Editorial: No tax hike, even a 'temporary' one
The unnamed Courier editor is happy to spout off about refusing to raise taxes in any way. Why shouldn't he? What has he got to lose? Hating taxes is about as against-the-wind as hating bin Laden. It's too bad that public policy just isn't that easy.
Our state has a structural problem with its revenue policy. What I mean by "structural" is that the problems are built into the structure. What we're experiencing now is inevitable given the policies we've been using, and smarter people than I have been telling our leaders that for years. It's ironic that the editor quotes the old aphorism about insanity and in the same breath demands that we keep doing what we've been doing, which is blocking all necessary changes in tax policy except those that impoverish our state services and ultimately ourselves.
New ideas indeed, editor. And where are yours? I'm sure your state legislators would love to hear them.
2 comments:
If nothing changes, nothing changes.
Speaking from the one area I know a little bit: If you are a Republican or Libertarian and are very much against taxation of any kind. You have two options, regarding getting old:
1. Don't. Commit suicide at the first sign of aging.
2. Live in Arizona and enjoy paying less taxes than most of the nation then, when your health starts to decline and the high cost of medical supports - combined with a lack of public health option which you've been protesting against for years threatens to make you homeless, move imediately to the District of Columbia, which spends more than double what Arizona does on their eldercare. Don't like the weather in DC? Well, since AZ is next to last in the nation in caring for our elders, at an average of $3, 066/year, you have your choice of other states spending a lot more on theirs"
1. District of Columbia $7,941
2 New York $7,733
3. Alaska $7,699
4. Maine $7,691
5. North Dakota $7,496
6. Rhode Island $7,464
7 Connecticut $7,212
8. New Jersey $7,022
9. Minnesota $6,974
10. Massachusetts $6,837
Remember, screw the elderly until you are one. That's the key thing.
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