Taxes are bad-bad, bad, bad. Why should the government take my hard-earned money and spend it on programs I don’t use? Who cares about investing in the next generation by spending money on education and roads-I want my $45 rebate check!
I mean, it’s not like we need to fund a projected $16 billion on transportation in the next 10 to 15 years, and we definitely aren’t seeing huge student population increases in our already underfunded public school system. It’s easy to see why the state wants to give a $60 million tax break instead of planning for the future.
Obviously, by this point, you’ve sensed my sarcasm.
We pay taxes because we recognize there are things from which all of us benefit, like roads and schools, so we should all pay for them. Rather than cutting taxes now, we need to fund the things we said we would fund.
To cut the sales tax on food would hurt local communities, even with raising the sales tax on other things.
The sales tax proposals sound good-poorer people would benefit by not paying for unprepared food. But the fact is that we need the revenue source to pay for programs that benefit the poor as well, like Medicare.
The average taxpayer is willing to pay for certain services because he or she is able to see the benefit of it. Most of our cities need the money; who wouldn’t like safer neighborhoods?
Our additional money this year should not be given back, and neither should it be used for new or inefficient programs. We should give teachers a little boost in their salaries, fix dangerous roads and potholes and fund higher education.
The numbers show that the future needs of the state are staggering: $16 billion for transportation, 14,000 new student projections and soaring medical costs. We can’t afford to not do something now!
Our surplus for this state may reach $1 billion. Wow, we are doing great. That could almost pay for one-sixteenth of the need in transportation.
The fact of the matter is that a tax cut today could mean a tax raise tomorrow. Shouldn’t we just use our money wisely this year? State Road 6 is the most dangerous road in America-shouldn’t we fix it? Our per-pupil spending is one of the lowest in the nation-shouldn’t we remedy that?
Are we so unwilling to put our money where our mouth is? Only when we know for sure that we have the money to fund vital programs in the future should we start talking about a tax cut.
As the public, we know that with good times come bad times-and we should be prepared. You can’t prepare for the future if you are blinded by the smooth sailing of today.