I voted today to raise taxes. No, I'm not ashamed of it. In fact, I feel pretty good about it. See, my state, like a lot of states in these United States of America, is in trouble. See the below video if you doubt it. The politicians that run the state have convinced themselves that raising taxes is somehow wrong. They are cutting spending instead. At every level of state government they've cut spending and the budget cuts are gutting education (teachers are being let go), public safety (police, fire and EMS are all losing people and resources) and other government services.
I happen to believe that taxes are the only legitimate and moral way for a government to pay for those services we citizens are entitled to under our social contract with the state. You can read that contract, it's called the Constitution, and every level of government has one outlining the powers and responsibility of government as well as the means of funding them. For example, at the federal level, we are entitled to a national defense and at the local level, police protection, and legislatures are expected to levy taxes to pay for these services. My state legislature is controlled by people who don't understand the basic legitimacy of taxes and so they refuse to increase taxes even though the only alternative is to borrow money to pay for services. So, even though they are running a deficit and can't pay their bills, they actually believe it's better to borrow more money rather than raise taxes, and they feel some kind of perverse virtue about it. I suppose you have to be a politician to understand the logic of that. Many people agree this is wrong and a special election was called to vote on a ballot initiative to increase the state sales tax by $.01 to fund basic services like police, education and health care. So fearful were the organizers of the anti-tax sentiment that they made it a one cent increase...and it's temporary. Wow, bold stuff. Ordinarily, I'm against ballot initiatives because most of them mandate programs without providing funding, but in this case, it provides funding for necessary programs, so I voted for it.
Yes, I want there to be teachers in schools and police on the beat and emergency medical services in my community and I'm willing to pay for that. I voted for increased taxes...you betcha!
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Comments