Too numerous Americans fail to realize the significant role that taxation plays in generating income for vital services. In a recent New York Times piece, Paul Krugman argues that we should all be worried over this. Cities shut off streetlights that would help curb crime, roads local governments had already spent a good deal of money on but can no longer afford to maintain are deliberately broken down into gravel and schools are laying off teachers at every turn. Cutbacks have become extremely common, but some go as if their eyes were covered by teabags, blind as they’re to the potential for greater community services through tax revenues.
Poor local governments wonder, ‘Why no new taxes’?
Theories differ concerning taxation, but it seems clear that they’re a proven gadget for earnings generation. Krugman sees how the government issues bonds at 1.04 percent but then turns around and claims they cannot help support local governments in trouble. Thus, they should be doing more to aid local governments. Where is the priority, wonders Krugman. The richest two percent would evidently rather watch Rome burn than pay more taxes as they did during the Clinton administration – when the United States of America last experienced an economic boom.
Cutting back and casting jobs away
Families are reeling as state and local governments are pulling more vital services off the table. Now that federal spending is actually beginning to slow down, Krugman sees an America stuck in reverse. An employed teacher serves the community and creates a definite job. Allow millionaires to keep more of their cash and when that could translate into job creation, there’s also a definite possibility the Chicken Little “sky is falling” mentality will prompt the rich to stash their cash away.
The public sector is not so bad
There is a definite belief that the public section cannot manage money to spite itself. Tea parties scream that waste and fraud are rampant. Krugman’s counter to this is that what sounded like a horror story was never in fact that bad. Thinking about how far America has fallen in education and infrastructure while fear of new taxation has reigned, perhaps taxation shouldn’t have been the focus of the fear. On the contrary, “America is now on the unlit, unpaved road to nowhere,” writes Krugman.
Additional reading
New York Times
nytimes.com/2010/08/09/opinion/09krugman.html?_r=1 and amp;partner=rssnyt and amp;emc=rss
