I came across this article from Cal Thomas. He brings up some very good points.
However, I must ask the question, when do we finally say enough taxes all ready?
- Thoughts?
The Public is Sick of Govt's Wasteful Spending Cal Thomas
April 15 might become the biggest tax-and-spend protest since the Boston Tea Party of 1773. Politicians fear spontaneous citizen outrage. That's because when the public realizes they have been scammed, bamboozled, defrauded and hustled by politicians who take and then misspend their money -- mostly to enhance their own power -- they'll run like scalded dogs.
Unlike in the 1958 cult movie "The Blob," which featured a creature from outer space that consumed everything to which it attached itself, government is a homegrown monster, consuming ever-increasing amounts of capital. And this government blob doesn't discriminate. It grows no matter which party is in charge. While the deficit last week raced past $1 trillion, the federal government and many state governments are trying to pry more of our money from us so they can finish creating a dependency culture from which we'll never escape.
Governments never have enough of our money and they'll never ask if we have enough. Whatever they do is sold as noble, even righteous and if the people rebel, they are uncaring and greedy. The cry at these tea parties should be "not a penny more" until governments get their houses in order, just as we must do. Most people have been forced to reduce spending during the recession, but not the federal government, and likely not the government in your home state.
Take New York (puh-leeze). The state legislature has approved a $131 billion budget, which represents a 9 percent increase in spending over last year. There are stories that Rush Limbaugh and Donald Trump have threatened to abandon New York over higher taxes.
A New York Observer editorial asked the right question: "...why did legislators refuse to deal with the need to control their own spending -- the real source of the state's fiscal problems -- and instead increase it, blowing millions in public funds on pork barrel programs like 'Urban Yoga,' gun clubs and other member-driven spending items?"
California is a close second to New York's high tax rate, having just raised its top income tax rate to 10.55 percent. This means that with the Obama administration's plan to increase federal taxes, successful residents of New York and California will be paying more than half of their incomes -- when payroll, sales and other forms of taxes are included -- to governments. When is enough, enough? Now!
To further increase your outrage, read the "2009 Pig Book" from Citizens Against Government Waste, www.cagw.org, which is released today. Like its previous editions, the latest "Pig Book" chronicles some of the most outrageous examples of wasteful government spending.
On March 28, 2007, Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY) commented on the Bush administration's proposed fiscal 2008 budget: "The gross federal debt is now almost $9 trillion, or more than $29,000 per person. That is how much every man, woman and child in America owes to this debt. This is the fiscal mess that we have to clean up." The debt and the per-person cost are now far greater. Do we hear a peep from Rep. Maloney or the many other Democrats who were critical of the Bush deficits? Nope.
It's time Maloney, the rest of Congress and state legislators hear from the people. Not a penny more until you put your house in order!
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Comments: 15
Another reality is that, even before the recent round of massive government bailouts, the USA is enormously in debt, meaning that you are not taking in enough revenue through taxation to pay your bills.
The United States outspends all other countries in the world (combined) in terms of military expenditures, and spends a higher percentage of its total revenues on the military than any other industrialized nation. This was true even before the terrorist attacks of 9/11.
Is there waste in government expenditures? Sure there is. There always has been. There is also waste in corporate finances, as the collapse of many major corporations has proven. I would say that there is significant waste in every human enterprise and the larger the enterprise the greater the burden of waste it carries. A lot of this is absolutely unavoidable. We can work to reduce waste, we can be vigilant to prevent unnecessary waste, but we can never eliminate waste. (Ask yourself, doesn't every politician promise to eliminate waste? How can it be that none of them ever succeed?) Human beings are not capable of being that efficient.
If the country is taxed at a lower rate than most other countries and is deeply in debt and running an annual deficit that will only increase the level of debt, then how can one possibly come to a logical conclusion that its people are over taxed? It makes no sense.
Rather, this "tax rage" is fostered by endless diatribes in the media about taxation being excessive. The language used is inflammatory, calling taxation "theft" and talking about government waste as "epidemic". There is a political agenda behind the stoking of public anger over taxes. And people are very suseptible to this tactic as no one want to pay more, everyone wants to pay less. So when someone puts forward an argument for why you should pay less and how the amount your paying is a massive rip-off, and they angrily urge you to get angry about it, it is easy to agree with them.
