Turn out the lights, because no one’s home when it comes to the taxation to generate earnings for important services across the board. In a recent New York Times piece, Paul Krugman believes that we should all be concerned over this. Cities shut off streetlights that would help curb crime, roads local governments had already spent a good deal of cash on but can no longer afford to maintain are deliberately broken down into gravel and schools are laying off teachers at each and every turn. Cutbacks are the norm, yet scores of people from tea parties to corporate boardrooms continue to bury their heads in the sand when it comes to tax boosts.
Governments are money strapped; where’s the taxation?
Opinions on taxation vary widely, but it cannot be denied that they can generate the necessary earnings for public services. Krugman points out that the federal government “isn’t cash-strapped at all,” considering that they’re more than willing to sell inflation-protected long-term bonds at only 1.04 percent interest. More can be done. Where is the priority, wonders Krugman. The able rich appear to be more interesting in barding for personal war than really waging war on behalf of a disappearing America.
Cut out the tax, the service and also the jobs
Families are reeling as state and local governments are pulling more necessary services off the table. America is moving backward, says Krugman, as local and state governments are locking down due to lack of tax dollars when the federal government begins to turn off the stimulus faucet. An employed teacher serves the community and creates a definite job. Allow millionaires to keep more of their money 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.
Burning government in effigy
Many people have little or no faith in the public sector’s ability to handle cash, tax revenues or otherwise. Tea party rhetoric says that taxation is wrong because it contributes to waste and fraud. Krugman suggests it was never as bad as the right made it seem. America has slid in education and infrastructure. On the contrary, “America is now on the unlit, unpaved road to nowhere,” writes Krugman.
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New York Times
nytimes.com/2010/08/09/opinion/09krugman.html?_r=1 and amp;partner=rssnyt and amp;emc=rss
