# Taxes (song)
"Taxes" is a 2025 song by the Brooklyn, New York rock band Geese, released as the lead single from their album *Getting Killed* and built around the refusal of an unnamed debt the lyrics tie to hellfire, a crucifix, and payment.[1](https://www.beatport.com/release/taxes/5672967) • [2](https://geesebandnyc.bandcamp.com/track/taxes) It was produced by Geese with Kenneth Blume, the producer known as [Kenny Beats](https://www.edgepedia.org/kenny-beats), and was issued on July 8, 2025 through Partisan / Play It Again Sam.[1](https://www.beatport.com/release/taxes/5672967) • [3](https://www.albumoftheyear.org/song/641861-taxes/3/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Artist | Geese, a Brooklyn band formed of Cameron Winter (vocals, keyboards, guitar), Emily Green (guitar), Dominic DiGesu (bass), Max Bassin (drums), and Sam Revaz (keyboards)[3](https://www.albumoftheyear.org/song/641861-taxes/3/) • [4](https://www.undertheradarmag.com/news/geese_announce_new_album_share_new_song_taxes) |
| Release | Single released July 8, 2025; album track 10 on *Getting Killed*, out September 26, 2025 on Partisan Records and PIAS[1](https://www.beatport.com/release/taxes/5672967) • [3](https://www.albumoftheyear.org/song/641861-taxes/3/) |
| Length | 3:17[3](https://www.albumoftheyear.org/song/641861-taxes/3/) |
| Production | Produced by Kenneth Blume (Kenny Beats) and Geese; songwriter Cameron Winter; Noel Paul directed the music video[3](https://www.albumoftheyear.org/song/641861-taxes/3/) • [5](https://readdork.com/track/geese-taxes) |
| Opening lyrics | "I should burn in hell / But I don't deserve this / Nobody deserves this"[2](https://geesebandnyc.bandcamp.com/track/taxes) |
| Reception | 92/100 user score on Album of the Year from 3,053 ratings; #6 critic year-end rank, with year-end list placements including #2 at NME, Stereogum, and Far Out Magazine and #10 at Pitchfork[3](https://www.albumoftheyear.org/song/641861-taxes/3/) |
## Release and recording
Geese announced their third studio album, *Getting Killed*, on July 8, 2025, alongside the lead single "Taxes." The album followed the band's 2023 release *3D Country* and appeared on September 26 via Partisan Records.[6](https://stereogum.com/2314129/geese-announce-new-album-getting-killed-hear-taxes/music) • [7](https://www.nme.com/news/music/geese-announce-third-album-getting-killed-with-soaring-new-single-taxes-3877022) To mark the single's release the band played a pop-up show the next day at the Herbert Von King park bandshell in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn.[4](https://www.undertheradarmag.com/news/geese_announce_new_album_share_new_song_taxes)
According to a song-interpretation account of the album, the band wrote and recorded the *Getting Killed* material during a ten-day stretch in January 2025 at Putnam Hill, Blume's Los Angeles studio, working fourteen-hour days from roughly twenty unfinished demos while the [Southern California](https://www.edgepedia.org/southern-california) wildfires burned in the region.[8](https://songmeaning.net/songs/taxes) The band had debuted "Taxes" live more than a year before the single, opening for King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard in Boston in August 2024, and performed it on *Jimmy Kimmel Live!* in October 2025.[8](https://songmeaning.net/songs/taxes)
## Lyrics and structure
The song opens with the lines "I should burn in hell / But I don't deserve this / Nobody deserves this." Its central chorus runs "If you want me to pay my taxes / You'd better come over with a crucifix / You're gonna have to nail me down," followed by "Doctor, doctor! Heal yourself / And I will break my own heart from now on."[2](https://geesebandnyc.bandcamp.com/track/taxes) [Cameron Winter](https://www.edgepedia.org/cameron-winter)'s delivery of the crucifix lines has been described by *Stereogum* as "a modern day Christ proclaiming tax evasion," with the track breaking open into a radiant guitar melody and uplifting bass at that point.[6](https://stereogum.com/2314129/geese-announce-new-album-getting-killed-hear-taxes/music)
