"It seems a little ridiculous now, but this country was originally founded as a protest against taxation."
- Anonymous
The Americans for Tax Reform organization announced today that the "Cost of Government" date has been reached. What does this mean? Christoper Lee, of the Washington Post tells us in this story (brief registration required):
"A group that favors smaller government will celebrate another kind of independence day today, marking the date by which the average American worker has earned enough money to cover his or her share of the cost of federal, state and local government."
Put another way, Americans have to work on average 189 days out of the year just to meet all the costs imposed by government. Amazingly, all forms of American government consume over 51% of our national income.
You know, on its face, that sounds oppressive. To think that all of us work more than half a year for Uncle Sam and all his little siblings is enough to make you want to revolt. But we won't. Withholding taxes from our income spreads the misery over the entire year for most of us, and makes our tax burden less noticeable and a little easier to swallow.
I would think those who have no withholding and must ante up a tax payment every quarter feel the pinch to a much greater degree than plain old wage earners or pension recipients like most of the rest of us. Still, it's sobering when presented in this manner, and it makes you feel like writing your representative to see if you can convince him to tighten up the purse strings at least a little bit. I think I will.
As far as I know, it's been awhile since any federal legislation has been introduced that would cut spending or reduce the size of the government bureaucracy. It would seem to me that such action is long overdue.
Our governor, Mark Sanford, is making some attempts in this area but is practically at war with the S.C. legislature. He vetoed over 100 bills this year, only to have our lawmakers overturn all but one of them. Frustrated at his lack of success, he carried a live pig into one of their sessions to drive home his point that "pork" has to go. That little shenanigan didn't endear him to (m)any of our representatives, but my sense is the populace thought it was appropriate. Such is Southern politics.
Anyway, Sanford is trying to do something about the growth of government and taxes in our state, and I think the people are with him. We need more public servants like him who are willing to do something about the fact that we're having to work 6 months of each year to support our governments. Sadly, he's in the minority.
Update: Grover Norquist, president of the Americans for Tax Reform organization, adds his two cents in this National Review article, "Today, We Start Working for Ourselves."
1 comment:
I'm not too big of a fan of Americans for Tax Reform and the other "starve the beast" groups. This figure supposedly combines the cost of taxes at all levels of government, plus added costs of government regulations (an obvious pitch for more deregulation.)
My biggest problem with these groups is that they make it seem as if the government is stealing your money and not giving you anything in return. Maybe it's someone else's services, roads, schools, etc. that will be cut.
This is an especially timely entry. My local county government is cutting $22 million out of their budget. The budget gap is a result of a shortage of money trickling down from the state and federal gov'ts. and a reluctance on the part of the county commissioners to raise property taxes. Luckily, they're only cutting the pork out -- things like closing a middle school, textbooks, high school spring sports, teachers, custodians, guidance councilors, a library branch, etc.
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