In a timely follow up to my piece this week on the inherent relationship between taxes and government services provided, Anne Applebaum wrote a great article in Slate about the general hypocrisy of Americans who demand smaller government while castigating their government for not preventing or solving problems like the underwear bomber or the financial meltdown or the BP oil disaster. Ms. Applebaum doesn’t put it this way, but I will: if you want your government to do things, you can’t continually agitate for, and only fund, a small government. Doing things requires resources.
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I lived in a Southern city of some 26k people for a number of years. The tax rate in the city was the highest in the region, but i strongly feel that we got our money’s worth in terms of services.
A very conservative fellow ran recently for City Council in a city that is overwhelming red state in its voting and he lost that election. I think some people get the message that good work, and good employees takes good money.
I suspect you and I are often on different places on the tax and spending spectrum, but seriously, the right budget is part of what is needed to do the job right.