Most of us complain about taxes in one way or another. But we almost always have our individual ideas of what government should do. We sort of ask government to lower taxes but be sure to fund my sacred cow.
To this end, I suggest that the tax forms have an allocation schedule on which we can allocate where we want our income tax money to be spent:
Each individual cabinet level department
The office of the President
The Senate
The House of Representatives
If a person’s list doesn’t add up to 100%, then the remainder will go into a general fund to be allocated in the usual manner by Congress. If a person’s list adds up more than 100%, then the values are adjusted proportionally to add up to 100%.
Much of text lost because deleting a duplicate deleted both.
So, if a person thinks the only business of the Federal government is war, aka defense, then he or she can stipulate 100% of their income tax go to the Dept. of Defense.
If a person thinks transportation and education are the most important activities of government, then he or she could stipulate say, 40% for one and 30% for the other leaving 30% for Congress to decide how to use.
With this plan, if only two percent of the allocation went to the military or any other function, Congress would have to use general funds, if available, to make up the difference to what it thinks is really needed.
Whatever we do, we should remember the supposed words of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., "I like taxes. They buy me civilization."
Showing posts with label civilization. Show all posts
Showing posts with label civilization. Show all posts
Thursday, December 31, 2015
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Up to no good about public goods
On April 2, the Duluth News Tribune had an “Our View” titled “Road repairs: Hold on to your wallets” about the report of a task force on the repair of city streets. Why is it that increased taxes to pay for necessary public goods is a bad thing, but increased prices of things provided by the private sector are just seen as “passing on costs”?
It is estimated that a thirty percent increase over two years in property taxes is necessary to pay for the needed repairs. This is partly required because Duluth can no longer count on the money it had received from the Fond-du-Luth Casino. In other words, the “tax” paid by gamblers will now have to be paid by all the citizens.
The oldest real estate tax record I have is from 2002. Our 2014 Duluth property taxes are 2.28 times as much as 2002. Assuming the proposed 30 percent increase, our 2016 taxes will be 2.97 times as much in 2002.
Now lets compare this to the price increase of Duluth News Tribune. When I first came to Duluth in 1999, the DNT costs 50 cents. I’m not sure whether it first went up before or after 2002. It now costs $1.25 for a single copy. That is 2.5 times as much. That’s “worse” than the increase in my Duluth property taxes up to now. Will it go to $1.50 by 2016? If so, that will be 3.0 times as much. Where’s all the shouting about the Duluth News Tribune not living within its means?
How about food prices? The price of Stonyfield yogurt sticks in my mind from years ago as 54 cents for an eight-ounce container. One can now get it online for about $1.42 for a six-ounce container. That is 3.5 times as much per ounce! Can’t Stonyfield and the grocers live within their means?
The lowest I remember gas prices being in Duluth was 99 cents a gallon. Now the price per gallon has been around $3.59 per gallon. That is 3.6 times the low. Can’t the oil companies live within their means?
What are some major costs in repairing streets? Asphalt, gasoline, and diesel fuel! Maybe we can keep our taxes at the 2002 level if we can keep the price of oil and the derivative products at the 2002 level.
But this year, the city took a big hit on fuel expenses. Lots and lots of snowplowing. Should the city cut back on the snowplowing to “live within its means”? How loud would the howls be from the public if the city “lived within its means” for snowplowing?
The same goes for street repair. It seems many expect city streets to be built to Interstate standards, but they complain both about the potholes and the taxes to fill the potholes.
We could go back to an ancient custom of every road being a toll road. Barons and other large landowners charged everybody to use the roads across their lands. This was a big drain on commerce. In fact, some writers say that the British economy in the 1700s did much better than the French economy because of internal tolls. The British had practically none. A French merchant couldn’t travel 20 miles without encountering an internal tariff. Add that to the super-rich in France ripping off the peasants even more than the super-rich in Britain did.
Ah, toll roads! Some think that the toll prohibition on Interstates should be lifted. Actually, there is no blanket prohibition as anyone who has driven I-90 in Illinois or the Ohio Turnpike knows.
