Thinking About Taxes

Emoting about taxes is in the wind.  Few people want taxes, many people despise taxes, balancing the budget without more taxes feels right.  Even people (like the governor of Wisconsin) who seem to think about taxes are mostly emoting about taxes and thinking about their ideological position and how to achieve it.  Think a moment about taxes with me.

Let's try damping the emotions.  Try substituting a word for "taxes" like "payment for services rendered".

We pay for police patrols, fire truck responses, road building and road maintaining.  We pay for law enforcement (not just keeping bad guys from breaking into our homes, but closing restaurants which are vermin infected).  We pay for food for hungry children, most of whom need help because one or more parents cannot get a job in this economy.

Oh, you say, there are deadbeats cheating on food stamps.  So, we pay for investigators to catch them and courts (judges, jury pools, clerks, buildings, etc.) to punish them.

We pay to have parks open (and mowed and patrolled), we pay for snow removal so we can get to work and earn money during snowstorms (and just after).  We pay for schools to educate our children not only in the three R's, but in social skills, in appropriate behavior, in music and drama, and in skills that make them employable in the coming years.  Employable?  Read "useful to our society" as well.

Payment for services rendered does not mean there are not places where money is wasted.  Let's look at that next.

What do you think?  Use the Comment link to share your thoughts with the rest of us.