Quit Whining about Taxes!

I am sick of Americans complaining about taxes!! We are the richest country in the world, and we are one of the lowest taxed. (We don’t even make the list of the ten most generous countries in the world.)

I was listening to “liberal talk radio” (should be called just “not radical right wing talk radio”) and even they were complaining about taxes. One caller had “done the math” and divided Brown’s recently proposed state budget by California’s population and come up with $10 per person per day. Everyone clearly thought this was outrageously huge. In fact, it is a bargain.

Here’s what you get for only $10 a day: police protection, a court system, and a prison system; some protection of our natural environment; some care for the mentally ill; monetary, medical, and therapeutic assistance for victims of crimes; child abuse investigations; road building and maintenance; some assurance that most car drivers are licensed and insured; some aid for the poor; licensing and some oversight of doctors, nurses, teachers, hair dressers, therapists, nail painters, etc., to ensure their competence and prevent them from harming us; state parks and beaches; an extensive education system, including what used to be a very affordable college system and the most highly regarded state university system in the world; financial aid for many college students; unemployment and disability insurance and assistance; training for the developmentally disabled; poison control centers; the 9-1-1 system; tsunami warnings; earthquake research; enforcement of contracts between businesses; and much more. 

The people on “not radical right wing talk radio” were complaining about wasteful spending. We ALL waste money occasionally, and in the state budget “wasteful spending” is a drop in the bucket. Besides, one person’s “wasteful spending” is another’s “essential service.” Thus, budget cuts inevitably translate into eliminating jobs for people who need them, since you can’t really cut buildings, supplies, or utilities much. If we make more people unemployed, they will have less money to spend and generate fewer taxes. That will reduce the state’s income and force further budget cuts. The only way to stop this downward spiral is to raise taxes. It would be in everyone’s self interest to vote for Brown’s proposed tax increases.

I can do another essay on the history of our budget problems, if anyone is interested. A big part of the problem can be traced to the 1979 voter passed initiative requiring a 2/3 majority in the legislature in order to raise any taxes (this 2/3 requirement passed with 51% of the vote). Requiring a supermajority virtually ensures no tax increases, so when tax revenues decreased due to dips in the economy, the state had to find other ways of raising money. The government turned increasingly to issuing bonds, which is just another way for the rich to get richer. The interest on these has to be paid, and this expense has grown to take up a big percentage of the state budget. There are other such mandated expenses as well.

I can do yet another essay on how government by initiative is a very bad way to run a state. I never sign initiative petitions anymore for this reason, and also because if an initiative does happen to be a good idea, special interests from outside of our state will pour money into defeating it and will defeat it.