Craig T. Nelson: Tax Revolt

Craig T. Nelson has been speaking out about the government's fiscal irresponsibility and high taxes for quite a while now, close to a year.

Friday, on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Nelson again was talking about his disgust with the government's mismanagement. He wondered if the American people might be thinking about a tax revolt.

JAY LENO: How would you see the revolt going? How would the revolt go?

CRAIG T. NELSON: The revolt would go something like this: I think maybe 3 or 4 of us would sign up, and we say, 'You know, until we get this fiscally straight, until we have some fiscal responsibility' -- because the government doesn't run anything very well, to me. It doesn't seem like they run, you know....

LENO: And you know something? You're right because for example, here in California they're saying, 'Oh, we're not going to give you your state refund for a while. We're going to hold off for a couple of months.'

NELSON: IOU.

LENO: They're giving us IOUs. Now, imagine if you went to pay your taxes, you know, 'I don't have it on April 15th, I'm gonna wait.' Exactly.

NELSON: No, no, no. I mean, it is a recourse that you have. And to me it's like saying, well here we are in the state of California -- are we bankrupt? I keep... we are, aren't we?

LENO: I think we're bankrupt, but we keep... yeah, yeah.

NELSON: I think we're bankrupt because I keep hearing about, but everybody's going around like we're not bankrupt.

LENO: Yeah.

NELSON: But I think we're bankrupt. But people are... but the thing is...

LENO: We're too big to fail.

NELSON: Yeah. It's like an illusion. We're Hollywood. But the point is, is that it seems to me like there's all these people out of work and they're being asked to support institutions and people that are literally, I think, stealing some of our money, Jay. I think some of these guys up there, the sharp guys in the banks and stuff like that, you know the big joints, those corporations, and I think they're stealing. But like I say, I could be wrong.

LENO: Yeah. So are you going to pay your taxes? What are you going to do?

NELSON: I'm thinking about it. I'm seeing how... I'm seeing what people think, and I'm thinking... You know, the mood in the country...

LENO: Oh, they'd love to see you go to jail.

NELSON: The mood in the country... Well, we'd all go together. And then they couldn't afford us, so they'd let us go.

Video.


Of course, this is a lighthearted conversation but the anger with the government is no joke.

On the federal level, if there's one thing that Obama and company are going to enforce, it's the collection of taxes. Taking more of our money is key to the plan.