Support4Change Blog

February 29, 2008

Categories: Q-and-A Club: Exploring Social and Political Issues

By Arlene Harder, MFT

 

TAX-AND-SPEND GAME CATEGORY ONE

I’m often jazzed about the projects I get involved with. But this one just about puts me over the top. It’s the Tax-and-Spend Game I told you about in the last blog that I titled How Will the Election Change Our Taxes?.

Today I sorted all the government programs I list in the Tax-and-Spend Game into eleven categories. Each offers you a chance to see how you much you are willing to pay for the services we have come to count on from the government. Tonight I give you the first one, on education. Then each day for the next ten days I will focus on another. However, you can go right now to the Q-and-A Club on Support4Change and look at all of them at once if you wish.

Today I get you started on the Tax-and-Spend Game by giving you a few basic rules of the game. For the rest of the blog entries (categories two through eleven) you’ll need to refer to Rules of the Tax-and-Spend Game for a more complete explanation of how the game operates. As you get started on the game here, I suggest you take time to really think about each question and give particular attention to the “why” and “how” that supports your answer.

If you want to really be serious about this game, print out the pages, take them with you to work, and ask your family and friends how they would fund programs the government provides — if they had to balance the budget and prevent our grandchildren from paying for programs we use today.

Basic Rules of the Tax-and-Spend Game

• Have I or my friends benefited from this government program? How?
  
  
• In what way does this service benefit society as a whole even if I, or my family and friends, are not personally affected by the program?
  
  
• Do I believe government should fund this program? Why?
  
  
• If I am currently participating or benefiting from this program, would I be willing to have it eliminated in order to balance the budget?
  
  
• How would I suggest the services provided by this program be funded? Why? See How Does the Government Get Our Money?
  
  
• Could the services of this program be easily provided by the private sector? If so, how?

Decide how willing you are to fund particular government programs

On the line in front of each item about education below write one of the following (which is why it’s a good idea to print out this page, as suggested above):

Maintain …
… indicates you are satisfied in having your taxes support that part of education programs in local, state, and national budgets at the same rate your taxes fund it today

Decrease …
… indicates you want to spend fewer of your tax dollars on that item

Increase …
… means you believe the government needs to do more than it is currently doing and you are willing to be taxed accordingly

Eliminate …
… means you do not want the government to provide this service and you know a way in which it can be supported effectively without taxes (see How We Pay for Government Services)

Why Winning the Tax-and-Spend Game is Easy

“Winning” the game and capturing a prize is fairly easy. [I’ll tell you about the prize in a few days.] All you have to do to be available for the prize is to have considered at least one of eleven categories of government programs and to have achieved the following:

You have reduced two programs from which you currently benefit — or have been willing to increase taxes

You have reduced at least ten programs significantly or eliminated five programs entirely — or have been willing to increase taxes

If you chose to increase spending for any program, you must have reduced spending on four additional programs or eliminated spending on two additional programs — or been willing to increase taxes.

How Do You Want Your Taxes to be Spent on Education?

Many of our tax dollars are spent on school programs because that is the foundation of an informed and democratic citizenry. Yet not all education programs are deemed equally valuable to the greatest number of students, while many programs that are considered essential to a well-rounded education have been cut or completely eliminated in some schools.

How would you fund education if it were up to you?

If you are aware of other education programs funded by local, state, and/or national taxes that are not included in this list, please let me know. Use the Contact Us form.

_________ Preschool for all children

_________ Preschool for underprivileged children

_________ Education for all children from first to twelfth grades

_________ Evaluation of children for disabilities and special needs

_________ Special education for students with identified developmental and physical disabilities

_________ Higher education for all students

_________ Higher education for qualified but needy students

_________ Work/study programs

_________ After school programs

_________ Loans to students

_________ Tax break for parents who homeschool

_________ Tax break for parents of children who attend private schools

_________ Sports and physical education programs as integral classes in school

_________ Art and music programs as integral classes in school

_________ State community colleges

_________ Underwriting of graduate programs in areas deemed important to our economy and health, such as engineering and bioresearch

_________ Training programs for a skilled labor force

_________ Underwriting of graduate programs in areas deemed important to our economy and health, such as engineering and bioresearch

_________ School breakfast and lunch programs

_________ Adjunct programs such as guidance counseling and college prep

_________ Student health programs including sex education

NOTE: You can see the same questions in the Q-and-A Club page on education. And you can also read all the other categories of the Tax-and-Spend Game.

Hope you enjoy the Tax-and-Spend Game and learn something in the process. I’d love to hear what you think about it. Add a comment to this page or use the Contact Us form on Support4Change to send me your comments or to ask a question.