Taxes and responsibilities.

County TRIM notices were sent out during the past week, letting us know our anticipated real estate tax assessment.  This brought the expected complaints.

The other day I went shopping with my wife to the supermarket. (I am usually not allowed to assist with the shopping because I have an addiction to the olives at the antipasto bar, at prices which my wife finds excessive. But that's another story.) We filled our basket with stuff that we really needed (beer, potato chips) and items that were for the sole enjoyment of my wife (laundry soap, cleaning supplies).

At the checkout, I swiped my debit card and we then left the store with the groceries, laundry supplies and such.  When we arrived home there were bills from Brighthouse and Tampa Electric in my email inbox. These were duly paid. While I may have been unhappy about these bills and the amounts to be paid, I accepted that, if I wanted services, I would be expected to pay for them.

Most politicians promise that my taxes will not increase or will be reduced. The very word "tax" is made a dirty word and something evil. They proclaim they will never raise taxes with the same fervor as when they denounce child abuse and pornography. Only the "other guy", the "tax and spend liberal” for the most part, wants to increase your taxes.

Nonsense. Taxes represent the cost for services that society demands and that I, personally, want. If I accept paying the supermarket chain, the cable company and the others for services and products rendered, how is this different from my paying for police protection, firefighters, emergency medical services, highways, street lighting, libraries, schools and the plethora of other government services I enjoy, want and need?

I want and need government employees to teach our children, make certain that our food supply is healthy, check on the safety and efficacy of medicines, regulate all sorts of professions and, in general, protect my family from danger. And it's not free. Even Conservatives want a strong military and all of the bells and whistles that go with the weapons used by our troops.

Are there anecdotal stories of government employees being inefficient, wasteful or even crooked? Certainly. But to object to all taxes until all government operations are free from waste and human failings is just an excuse to avoid meeting one’s obligation to pay for services. It is setting up a straw man to avoid responsibilities. As long as governmental services are provided by humans, human frailties will surface.

A local political office holder, a man I personally like, claims that taxes are, by their nature, a burden on the economy and individuals; all taxes are to be reduced, without regard to the consequences. Any deficit will be made up, he says, by "eliminating waste". When confronted by a request that he identify the specific "waste" to be uncovered and abolished, he resorts to cliché and a vague statement that waste and fraud is "out there'.  On the other hand, this same official acknowledges that our region is sorely lacking in available and adequate public transportation.

For the most part, from my experience as a state employee (retired), nearly all governmental employees are honest, overworked, under-paid and under-appreciated. The newspapers are chock full of articles about fraud in the higher echelons of government. Since, at this time, conservative Republicans control the Executive and Legislative branches of state government, their objections to taxation on the ground that government employees are crooked is, at the very least, ludicrous and in poor taste.

Florida and, in particular, Hillsborough County, is cursed with traffic problems, crumbling roads, inadequate street lighting, overcrowded schools - the list can go on and on. The same scenario is found throughout the country. The only way to cure these and other deficiencies is to increase taxes and I long for a politician who will be honest enough to say so.