**Musical shape.** Reviewers describe a two-part build. The first half is percussion-led and brooding, opening with drum hits described as ritual-like, before a middle passage where the melodies become hectic and the song turns cathartic.[6](https://stereogum.com/2314129/geese-announce-new-album-getting-killed-hear-taxes/music) • [9](https://mixitallup.com/2025/07/14/now-playing-geese-taxes/) NME praised its "syncopated build, chiming Stone Roses-like topline, and striking, sermon-tinged lyrics."[10](https://chorus.reviews/albums/geese-getting-killed)
## Reception
**Critical response.** Review aggregation across 16 professional reviews gave *Getting Killed* a consensus score of 84.27/100, with "Taxes" named repeatedly among the album's standouts and rated 100/100 as a track by the aggregator Chorus.Reviews.[10](https://chorus.reviews/albums/geese-getting-killed) Under the Radar's review called the song "the album's pinnacle" for its allegorical lyrics and a standout mid-song upshift.[10](https://chorus.reviews/albums/geese-getting-killed) The album scored 89/100 on Metacritic, with [The New Yorker](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-new-yorker) and Stereogum naming it among the year's best albums.[8](https://songmeaning.net/songs/taxes) On Album of the Year the song holds a 92/100 user score from 3,053 ratings and placed #6 on the critic year-end ranking, appearing at #2 on the year-end lists of NME, Stereogum, and Far Out Magazine and #10 on Pitchfork's.[3](https://www.albumoftheyear.org/song/641861-taxes/3/)
A Cult Following review, published while the song stood ahead of the album, judged it a strong introduction to the band's changing direction but argued it works best with the album around it, noting its debt to the [Benjamin Franklin](https://www.edgepedia.org/benjamin-franklin) phrase about death and taxes.[11](https://cultfollowing.co.uk/2025/09/18/geese-taxes-review/)
## Other songs titled "Taxes"
Several unrelated recordings share the title. The rapper Cordae released "Taxes (from the Netflix Series *We The People*)" on July 2, 2021 through [Atlantic Records](https://www.edgepedia.org/atlantic-records), produced by Mel DeBarge and Take A Daytrip; the three-minute track is a hip-hop piece for the Netflix civics series *We the People* that discusses the history of taxation and the benefits of paying it.[12](https://music.apple.com/us/album/taxes-from-the-netflix-series-we-the-people-single/1574402149) • [13](https://rapradar.com/2021/07/02/cordae-taxes/) JT Music released a single called "Taxes" on May 30, 2025,[14](https://music.apple.com/us/song/1817388131) and a San Francisco indie-punk band named Taxes released an EP *Kali* in 2014.[15](https://taxesband.bandcamp.com/album/kali) Earlier topical songs about taxation include [Ry Cooder](https://www.edgepedia.org/ry-cooder)'s 1972 recording "Taxes on the Farmer Feeds Us All," adapted from the standard "The Farmer is the Man."[16](https://www.rhino.com/article/single-stories-ry-cooder-taxes-on-the-farmer-feeds-us-all)
## References
1. [Taxes – Geese, Beatport](https://www.beatport.com/release/taxes/5672967)
2. [Taxes | Geese, Bandcamp](https://geesebandnyc.bandcamp.com/track/taxes)
3. [Taxes – Song Ratings, Album of the Year](https://www.albumoftheyear.org/song/641861-taxes/3/)
4. [Geese Announce New Album, Share New Song "Taxes", Under the Radar](https://www.undertheradarmag.com/news/geese_announce_new_album_share_new_song_taxes)
5. [Geese – Taxes (2025) Track profile, Dork](https://readdork.com/track/geese-taxes)
6. [Geese Announce New Album Getting Killed: Hear "Taxes", Stereogum](https://stereogum.com/2314129/geese-announce-new-album-getting-killed-hear-taxes/music)
7. [Geese announce third album 'Getting Killed' with soaring new single 'Taxes', NME](https://www.nme.com/news/music/geese-announce-third-album-getting-killed-with-soaring-new-single-taxes-3877022)
8. [Taxes by Geese – Meaning & Interpretation, The Song Meaning Wiki](https://songmeaning.net/songs/taxes)
9. [Now Playing: Geese – Taxes, Mix It All Up](https://mixitallup.com/2025/07/14/now-playing-geese-taxes/)
10. [Getting Killed – Geese Review Score, Chorus.Reviews](https://chorus.reviews/albums/geese-getting-killed)
11. [Geese – Taxes Review, Cult Following](https://cultfollowing.co.uk/2025/09/18/geese-taxes-review/)
12. [Taxes (from the Netflix Series "We The People") – Single, Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/album/taxes-from-the-netflix-series-we-the-people-single/1574402149)
13. [Cordae "Taxes", Rap Radar](https://rapradar.com/2021/07/02/cordae-taxes/)
14. [Taxes – Song by JT Music, Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/song/1817388131)
15. [Kali | Taxes, Bandcamp](https://taxesband.bandcamp.com/album/kali)
16. [Single Stories: Ry Cooder, "Taxes on the Farmer Feeds Us All", Rhino](https://www.rhino.com/article/single-stories-ry-cooder-taxes-on-the-farmer-feeds-us-all)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musical works and recordings › Compositions and songs › Pop, rock, and metal songs › Alternative rock songs › 2020s alternative songs*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 19, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 19, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license