MSD

This thread is now about taxes

Just because something is does not mean that it should be. Additionally, nobody is arguing that we should not pay taxes, just that they should pay for the minimal services necessary to keep things running. You admit that both sides are irresponsible once they are involved in government, so perhaps we should consider partial privitization with public regulation and oversight in the cases of things that can be done more efficiently and cheaply by private companies that don't have the same problems with waste and pork.

As for your examples, you offer the simplistic "love it or leave it" argument. The obvious solution is to fix problems, not to abandon the affcted systems entirely. The FDA needs to be rebuilt in a way that it works in favor of the public, not the big drug companies and food producers. A private company with its own researchers whose accounting and business practices are periodically reviewed and made publically available by a regulatory agency could have almost the same influence on sales of products as a government agency. If there were one central regulating body in the form of a private company that conducted business in the same way that the FDA does, no self-respecting pharmacy would sell unapproved and potentially unsafe drugs. Companies that wanted products reviewed for approval would pay the appropriate fees, prices would increase slightly, and the whole country would not have to pay for what only a small portion of the population uses.

Roads and sidewalks are one of the few areas that would be difficult to privatize. Adding service fees could pay for much of the cost of highway construction, for example a pass that allows you to use a reserved lane would probably be a high-demand item, and setting a high rice so that such a lane would not become another overused, clogged lane would make it a worthwhile investment for long-distance commuters and impatient jerks. Government ownership is necessary in order for society to function, but allowing contractors to bid on road construction, maintenence, and repair would bring prices down and speed up construction because of the competitive nature of the system. Current maintainence and repair systems are painfully slow and suffer from bloated costs (I-95 repairs in my area of CT is anticipated to be completed four years late at close to triple the projected cost.)

Utilities are another necessary recipient of minor government aid, as power lines, water pipes, and other utility systems are universally used, and individual use of the system cannot change the amount of repair and maintenence that the whole system needs. It is perfectly fair to charge small, universal fees based on teh number of connections to a particular utility system, but almost all utility systems are built and maintained by private companies, not government workers.

As cliché as it sounds, freedom isn't free. In the case of military and police, the inherent nature of their duties necessitates government ownership. The equipment for our civil servants who protect us is manufactured by private companies with government contracts that assure quality and reliability. For training, the government employees who have had first-hand experience in the field and in training are obviously the most qualified to train new recruits, therefore it is perfectly acceptable to use tax money to pay them to train others to protect us.

As for your last point, politics, apathy, and ignorance have rendered ther EPA almost entirely poweless and ineffective. Agents find it nearly, if not entirely impossible to fine offenders for even serious infractions. In principle, damage to the environment is something that affects us all equally (except those few who are unfortunate enough to have to live in plastic bubbles and paranoid folks who order duct tape nad plastic sheeting by the truckload.) This is yet another of the few government programs that should be given more authority and funding, paid for paritally by taxes, but mainly by fees (a nicer name for fines) paid by those who do the most damage.


I hope that I can clarify the views of many of those who oppose high taxes and big government. We don't object to paying for services, we just want those services to be performed by those who are best able to do so and who can do it quickly and for a reasonable price.