As the need and costs of repairs to the Interstate system increases, so does the talk of charging tolls for use of the system. See “Agreement on Interstate Repair Needs, but Not on How to Pay for Them”, New York Times, April 3, 2014. Interestingly, some of the big shippers like FedEx and McDonalds object to the tolls. Many smaller businesses such as restaurants and convenience stores object because they think people will avoid the Interstates to avoid paying a toll each time they exit for a short stop. Another consideration is what will be the cost to add on the infrastructure to collect tolls?
I bet you dollars to donuts that many of those who want and even demand public goods such as a highway system also object to almost every single tax that makes them possible.
In many ways, taxes are a good bargain. If we didn’t pay taxes for fire departments, we would be paying a lot more for fire insurance. If we didn’t pay taxes for an extensive sewer system, we would be paying a lot more for hospital bills. If we didn’t pay taxes for snowplowing, we would be paying a lot more for auto insurance and maybe even lawyers.
Yeah, I was grumbling as I filled out my state and federal taxes and robbed my bank account to pay what’s due. And I’m grumbling as I try to figure out how to better spread out payments for the 2014 tax year. But then I think of the words of George Washington and Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
In his “Farewell Address”, George Washington wrote, “that towards the payment of debts there must be Revenue; that to have Revenue there must be taxes”.
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. supposedly wrote, “I like taxes; they buy me civilization.”
It is estimated that a thirty percent increase over two years in property taxes is necessary to pay for the needed repairs. This is partly required because Duluth can no longer count on the money it had received from the Fond-du-Luth Casino. In other words, the “tax” paid by gamblers will now have to be paid by all the citizens.
The oldest real estate tax record I have is from 2002. Our 2014 Duluth property taxes are 2.28 times as much as 2002. Assuming the proposed 30 percent increase, our 2016 taxes will be 2.97 times as much in 2002.
Now lets compare this to the price increase of Duluth News Tribune. When I first came to Duluth in 1999, the DNT costs 50 cents. I’m not sure whether it first went up before or after 2002. It now costs $1.25 for a single copy. That is 2.5 times as much. That’s “worse” than the increase in my Duluth property taxes up to now. Will it go to $1.50 by 2016? If so, that will be 3.0 times as much. Where’s all the shouting about the Duluth News Tribune not living within its means?
How about food prices? The price of Stonyfield yogurt sticks in my mind from years ago as 54 cents for an eight-ounce container. One can now get it online for about $1.42 for a six-ounce container. That is 3.5 times as much per ounce! Can’t Stonyfield and the grocers live within their means?
The lowest I remember gas prices being in Duluth was 99 cents a gallon. Now the price per gallon has been around $3.59 per gallon. That is 3.6 times the low. Can’t the oil companies live within their means?
What are some major costs in repairing streets? Asphalt, gasoline, and diesel fuel! Maybe we can keep our taxes at the 2002 level if we can keep the price of oil and the derivative products at the 2002 level.
But this year, the city took a big hit on fuel expenses. Lots and lots of snowplowing. Should the city cut back on the snowplowing to “live within its means”? How loud would the howls be from the public if the city “lived within its means” for snowplowing?
The same goes for street repair. It seems many expect city streets to be built to Interstate standards, but they complain both about the potholes and the taxes to fill the potholes.
We could go back to an ancient custom of every road being a toll road. Barons and other large landowners charged everybody to use the roads across their lands. This was a big drain on commerce. In fact, some writers say that the British economy in the 1700s did much better than the French economy because of internal tolls. The British had practically none. A French merchant couldn’t travel 20 miles without encountering an internal tariff. Add that to the super-rich in France ripping off the peasants even more than the super-rich in Britain did.
Ah, toll roads! Some think that the toll prohibition on Interstates should be lifted. Actually, there is no blanket prohibition as anyone who has driven I-90 in Illinois or the Ohio Turnpike knows.
As the need and costs of repairs to the Interstate system increases, so does the talk of charging tolls for use of the system. See “Agreement on Interstate Repair Needs, but Not on How to Pay for Them”, New York Times, April 3, 2014. Interestingly, some of the big shippers like FedEx and McDonalds object to the tolls. Many smaller businesses such as restaurants and convenience stores object because they think people will avoid the Interstates to avoid paying a toll each time they exit for a short stop. Another consideration is what will be the cost to add on the infrastructure to collect tolls?
I bet you dollars to donuts that many of those who want and even demand public goods such as a highway system also object to almost every single tax that makes them possible.
