> ****
> ACCOUNTING FOR PUBLIC SERVICES
> by Marylaine Block
>
> A few weeks ago I argued that it was entirely reasonable that those of us
> who spend the public's money should give a businesslike accounting of how
> we use it. In fact, I thought we should start making a point of discussing
> the return we deliver on public investment.
>
> But turnabout is fair play. We live in an era where disdain and even
> mockery of government, its employees, and the services they provide, are
> prevalent. When this attitude is widespread, it can hardly help
> increasing the likelihood that profit-maximizing companies will see
> tax-avoidance as the most rational strategy.
>
> And that would be a pity, not just because it increases the tax burden on
> the rest of us, and not just because it could cut into the government
> services we receive as individuals. It would be counterproductive for
> business as well, because diminished tax revenues make it more difficult
> for governments to provide essential services business relies on.
>
> So let me tell you about a pipe dream I have. I'd like to see
> businesses use accounting standards that acknowledge all the public
> services they make use of every day. I'd like to force them to realize
> that they are as dependent on government subsidies as any bureaucrat or
> welfare recipient.
>
> I would like to see business executives acknowledge the tax dollars spent
> to bring water and sewer services out to new plants and office complexes
> they've built in the middle of nowhere.
>
> It would also be nice if they'd acknowledge the money spent by local and
> regional governments to provide them with police, fire and ambulance
> services, and the roads that bring their employees to work and their
> supplies to their factories and offices.
>
> I'd like them to acknowledge the subsidy our tax dollars provide them in
> the form of highways, ports, inland waterways, airports, and air traffic
> control, as well as in the form of the government-created internet which
> allows them to do some business without ever leaving home. I'd like
> executives in western states to acknowledge that without tax-funded dams
> and reservoirs that provide water, the cities and businesses they've
> built in the desert could not survive.
>
> I'd like to see them admit that the public picks up the tab to clean up
> the messes some businesses have created and walked away from,
> environmental damage caused by hazardous wastes, toxic spills, and
> effluent discharges into local waterways. I want them to acknowledge the
> resources they've extracted from public land that belongs to all of us and
> to generations that haven't been born yet, and the damage done in the
> process.
>
> I'd like to see businesses acknowledge the value of a workforce educated
> primarily in public schools, universities, and in some cases, community
> colleges that have tailored job-related training to the specific needs of
> area businesses.
>
> I'd like to see businesses account for their use of research funded by
> government agencies like the National Institutes of Health and the
> National Science Foundation, or funded by public universities --
> especially when businesses like drug companies sell products based on that
> tax-funded research back to the public at hugely inflated prices. I'd like
> to see them acknowledge the value of the libraries that purchase,
> preserve, and organize that research, and then supply it on demand when
> businesses need it.
>
> I'd like to see executives acknowledge the extent to which they rely on
> government-collected data: census data, economic statistics, databases,
> maps, climate information, and financial data. I'd like to see them
> account for their use of the legal system which enforces compliance with
> their contracts, adjudicates their disputes, and awards and protects their
> patents and copyrights (if anything, too zealously). I want them to
> account for their use of our consulates and embassies and government
> agencies that protect and promote their business abroad.
>
> You see, if business executives had to use this kind of accounting system,
> they might be forced to realize anew what executives once understood and
> took for granted: that however great our achievements, we did not
> accomplish them alone; we did them with the help of a legacy of shared
> public resources. They might even come to understand the value of paying
> their fair share.
>
> A pipe dream, like I said. But a good one, don't you think?
>
> * * * *
> http://marylaine.com/neatnew.html
>
> ExLibris, #157 permanent URL http://marylaine.com/exlibris/xlib157.html
> A complete archive is available at
> http://marylaine.com/exlibris/archive.html
>
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