The American people are asleep at the switch when it comes to understanding the role taxation plays in creating the necessary income for basic community services. In a recent New York Times piece, Paul Krugman argues that we should all be concerned over this. Cities shut off streetlights that would help curb crime, roads local governments had already spent a good deal of cash on but can no longer manage to maintain are deliberately broken down into gravel and schools are laying off teachers at each turn. Cutbacks are the norm, yet scores of individuals from tea parties to corporate boardrooms continue to bury their heads in the sand when it comes to tax increases.
Poor local governments wonder, ‘Why no new taxes’?
Opinions on taxation vary widely, but it cannot be denied that they can generate the necessary income for public services. Krugman points out that the federal government “isn’t cash-strapped at all,” considering that they’re more than willing to sell inflation-protected long-term bonds at only 1.04 percent interest. More could be done. The sense of priority is in effect warped, says Krugman. Where are the rich who paid more in taxes during the Clinton era – an economically prosperous era, hiding as small town America burns to the ground.
Cutting back and casting jobs away
State and local governments are spending less on nearly every little thing, which doesn’t bode well for families. Now that federal spending is actually beginning to slow down, Krugman sees an America stuck in reverse. A teacher with a job means education and lower unemployment. But when the rich get cash back due to tax cuts, there’s no guarantee that they’ll do anything other than bury it in the sand of their own private beach.
Assuming the worst about government cash management
There is a definite belief the public section can’t manage money to spite itself. Tea party rhetoric says that taxation is wrong because it contributes to waste and fraud. Krugman suggests it was never as bad as the right made it seem. Witnessing how much ground America has lost in terms of education and infrastructure should be enough evidence to suggest that America is not in fact sidetracked by oppressive taxation. Now, writes Krugman, the fear of taxation may have us on the “road to nowhere”.
Further reading
New York Times
nytimes.com/2010/08/09/opinion/09krugman.html?_r=1 and amp;partner=rssnyt and amp;emc=rss
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