In many ways, taxes are a good bargain. If we didn’t pay taxes for fire departments, we would be paying a lot more for fire insurance. If we didn’t pay taxes for an extensive sewer system, we would be paying a lot more for hospital bills. If we didn’t pay taxes for snowplowing, we would be paying a lot more for auto insurance and maybe even lawyers.
Yeah, I was grumbling as I filled out my state and federal taxes and robbed my bank account to pay what’s due. And I’m grumbling as I try to figure out how to better spread out payments for the 2014 tax year. But then I think of the words of George Washington and Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
In his “Farewell Address”, George Washington wrote, “that towards the payment of debts there must be Revenue; that to have Revenue there must be taxes”.
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. supposedly wrote, “I like taxes; they buy me civilization.”
Sunday, November 03, 2013
I love taxes and regulations!
Printed in the Reader Weekly, 2013-10-31 and found at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2013/10/31/2364_party_of_one-3.
I submitted it as follows; I did remove from this copy the missing section in last week's Reader Weekly.
Well, not all that much. What I like is all the benefits that taxes and regulations bring me and many other people.
Like many, I find paying taxes a chore. I have to set aside money twice a year for property taxes. I have to keep lots of records and fill out detailed forms to calculate how much federal and state income tax I owe. And because I don’t have withholding on all of my income, I have to estimate these taxes quarterly and pay a portion of the presumed shortfall.
A few years ago I had a sore chest, extreme sweating, and nausea. Was this a heart attack? Don’t hesitate; call 9-1-1! Within five minutes a fire truck with four fire fighters/emergency medical technicians arrived. Without going into all the details, I was hospitalized but it was determined that I did not have a heart attack. My taxes, your taxes, and the taxes of many others paid for this quick response.
Was this an entitlement?
One of the ER doctors I saw lived in our house a few years before we bought it. He was a graduate of the UMD medical school. State taxes paid some of the cost of operating UMD. Would there be as many doctors and nurses if they or their parents had to pay the full cost of their education, starting with elementary school?
Is this an entitlement?
Keep in mind George Washington’s farewell address, which contained among much other ignored advice:
“[I]t is essential that you should practically bear in mind, that towards the payment of debts there must be Revenue; that to have Revenue there must be taxes; that no taxes can be devised, which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant…”
Most of us drive regularly on streets and our commerce depends on the roads. They cost a lot more than the streets of George Washington’s time. And city streets like George Washington rode his horse on still existed in my lifetime. See “11 Traveled Dirt Streets to Be Hard Surfaced at No Cost to Property”, Kansas City Star, 1944-04-06.
Are hard-surfaced streets an entitlement?
Red lights are a bothersome regulation. Why should I wait while somebody comes by on the cross street? Well, when I’m driving on the cross street, I appreciate that the other traffic will stop periodically so that I may drive into the intersection safely.
Requiring auto insurance is a bothersome regulation. But it sure is nice when another person is at fault for banging my car that their insurance will pay for the damage. I think it was in Michigan that a driver came out from a parking lot and put a dent in the side of our car. He didn’t stop, and so I made a U-turn and followed him a block or two before he stopped. We pleasantly exchanged information and we went on our way. But after a few blocks we saw his insurance agency. We stopped in and related the incident. Oh, but he buys the insurance and cancels within a week or so. Off we went to the police station and told our story again. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if everybody followed these “burdensome” regulations?
Among my allergies is quaternium-15, an ingredient in many lotions. Imagine my surprise when a hypoallergenic lotion contained quaternium-15. If regulations didn’t require a list of ingredients, would I wind up having an allergic reaction and not know why?
My wife has to stay away from soy lecithin. Dark chocolate is a healthy treat. Many dark chocolate bars contain soy lecithin. If regulations didn’t require the labeling of ingredients, what would happen to her if she ingested soy lecithin unknowingly?
When all the nutrition information was mandated on foods, I pooh poohed it. Come on, you know a candy bar has lots of calories; so stay away from candy bars if you have a weight problem. I recently had a colonoscopy and was told not to take iron before the procedure. Chocolate was one of the OK foods. But, dark chocolate contains 6 to 35 percent of the daily value of iron. If I had that much iron would it have changed the diagnosis? I stayed away from chocolate and I had a negative result. Without the regulated nutritional information I might have had a false positive result.
