Do you remember the $300 tax rebate checks you got from President Bush? Sure $300 in the mail is nice, but I also remember that this was a time that most of the social services in our town were being cut by the same government.
I didn’t need the $300 but what I did need was knowledge that the outreach programs in our community were getting the money they needed to receive in order to help those living on the edge. The rebate did not make sense and I wasn’t convinced that it was going to “stimulate the economy” enough so those in need would receive “trickle down” benefits. Because we were a married couple, we received $600. I recall that our check went to the Survival Center in town and the other half to pay down a credit card. We did not stimulate the economy with our rebate check.
Now, what should MN do with the surplus? How about funding the schools? I am not sure if Federal or State cuts are the ones that have been impacting the funding or our schools so much, but I do know that many schools throughout Minnesota, especially in rural areas, put a vote to their townspeople to increase property taxes in order to support their local schools. Many of these special funding requests failed to pass.
Our own 2-vote household was split on the issue. Sure we want our kids to have a good school, but why does the answer always seem to involve increasing taxes on the middle class? It wouldn’t be bad if the middle class wasn’t already being squeezed by health care costs, college tuition increases and financial aid decreases, and [don't get me started] the increased amount of fees, fees, fees, that parents have to pay in order for the kids to participate in school activites. We are already being maxed out by these hidden “taxes” that our parents generation did not pay.
Keep my rebate and invest it in the future of Minnesota’s youth. What would you do with your rebate?
Related reports from MPR:
Experts cool to ides of tax rebate in Minnesota
MPR’s Art Hughes reports: Education groups seek a big fix for Minnesota schools
Kat Eldred, Minnesota Public Radio Duluth Life Host
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Comments: 12
Like I always tell the "Happy to Pay Crowd". Go ahead a write an additional check to the government, and send back your rebate check, you have that "choice". I'll take my check, that's my choice. Choice is good, right?
Or how about this SAVE IT. I know it is a novelty in this country today, saving that is. How about this, eveyone always says they are working to make the furture better ask take a poll of everyone under 25 in the state...find out what they think we should do with the money.
Yep, it also now introduced market forces into the equation. I hope you were glad having the choice. Most people have no problem spending money on good programs, it's the bad programs we have issues with. By having that choice, good programs are rewarded, bad programs go away or have to change to become better programs.
I don't think there will be much to spend when it's all said an done. I think a big chunk this time around will go to the "rainy day fund" and then education, state nursing homes, and roads. There are alot of DFL'ers who promised the sky as part of getting elected and Margret Anderson Kelliher promised a whole lot of people a whole bunch of stuff just for her to get elected Majority Leader.
Nathan, you are under 25, I'm 42. I'm on the end of the baby boom and you are further behind. The baby boom generation with just the sure mass of people in that age group will suck you and I dry. Get used to it.
Are you refering to the Baby Boomers sucking us dry because of the Social Security? That will be an interesting ride for sure. But, what will also be interesting is to see how this generation will define "growing old" and how that will impact the economy.
Nathan, I agree, we could do with a dose of saving a little money, but how would the economy stay healthy without all the spending (or credit card debt)? Consuming keeps this economy afloat from what I can see.
2. The older you get, the more you vote.
3. The older you get, the more government services you use.
4. An increasing amount of people want someone else to pay for what they think
is a "right" or an "entitlement".
5. Both Democrats and Republicans want to get more and more people dependant on a government program. The more dependant you are, the more you want it.
6. When somehting is "free" that is, you pay a little and someone pays alot, you want more of it.
7. People want to be compassionate with some of their money and a lot of someone elses money.
Our family income now makes us middle class, but we have not always been here. Many years ago, we were struggling to get by and used some of those government programs. Not once did we ever believe or even act as if we believed those programs were a "right" or an "entitlement". I've never known anyone who used those programs who thought that either. They were a safety net, pure and simple, and are the defining difference between a civilized society that takes care of its elderly, weak and poor and a group of individuals, who take care of themselves. The inherent strength is in the society, not the group of individuals.
If it is a bad thing to grow old and not be as independant as we used to be (and rely more on government services) then I guess the "Logan's Run" solution is in our future. As citizens reach a certain age, we kill them. So simple, elegant, and economical. Let's consider that my own Modest Proposal.
Like Mr. Fischbach, I sometimes have misanthropic thoughts, but mine are directed at those with wealth and power who take from those who have not. I also rage against the machine for being ineffective, inefficient, corrupt and intrusive. But I want to fix our government, not destroy it or starve it down to an entity that is not capable of protecting us from corporate entities, foreign governments, or economic disasters.