CITIZENS Barbara's Column The Salem Evening News Memo to concerned human services providers who
have been organizing demonstrations at the State House: Taxpayers are not your enemy. Taxpayers provide
all the money for all the services you help provide. Demanding that
they give more, or give up their promised tax rate reduction, is not
a productive strategy on your part. Instead, we should be allies. In more than 25
years of taxpayer activism, I've heard few complaints about money
being spent directly on the mentally retarded, mentally ill, abused
spouses and children, or short-term welfare assistance for
emergencies. Some "small government" libertarians prefer
that these things be funded by private charity, and they have a
point about enforced contributions; but these expenditures don't
bother most of us. As I see it, the state fiscal pie, all of which
is baked by the taxpayers, is divided into two parts. 1.) The part
for legitimate government spending: e.g., public safety,
infrastructure, education and the human services mentioned above;
and 2.) The part that is squandered on "WIMPAC" -- waste,
inefficiency, mismanagement, patronage, abuse of power, and
corruption. The difference between fiscal conservatives and
liberals may be the amount of tolerance for Part 2. Liberals seem to be saying, "Get Part 1
done, even if means having tons of Part 2." Fiscal
conservatives eventually resist being taken advantage of and say,
"Enough!" It's been clear from the response to the
terrorist attacks that Americans love to help other people who are
the victims of cruel fate. With some government programs, taxpayers
are repaid for their generosity by feeling good about doing good. However, money given to agencies and programs is
not necessarily money given to disadvantaged people. There is waste
and inefficiency within the human services system as well as in
other government sectors. Considering that the state budget has almost
doubled over the past decade, there is probably fat marbled
throughout the entire government roast. It's the job of managers and
the Legislature to find and eliminate it, and you should help them. It's not the taxpayers' job to find or fund fat.
What taxpayer activists do is put that roast in a heavy pan, turn on
the heat with tax limitation measures, and try to melt the fat out.
Some politicians, who prefer a high-fat diet, cut real services to
real people as a strategy to get higher taxes. Governor Swift should be commended for not
playing that game and moving to restore funds for the mentally
retarded after they were cut by the Legislature. Join those of us who fought for the income tax
rollback, and we will join you in demanding Part 1 -- the legitimate
services we pay for -- as we all attack waste, inefficiency,
mismanagement, patronage, abuse of power and corruption together. But, for those liberals who don't care about the
taxpayers whose per capita tax burden is the fourth highest in the
nation, and those providers who refuse to be grateful that we share
our hard-earned money with the state allowing it to provide
services, we have two words: Mike Huckabee. The governor of Arkansas, like ours, heard his
legislature talking about new taxes last month. He responded by
creating the "Tax Me More Fund," with its own P.O. box for
contributions that will be added to the state's general revenues. This is similar to the bill filed last year by
Citizens for Limited Taxation to create a line on the state income
tax forms that would allow liberals to choose a higher income tax
rate. The bill hasn't passed, but Governor Swift could, like
Governor Huckabee, create her own "Tax Me More Fund"
without legislative approval. The inspiration behind CLT's bill was the
statement petitioners occasionally heard while working on the income
tax rollback petition: Some non-signers said that they don't mind
paying higher taxes. According to a Nov. 30 wire story, Huckabee said,
"There's nothing in the law that prohibits those who believe
they aren't paying enough in taxes from writing a check to the state
of Arkansas. Maybe this will make them feel better." There's nothing in Massachusetts law prohibiting
it either. But the CLT bill and the "Tax Me More Fund"
make it easier to do. As Huckabee advised with his alternative to
raising taxes in a recession: "Pray a little more, work a
little harder, wait, be patient and, most of all, live within our
means. That's the American way." So here is the ideal situation: the commonwealth
sets priorities and tightens its belt; the taxpayers and human
services providers team up to fight waste, mismanagement etc.; and
what we can't get rid of, liberals choose to pay for themselves. It works for me. What about you? Barbara Anderson is executive director of Citizens for Limited
Taxation. Her syndicated columns appear weekly in the Salem Evening News and the Lowell Sun;
bi-weekly in the Tinytown Gazette; and occasionally in other newspapers. |