Our state legislators deserve the coveted “Creativity in Taxation” award for their solution on how to fund the Washington State Parks system.

Afraid to simply raise taxes, our elected officials decided that people who don’t want to support state parks don’t have to. Parks will be funded by a $5 addition to your annual car license renewal, but you can “opt out” by checking a box, and save $5.

This deft move will prevent our state’s most vocal minority, Grumpy Old Men, from harassing legislators with vituperative emails, defamatory letters to the editor and apoplectic comments at public meetings. Their temper tantrums can be headed off simply by saying, “But George, you don’t have to pay the tax. You can opt out.” This takes all the fun out of complaining about taxes, and will actually make the Grumpy Old Men even grumpier because they love to complain, but they won’t know where to direct their anger.

For the vast majority of us who don’t mind paying another five bucks a year to fund state parks, the only concern is that there are plenty of Grumpy Old Men who will opt out of the tax, and then use the state parks anyway. They’ll pull up in their 40-foot RV’s, crank up the generator so they can experience nature in front of a 40-inch LCD TV, and luxuriate in the thought that somebody else is paying for their state park wilderness experience. You shouldn’t be able to opt out of the tax unless you put a bumper sticker on all your vehicles saying, “I don’t pay for parks.” Then, rangers can exclude these vehicles from the parks.

The optional tax seems to have defused the whole state parks funding controversy, so don’t be surprised if other elected leaders take note. If most people pay the tax anyway, perhaps we can expect more optional taxes in the future.

If we think sick, old people should be thrown out of nursing homes into the streets, we can opt out of supporting them. Just check a box, and you’ll get a bumper sticker that says, “Let them eat cake, if they still have teeth.” If you don’t support free education, opt out of supporting public schools as long as you display the bumper sticker, “School didn’t do me no good.”

The federal government has had it backwards for years, letting people “opt in” and pay a few dollars to support presidential campaigns. As a result, Barack Obama didn’t even take the money because he could raise more on his own. Instead, follow the state of Washington’s lead and make people “opt out,” which few will bother to do. Candidates will have so much money that they can laugh at the union and corporate donors, and try representing the people for a change.

Americans should also be able to opt out of taxes to support foreign adventures. Income tax statements should let us check the box and opt out if we think Afghanistan should be left to the Afghans, and Pakistan to the Pakistanis. It would be tempting, but perhaps not at the cost of displaying a bumper sticker that reads, “I’m a Taliban Fan.”