April 15. Tax Day.

Worse than the Ides of March, the dog days of summer and the day after the Super Bowl all wrapped together.

Federal income taxes must make it into the mailbox today, and it’s a great time to capture the ire of taxpaying folks fed up with doing paperwork and sending checks to the government.

Earlier this week, the Tax Foundation, a group dedicated to educating the public about taxes and making them as low as possible, ranked Maine as the state with the highest local and state tax burden in the country. Conservative organizations crowed: No. 1 again.

The Maine Center for Economic Policy countered with another set of tax computations from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and punched holes in the way the Tax Foundation did its math. According to the more generous numbers, Maine’s tax burden ranks 15th in the country.

No doubt about it, Maine taxes are high, and even the biggest government liberals could be forgiven for joining with their conservative neighbors in complaining when property and income taxes come due every spring.

But those taxes – as hated as they are – pay for a lot of things state residents couldn’t really do without.

Money from MaineCare, the state’s version of Medicaid, helps pay the nursing home bills for seniors who need around-the-clock care.

Tax dollars give kids a Head Start on learning before they start school.

Taxes for armor on Humvees in Iraq, and disaster relief for tsunami victims in Asia.

When citizens write those checks to Uncle Sam, they help out a college student who needs financial aid, they help communities recover from floods and pay for research into the worst diseases on the planet.

Sure, we’d like to see a lower overall tax burden. That’s why the Sun Journal supported a tough-sell budget that doesn’t raise broad-based taxes. Maybe we’ll sign the check with a grouchy face, or write a snide remark on the memo line, but we also see the good works, the dynamic impact and the benefits of the taxes we pay.

There’s plenty to complain about with misdirected spending and priorities in government but, all in all, it’s a great country and everyone has to help pay the freight to keep it that way.