Many corporations regard regulations against air and water pollution as burdensome and anti-free market. Many studies have shown that many of the chemicals in our environment are causing brain impairment in children and that they don’t perform well in school. Oh, poor school performance is not caused by pollution, it’s the “greedy teachers’ unions”!
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. supposedly said he liked taxes, “They buy civilization.” I would add without regulation, we would not have civilization.
I submitted it as follows; I did remove from this copy the missing section in last week's Reader Weekly.
Well, not all that much. What I like is all the benefits that taxes and regulations bring me and many other people.
Like many, I find paying taxes a chore. I have to set aside money twice a year for property taxes. I have to keep lots of records and fill out detailed forms to calculate how much federal and state income tax I owe. And because I don’t have withholding on all of my income, I have to estimate these taxes quarterly and pay a portion of the presumed shortfall.
A few years ago I had a sore chest, extreme sweating, and nausea. Was this a heart attack? Don’t hesitate; call 9-1-1! Within five minutes a fire truck with four fire fighters/emergency medical technicians arrived. Without going into all the details, I was hospitalized but it was determined that I did not have a heart attack. My taxes, your taxes, and the taxes of many others paid for this quick response.
Was this an entitlement?
One of the ER doctors I saw lived in our house a few years before we bought it. He was a graduate of the UMD medical school. State taxes paid some of the cost of operating UMD. Would there be as many doctors and nurses if they or their parents had to pay the full cost of their education, starting with elementary school?
Is this an entitlement?
Keep in mind George Washington’s farewell address, which contained among much other ignored advice:
“[I]t is essential that you should practically bear in mind, that towards the payment of debts there must be Revenue; that to have Revenue there must be taxes; that no taxes can be devised, which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant…”
Most of us drive regularly on streets and our commerce depends on the roads. They cost a lot more than the streets of George Washington’s time. And city streets like George Washington rode his horse on still existed in my lifetime. See “11 Traveled Dirt Streets to Be Hard Surfaced at No Cost to Property”, Kansas City Star, 1944-04-06.
Are hard-surfaced streets an entitlement?
Red lights are a bothersome regulation. Why should I wait while somebody comes by on the cross street? Well, when I’m driving on the cross street, I appreciate that the other traffic will stop periodically so that I may drive into the intersection safely.
Requiring auto insurance is a bothersome regulation. But it sure is nice when another person is at fault for banging my car that their insurance will pay for the damage. I think it was in Michigan that a driver came out from a parking lot and put a dent in the side of our car. He didn’t stop, and so I made a U-turn and followed him a block or two before he stopped. We pleasantly exchanged information and we went on our way. But after a few blocks we saw his insurance agency. We stopped in and related the incident. Oh, but he buys the insurance and cancels within a week or so. Off we went to the police station and told our story again. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if everybody followed these “burdensome” regulations?
Among my allergies is quaternium-15, an ingredient in many lotions. Imagine my surprise when a hypoallergenic lotion contained quaternium-15. If regulations didn’t require a list of ingredients, would I wind up having an allergic reaction and not know why?
My wife has to stay away from soy lecithin. Dark chocolate is a healthy treat. Many dark chocolate bars contain soy lecithin. If regulations didn’t require the labeling of ingredients, what would happen to her if she ingested soy lecithin unknowingly?
When all the nutrition information was mandated on foods, I pooh poohed it. Come on, you know a candy bar has lots of calories; so stay away from candy bars if you have a weight problem. I recently had a colonoscopy and was told not to take iron before the procedure. Chocolate was one of the OK foods. But, dark chocolate contains 6 to 35 percent of the daily value of iron. If I had that much iron would it have changed the diagnosis? I stayed away from chocolate and I had a negative result. Without the regulated nutritional information I might have had a false positive result.
Many corporations regard regulations against air and water pollution as burdensome and anti-free market. Many studies have shown that many of the chemicals in our environment are causing brain impairment in children and that they don’t perform well in school. Oh, poor school performance is not caused by pollution, it’s the “greedy teachers’ unions”!
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. supposedly said he liked taxes, “They buy civilization.” I would add without regulation, we would not have civilization.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Taxes - burden or cost of civilization
My latest published letter is "Taxes aren't big in world of financial burdens". See
http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/196096/
http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/196096/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)