One of the worst things that has happened to this country in the last 30 years is the demonization of taxation. I grew up with parents and grandparents who were what you might call FDR Republicans. They valued greatly that electricity had been run out to farms and ranches. They realized this had to be done by government. I’m an Independent but from memory, those Republicans in my family seemed much more reasonable when it came to understanding taxation.
Harping against taxes and exaggerating claims of waste has had the effect of hoodwinking people into thinking somehow they can have police and fire protection, clean water, sanitary systems, streets and highways, workforce training, parks and recreation, economic development and all the things taxes pay for….but be exempt from paying them.
It isn’t even being exempt…there is now a whole part of the population with a disconnect between what they want and how it gets paid for. I think it was Daniel Shorr recently on NPR who told about a person who insisted they didn’t want to be taxed for something…that the Federal Government should pay for it.:-)
There is waste in government and as we just learned the hard way, just as much waste in the private sector. So work hard to eliminate it. Starving serious community, state and national needs has done nothing to eliminate waste. For that matter, big tax cuts followed by running huge deficits hasn’t worked so well either, has it?
I don’t have all the answers but I do know we need to ditch the anti-tax rhetoric and get real.
Harping against taxes and exaggerating claims of waste has had the effect of hoodwinking people into thinking somehow they can have police and fire protection, clean water, sanitary systems, streets and highways, workforce training, parks and recreation, economic development and all the things taxes pay for….but be exempt from paying them.
It isn’t even being exempt…there is now a whole part of the population with a disconnect between what they want and how it gets paid for. I think it was Daniel Shorr recently on NPR who told about a person who insisted they didn’t want to be taxed for something…that the Federal Government should pay for it.:-)
There is waste in government and as we just learned the hard way, just as much waste in the private sector. So work hard to eliminate it. Starving serious community, state and national needs has done nothing to eliminate waste. For that matter, big tax cuts followed by running huge deficits hasn’t worked so well either, has it?
I don’t have all the answers but I do know we need to ditch the anti-tax rhetoric and get real.
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