CHANGING THE GOVERNMENT MINDSET

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Good op-ed piece by Journal Sentinel community columnist Mark Sity from West Allis, an old friend of mine by the way. About changing the mindset of government, which is wasteful with money belonging to you and me.

He cites the example of Mayor Ray “School Bus” Nagin, which has been cited here as well, who turned down an offer from a company to remove junk cars from the streets of New Orleans over a 15-week period and would have made the city $5 million and instead pursued a course of action which still hasn’t been completed and has no end in sight and will wind up costing the city $23 million.

If more money is needed for wasteful projects, officials can just raise taxes. The taxpayers will grumble but will be forced to pay anyway.

This mind-set is why taxes are so high at all levels of government. There seems to be no concern about spending money wisely. When taxpayers have the audacity to complain about high taxes and threaten to put limits on them, the response is always the same sort of scare tactic.

On the local level, officials threaten to cut police and fire departments. School districts threaten to cut sports programs. At the state level, officials threaten to cut funding for local governments. It is always the same line: We can’t do with less money, but you can and should.

Looking at wasteful spending by government is seldom an option to a government official. However, there is never any concern about how families will have to cut back and do with less when their taxes are raised …

Government officials need to be brought out of this mind-set that tax money is endless and can be squandered at will. Tighter controls need to be placed not on taxation but on spending.

When controls are put on taxes, often the governmental body just borrows the money, hoping to force a tax increase when the loans come due.

Amen. Elected officials just seem to view taxpayers as a bottomless pit. They threaten to slash programs that everyone considers vital in a form of extortion to force the taxpayers to pony up more money.

It has to stop. Feeding the beast — the public sector — at the level we are will bankrupt us.

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Filed under Government Spending, Taxes