So you are in your twenties and you just moved out on your own. Everything is moving along swimmingly, the neighborhood pub, Monday half-price burgers…you even figured out the fastest route to work. Then you get your paycheck and something is missing. Something around the tune of six percent.

For D.C. residents, it is called Taxation without Representation. For the rest of you, it is simply income tax that you elect government officials to vote on for you. Should we spend less and cut taxes? Or spend more and provide more government services?

Taken at face value, those two words, income and tax, do not seem to fit together. The first being the money you make, and the second, the money the government claims for federal projects. Over the past few years, the top three recipients for income tax were (1) Social Security (2) health care and (3) defense. From the very old to the very poor, to military occupations (and if you live in DC you do not have a vote in Congress on any of these issues) you are footing the bill. How does it feel?

Last week a group called Americans for Prosperity (AFP) hosted a summit to join more than 2,000 grassroots activists from 23 states – to talk about the issue of income tax, earmarks and the federal budget. It sounded all too fiscal for me, but then I realized how much young people love their money. So I packed the gear and headed to the south side of town to meet some of the people drawn to the event.

First I met Doug. Doug recently graduated from college and loved to talk about tax policy.

"If I'm making a lot of money, politicians will place a tax on my business and I will have less incentive to grow that business and make it prosper," he told me as I intently listened. "We advocate for economic freedom -- which is the ability for any individual to direct the resources they possess as they see fit. Obviously we'll never have perfect economic freedom, government has its place, but at the same time, taxes are destructive."

I wonder what type of person that would make Doug. A hard worker or a stingy Conservative? It was interesting to me – and perhaps a revealing point, that for many of the people I met at the AFP summit, money was the primary incentive. Forget about doing good through taxes. That's what volunteering is for.

While Doug resumed attending his booth, I met Clare Launder, an AFP staffer. Since the event was called "Defending the American Dream," I asked her:  What American dream is everyone here defending?

"The one thing that unites us all is we are all very fiscally conservative and, economically speaking, we want low taxes. We think that leads to prosperity for everyone."

Aha. Prosperity for everyone. It is hard to disagree with that.

Not long after, I ran into Princella Smith, a blogger for American Solutions. She had similar ideas about how to restore the government and reduce taxes for all Americans.

"We need to get back to the point where we have individual responsibility, less government, and understand that that kind of government works. President Bush did not actually pursue that agenda…and so the outcry you are hearing from America is because they did not pursue it."

While the entire government, the private sector and the American people face the greatest financial disaster since the Great Depression, I agree, it is time to take individual responsibility. And while we all look for that prosperous solution, I have to wonder, just who will step up first?