I've posted more than my share of rants about taxation. Usually it's more about the complexity of the system and the burden of understanding the unfathomable being placed upon the shoulders of citizens than the levels, loopholes, or any specific tax being collected.
But having said this, I must state that I believe that there are many goods and services society is better off acquiring, supplying, and paying for collectively. Education is one, policing, defense, civil infastructure, emergency response ... You get the picture.
The debate becomes quite heated once people perceive they are either paying too much, their neighbours are paying too little, the public treasure is being squandered, or worse, public funds are being used to support policy they oppose: Abortion, as an example.
It seems people are expressing views about whether public education provides good value for money spent. As I see it, one side feels education suffers as we spend too little, while the other side feels that as long as education funds are being wasted, the answer is to reduce, not augment, resources currently allocated to this end.
Currently, I have no family attending school. Should my resources be directed toward education? Yes! Even though I personally, at the moment, am not receiving any direct benefit from the educational system, I am still receiving good value for my contribution. Others attend schools, learn, become better citizens, contribute to society, and I get to live in this better neighbourhood, city, nation, and world. I rub shoulders with well schooled professionals daily, and enjoy the benefits of living in a society relatively free from hunger, disease, and ignorance.
So, every benefit has a cost. Who pays? Hopefully, the other guy. And that's the problem. We all want someone else to foot the bill. If people began to realize that their demands for more collective benefits are directly connected to our collective demands for the fruits of their labours, we could then have an honest debate about which things to acquire privately and which to acquire collectively.
Currently, politicians are buying our votes with our own money. If my husband dug into my purse to get my birthday gift, I wouldn't be too pleased. Why the public isn't outraged at what goes on in the capitol is beyond my understanding. Pandering to special interests is not good value for tax dollars.
He who robs Peter to pay Paul can always count on Paul's support.
End of rant.
Cheers, PW. |
