By Arvonne Fraser
It may be mean, but I hope the next time someone utters the phrase, “no new taxes,” he encounters a huge pothole he can’t avoid and soon discovers his Toyota needs a front end realignment job. Or, possibly, we should simply tell purveyors of that popular phrase that we will settle for old taxes, thank you, such as the progressive income tax. Then our governments might have enough money to fix those potholes and save us taxpayers some money on car repairs.
It’s that time of year. We become morose, maybe even mean and nasty. Winter has gone on too long, the snow is dirty, and we face April 15 tax deadlines. The best news I’ve heard lately is from a conservative, David Brooks, on public TV chatting with Charlie Rose. Brooks asserted that our problems today are not social, but governmental. Voters ask for programs but don’t want to pay for them, Brooks said.
“That’s good news?” you might ask. Yes. Finally, someone has said the unpopular. The problem may not be our governors, it just may be us, U.S. citizens and voters. We’ve been asking to ride free and safely—and now we’re facing potholes. Without roads we couldn’t very well drive cars. Have we become a nation of individualistic gamblers who think we can steer around the potholes, find every loophole in the tax code and breeze along by ourselves, complaining about government and politicians?
Tax time may be a good time to take a hard look at ourselves. Why is it that we feel virtuous sending money off to help the victims of disaster in Haiti or Chile but we’re stingy with our own governments—state, national and local? Why do we feel virtuous contributing to our favorite non-profit organizations but won’t give an extra dime to the biggest non-profit of all: government?
Wouldn’t it be equally virtuous if we gave $10, $100 or $1000 on April 15—each according to his/her means--to our state and national governments? I realize there’s no line on the tax forms for such a contribution, but we could enclose a note to Uncle Sam saying “here’s a little extra. I know times are tough so I thought you could use it.” Alternatively, you could eliminate a deduction if you are prosperous enough to itemize.
You may think all this is silly, off-the-wall, but next time you see or hit a pothole, think about what you expect government to do and whether you’re willing to pay for well-kept roads, safe bridges, to replace old sewer lines, regulate banks, as well as provide for national defense and Grandma’s—or you own future--Social Security or Medicare or, heaven forbid, the availability of food stamps should you ever need them.
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