What do we want from our Government?

What do we want from our government? A brief suggestion about how we can live happily ever after The Federal, State, and local governments in the US share the responsibility for giving citizens those inalienable rights we hold so dear. We have given the government responsibilities in a number of expensive areas : Protection (Armed Services, Police, etc), Infrastructure (roads, utilities, Parks, government owned structures, legal protection, etc), Health (Food & Drug Adm, Medicare, Medicaid, EMR, etc), Social programs (Social security, unemployment ins,) education in all its forms, foreign and domestic aid, etc) Economic programs: (money supply & regulation, debt service, etc) In all these areas the government actions are subject to political control and considerable public scrutiny. The government is subject to public view more than any other social or economic institutions. Despite constant cry about waste and bureaucracy, our government is actually pretty frugal and well-run. Most of its operating problems are probably the result of conflicting political control and demands. These sorts of problems are the result of our democratic legislative process and will always be with us. Government income comes from a small number of pretty well defined sources: Mostly Taxes. The Federal Government collects income taxes in a rather complicated manner - mostly from withholding of part of salaries or other financial transactions, but it does depend upon voluntary filing and compliance. Other federal taxes include excise (on certain consumer products - everything from gas to tobacco) and tariffs on imported goods. State and local taxes are mostly income and sales taxes, property taxes, and excise taxes. Another major source of income is the issuing of bonds - important to keep all levels of government going when expenditures exceed income and as the backup guarantee for savings and mortgage investments. The Debt Service (mostly interest on government bonds) mentioned above is an important government expenditure - how much it is depends on the confidence investors (bond buyers) have in the government. All governments try to balance their income and expenses. It is obvious that massive capital outlays - building and replacing infrastructure - unexpected catastrophic expenses, etc, cannot be pay-as-you-go - that's what the government debt (bond sales) are for. A frugal and economic government will not use its borrowing power to pay regular ongoing anticipated expenses except for very limited time periods. A fairly simple solution to the current US deficit problem - which stretches from the Federal to Local spending would be to decide which responsibilities we want the government to assume and then tax ourselves enough to pay for them. Who gets taxed for how much is a political decision, but it seems to me that at the least we should go where the money is and tax the wealthiest in proportion to their wealth. A millionaire can afford a 40% income tax rate that would crush a factory worker trying to feed a family on the 2010 median income (approx $35000). Currently most millionaires pay less than 12% of their gross yearly income. Most corporations pay far less than individuals (In 2009, corporations paid approx $138 billion of over $2.1 trillion in income taxes collected.) Obviously the current tax collection system has some loopholes. Here are some of my suggestions: Determine what responsibilities we want the government to assume - those I have listed above are a much abbreviated list of the most essential. Determine the most efficient way to provide them consistent with our values. An example would be Medicare: If it is made universal and for-profit insurance providers were removed from the programs, it would be cheaper and US citizens would pay a smaller percentage of their income for health care - as do most citizens of the world's developed nations. Generally removing private for-profit companies from basic government services should make those services more economical - if the services are administrated fairly and openly. No citizen should be required to participate in offered services, but all citizens should be taxed to fund democratically decided government responsibilities. Determine what amount of income the government needs to provide those services and responsibilities and tax everyone accordingly in the most fair and least hurtful manner. As a matter or principle, all citizens should pay some tax, however slight, as their civic responsibility. The current political suggestions that we cut taxes and spending as a way of getting out from our current recession- generated economic problems is precisely what Hoover and his administration tried in 1929-33, with disastrous results. To repeat the same solutions continually and expect different results is one definition of insanity.

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