Support4Change Blog

March 24, 2008

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

By Arlene Harder, MFT

A SIMPLIFIED VERSION OF THE TAX-AND-SPEND GAME

If you’ve been reading my blog for awhile (or have visited the Lessons of a Recovering Perfectionist section on Support4Change), you know that I can make things more complicated than they need to be.

The reason I say this is because I’ve been looking at the statistics of viewers to the blog after the initial rush of readers when I first introduced the Tax-and-Spend Game in How Will the Election Change Our Taxes?. People seemed very interested in the idea of exploring how they’d like to have their tax money spent. But the rules (while I thought were reasonable) caused my son, a teacher, to wonder where the “fun” was in the game. I had to admit that there may not be much fun in trying to explore all the government programs I had listed.

Therefore, I’ve decided to condense the original Tax-and-Spend Game into something I call the “Taxpayer Challenge.” This is how it works.

Choose one government program from which you currently benefit that you are willing to do without — and tell your Representative or Congress person why.

OR 

Choose one government program for which you are willing to have your taxes increased — and tell your Representative or Congress person why.

The idea behind this challenge is the same as that which I set out in the original Tax-and-Spend Game; our collective propensity to accept government services without being willing to fork over our hard-earned money in the form of taxes. We want to cut the other person’s program, which we consider unnecessary, and keep ours, which are “obviously” essential. Yet it is with just this attitude that we’ve dug a tax hole for our children and grandchildren. The more we borrow from the future to fund our current pet projects, the deeper that hole will be. The next generation may be the first that cannot expect to be as successful as their parents, partly because we’ve saddled them with our debt.

True, members of Congress are elected to bring into their local area pet projects that could not be funded solely by local taxes. It’s a game we all play. But there isn’t enough money to fund every pet project. Something has to give.

True, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan contribute mightily to our budget dilemma. But when these wars were begun, how many of us said, “We recognize that a war requires money and we are willing to give up something on the home front in order to fund the war?” I’m old enough to remember rations during World War II (yes, I realize that dates me, but there it is). I didn’t understand exactly why we had a limited number of coupons to spend on sugar and gasoline, but when newsreels described victory in the Pacific, I watched the planes take off from aircraft carriers and felt a connection with the pilots, believing we were all in it together. The majority of Americans may not support the Iraq war today, but we can’t wish away the billions of dollars it is costing us each month. Disentangling ourselves will not be easy and we can’t wait for the war to end before we do something about the deficit. Something has to give.

HOW TO PLAY THE TAXPAYER CHALLENGE:

If you need to, you may want to first review the eleven categories of the Tax-and-Spend Game:

Funding Education
Funding National Security
Funding Protection Against Crime
Funding Protection Against Injury
Funding Physical and Mental Health
Funding Infrastructure
Funding Economic Stability and Job Growth
Funding Housing and Community Development
Funding for Environmental Protection
Funding for Cultural and Artistic Enrichment
Funding for Foreign Aid

If you are WILLING TO ELIMINATE A GOVERNMENT PROGRAM YOU CURRENTLY USE, send the following to your local or state Representative or your Congress person:

Dear _______________________________,

I currently use the following government program (or programs) but would like to have it (or them) eliminated or significantly reduced in the interest of cutting taxes: ____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

The reason I want you to reduce this (or these) services is because I believe it is irresponsible for me to want to reduce another person’s program if I’m not willing to reduce one that I use. Further, I believe it is important to reduce the deficit so that our children and grandchildren don’t need to pay for services we are using today.

Sincerely,

_________________________ , Taxpayer

If you are WILLING TO PAY MORE TAXES IN ORDER TO KEEP A PROGRAM YOU CURRENTLY USE, send the following to your local or state Representative or your Congress person:

Dear _______________________________,

I currently use the following government program (or programs) and am willing to have my taxes increased in order to continue having this (or these) services available: ____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

The reason I tell you this is because I think it’s irresponsible for us to continue using services when the cost for them is going to be paid by our children and grandchildren.

Sincerely,

_________________________ , Taxpayer

The “challenge” is for you to find the courage to actually fill out one of the forms above and send it to your local, state, or federal representative.

If you send me a copy of your communication to the elected official, I will enter you into a drawing for a free book of Ask Yourself Questions and Change Your Life. You can learn more about the book by reading the preface, introduction and testimonials from early reviewers.

I wonder what effect such opinions would have on our government if every person paying taxes in the United States were to actually send these messages. Then our elected representatives just might find the political will to either reduce programs (beyond the savings that could be made by reducing waste), or to raise taxes if the citizens of this country aren’t willing to do without those government services.

Even if you don’t accept the Taxpayer Challenge, I’d love to know what you think about the idea. I think it would make a good discussion for a civics class, or a discussion with friends at work. Please either add your comments to this blog or send me a note in the Contact Us form on Support4Change.

How many of you will accept my challenge? 

Publisher’s Special

If you order Ask Yourself Questions and Change Your Life from the publisher, Personhood Press, before March 30th, you will only pay $12.95 instead of the normal price of $14.95. ALSO, you will receive it before you could buy it in bookstores. The book will be sent before the end of March, but will not be available in stores until May.