quite productive.

If we are serious about reducing

the size of government, then it's time to get rid of withholding. It's

time to spread the pain.

[Raymond J. Keating is chief

economist for the Small Business Survival Committee, and co-author of

"U.S. by the Numbers: Figuring What's Left, Right, and Wrong with

America State by State" (Capital Books, 2000).]