We need to learn to discuss taxes in a mature way. We need to recognize that we must pay our way and take responsibility for the necessary government services that society needs to function. We need to accept that paying more, as most other countries are, so that we don't run up debt is simply prudent and responsible and that paying less when we already have a shortfall is selfish and childish. We need to take umbrage at the suggestion that we let future generations pay for our greed.
Taxes are not theft, they are the price of civilization. And as with everything else, you get what you pay for.
Can it be that our elections (in the United States and my own Canada) routinely return only scoundrels to office? Are our systems that broken? Do only incompetents and thieves run for office?
Or is our conviction of the inefficiency and dishonesty of government officials a little overblown and nothing more than a convenient excuse for abandoning our own responsibility?
Rory, there are deficits because that's the stupid politicians keep spending money we don't have on projects we don't need or want. It has to stop.
It has been wisely observed that high political office is too important to allow it to fall into the hands of anyone who wants it badly enough to campaign for it. But how do we elect people who will not campaign? How do we reform the system so as to attract the virtuous, competent and incorruptible?
Marilyn: I know that this is the claim of everyone who is convinced that their taxes are too high. But it doesn't explain how all other countries pay more. Other than the conviction that you are paying too much, on what do you base your assumption that a society can be run for less? I understand that there is a political ideology that feels the least government is the best, but what services should not exist? What infrastructure should not be built, maintained or repaired? What should government stop doing that it is doing?
It seems to me a convenient denial to overlook that everyone else pays more to provide their society with the needed services and infrastructure and Americans still feel they should pay less.
It's not a "real world" assessment.
Every city, every county, every state in the US has projects like this that are going to be at least partially funded by federal tax dollars. We don't need or want them!
Plus, Obama is making more government agencies, adding more government programs. It's insane. We need to all learn - from each individual household, to each city, county, state, each business - to live within our means.
Is required to meet every two years for a regular session. That session may not
exceed 140 days.
Convenes in regular session on the second Tuesday of each oddnumbered
year.
And special legislative sessions may be called for the governor and may last only 30
days. Only matters submitted by the governor may be considered in the special
session.
Lawmakers in Texas are free to hold "real" jobs back home. Isn't that the way our state and federal government was originally designed? If the jerks in Washington had to hold real jobs in the communities they supposedly represent, things would be different.
I understand the need for unemployment, for a short period of time, not 9 months making close to what you made before. The same holds for welfare.
This except on George Washington should be something that every politician reads and follows. Term limits are a must considering the dinosaurs that lurk in the halls of power of this country.
Writes Updegrove: "Washington was the one man in American history who was bigger than the government itself; the hero of the Revolution could have been emperor of the state he, more than any other, helped found. Instead, he ensured that government would remain in the hands of the people. In doing so, he set his most important precedent, leaving office after two terms in office and exemplifying a fundamental democratic ideal ... Washington made the presidency. Everyone who comes after him is subject to his standard. He was the first."
Is it a good expenditure of public funds? Well, I don't know for sure, but clearly some citizens think so as they have elected the mayor who wants to build it. Given the price of gas, lower right now but still quite expensive and likely to keep rising, and the effect of urban congestion and automobile induced smog on the health of urban dwellers, it doesn't seem like a ridiculously wasteful idea. Public transit is a better option for inner city transit.
Also, the idea that the project must pay for itself or "break even" simply underscores the need for government investment and how government is different than private businesses. Private business must make a profit or it shouldn't operate. But some time we need things done in society that are not profitable in a monetary sense, that no private business will undertake for that very reason, and that government can do but will lose money on.
If a streetcar service in downtown Cincinatti eases urban traffic congestion, reduced pollution and allows people to commute conveniently at low cost then it might be worthwhile, even if it does cost money to support every year. In fact, most public transit requires support from the tax base to run, but cities would be untenable without it. Automobile transit is also subsidized by taxes through the construction of roads and bridges for us to drive on, and in other ways as well.
Building a streetcar line in the middle of a busy city is bound to be expensive, but it will also create jobs in construction which are very much needed in the present downturn.
Again, it is your city and you probably know better than I what it needs. But the dismissal of the project seems a little doctinaire to me.
This is just more Republican hype.