Taxes

On the drive into work today, I was listening to NPR's Morning Edition, and I heard Corzine and Forrester (both NJ gubernatorial candidates) sniping at each other about if and how many times Corzine had voted to raise or cut taxes. The underlying assumption being, of course, that raising taxes is bad and cutting taxes good.

You know, of all the damage the conservative movement has done in the last thirty years, the promotion of the idea that taxes are inherently bad may be the worst. When I sit and think about the things tax dollars have created, I come up with the following:

• Interstate highways
• Social Security
• The Internet
• Public transportation
• Railroads
• The GI Bill
• Regulatory agencies like the FDA or OSHA
• Medicare
• Public schools
• Free libraries

I don't know about you, but I think these are pretty good things, as a whole. Sure, there's waste involved in each, but what organization, public or private, doesn't waste money? My gosh...I used to work at a law firm that wasted tons of money; I could tell you stories that would curl your hair.

No one is anxious to pay taxes, and yet almost nobody turns down a chance to grab government money. The most rock-ribbed Mississippi Republican will take every post-Katrina federal disaster-recovery dollar on which he can get his greedy hands. Big oil companies routinely lobby for federal subsidies. The airline industry practically lives on the public teat. When Uncle Sam wheels out the government trough, every little piggy, from richest to poorest, pushes his snout right in.

The issue, as I see it, is not the amount of tax we pay, but the value we receive. I don't mind handing over a dollar to the feds if I receive a dollar's value in return. Low taxes aren't by definition good, and high taxes aren't by definition bad, and I think there are a lot of Americans who would agree if the issue were properly presented.