Taxed Enough Already, that's the buzz phrase. The debate should not be about taxes, but about the role of government. What should the society pay for using tax dollars? If we reduce the things that government needs to provide, we will reduce the need for taxes. So , all my anti-tax crusaders, please leave taxes alone, focus on what needs to be paid for with tax dollars. In the process, be objective about it. Let us not play the game of "heads I win, tails you lose". Here are a few example:
Health care and insurance. Your health, my health is no one else's concern. Goverment should stay out of it.
Providing for me and my family for their existence is not the responsibility of the government. So please stop using tax dollars to feed people
Charitable organizations should be funded with donations from people who believe in their cause. As a result, charitable contributions should not be subsidized with tax dollars. Eliminate its tax deductible status.
It is my responsibility to provide shelter for my family. Government should not be encouraging me to borrow money to buy a home. Does anyone really think that the deductibility of mortgage interest is benefiting the home buyers, think again. Lenders know that mortgage interest payments are tax deductible, as a result, they will find a way(s) to extract that benefit through high before tax rates. Tax payers are willing to accept higher mortgage rates because their focus is on the after tax rate. Thus eliminating the deductibility of mortgage interest payment is not going to affect homeownership, rather it will affect the interst rates financial institutions charge to extend mortgage loans.
All interstate highways should be privatized, that way those who reap the benefit of the highways will bear the costs through tolls etc.
THIS WILL REDUCE THE SIZE AND ROLE OF GOVERNMENT
Government probably overreaches in a lot of areas, however you are giving short shrift to some of the basic reasons for government in the first place. What about economies of scale realized by having things done at the national level as opposed to the atomistic individual level? One of the things that bothers me about people who advocate laissez-faire capitalism is the dirty little secret they like to sweep under the rug -- namely the "invisible hand" isn't always as efficient or as egalitarian as its proponents would have you to think. You are right, though, that we should use objective criteria in determining where and in what amount government spends our tax dollars. That objective standard is the democratic system for better or for worse.
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