Government isn’t free – it needs taxes to operate

Some irresponsible politicians would have you believe that government should be essentially free, that tax rates can remain flat forever (while they simultaneously deliver non-productive tax breaks to their corporate donors) and that the tooth fairy will pave our roads.

Guess what? It’s not true. When politicians bow to low reality primary voters with pledges of no new taxes ever, they give us a road system that, in places, resembles a ThirdWorld country, schools that cannot retain the best teachers, the inability to retain experienced police officers and firefighters, and the ultimate abandonment of park and recreational services that make communities attractive to new employers and maintain a high quality of life for all of us. Modern city, county and state governments are complex entities with important responsibilities that require sufficient staffing, including many with sophisticated skills — these folks do not grow on trees. And they don’t work for substandard wages.

It’s time to grow up. Inflation alone makes no tax increases ever a mathematical impossibility. And the lack of adequate revenue is only intensified by the avalanche of donor-inspired corporate tax deals (that we are paying for) — all of which need to be eliminated. No one wants waste or poorly ranked priorities, or incompetence — all of which is our responsibility to fix at the ballot box. But not providing our local governments with the resources they need hurts everyone — except those on the top of the economic food chain. JEFFREY BRAND Yuma