Responsibility (part 2)

We can tolerate celebrities being irresponsible by asking "does it really affect me"? Only if you pay attention to it. But there is an area of irresponsible behavior that affects each and every one of us daily: government. Governments at all levels, national, state, and local have been engaging in irresponsible behavior for years. Like Lindsay Lohan's producer, we have been the enablers. Do we really care if government is irresponsible? As long as a majority of people believe they are receiving more than they are giving, the behavior of government officials will not change. We are at the point where we need to revisit the question of what is the purpose of government?
Here in Dallas, county and city budgets are being debated. Revenue is down due to the collapse of the housing market. There have been some budget cuts to close the shortfall but now there is talk of raising taxes. The dividing lines are clear. Property owners are against it. Renters are for it. Why? Both pay taxes. The property owner feels the increasing tax bite directly. The renter only indirectly. The owner of the rental property gets it both ways: He must pay the increased tax, and then his tenants blame him for raising the rent. The renters are better organized than the owners and pressure government to maintain services. It is those services that cut to the heart of the question what is the purpose of government?
Police, Fire, Water, Sewage. Those are the very basics to a healthy and safe city. That is why the bureaucrats always target them first for cuts. To scare people. What is the next level? Libraries and Recreation Centers. These are nice but do we need so many?

So the City Council has approved a tax hike, the highest in twenty years. Angela Hunt calls that "semantics". Perhaps. But her logic is weak. She states that taxes had to be increased to meet the level of revenue from two years ago. If revenue has decreased, it is either that the economy is bad or the tax base is shrinking or both. Growth is not encouraged but rather discouraged by increasing the tax rate. Perhaps we should sell WRR or Executive Airport. Are either of these businesses that the city should be in?