Anderson & Turpin wrote: > Ronald Leurquin wrote: > > BTW, no one on here has seen fit to respond to my tax proposal of > letting > > each government body tax income for its needs, and only its needs. > Feds > for > > feds, state for state, county for eh county, and the city for the > city. > > Are you saying that there shouldn't be any revenue sharing between > Federal, > state, county, and city governments? If so, that is exactly what I > wrote in > a posting a week ago. When one entity spends tax money in favor of > another > one, both jurisdictions lose accountability, and spending rises out > of > control.
While there is some appeal to this paradigm because it's fairly simple and direct, it ignores the reality of how the federal government passes costs down to the state, county and city levels ... and how the state passes costs down to the county and city levels. (There may be rare instances of cities and counties passing costs back up the chain of governance but I suspect they would fall under the "man bites dog" type of report.) The reality is that direct delivery of services or programs typically takes place at the city/county level ... sometimes the state level. It's irresponsible when that higher level of government ordains those programs/services without funding. (Of course the Feds are at best only partially responsible ... for example, the funding of special education mandates established at the federal level still falls far short of what the Feds acknowledge their share should be.) To follow your model to its logical conclusion, you would then have to repeal all mandated services and programs on the federal level ... then the state level ... and leave it to cities and counties to decide whether to provide those services and programs and at what level. I would anticipate that there would be no coherent public policy on issues like care for the developmentally delayed, extension of affordable housing, etc. Imagine a fairly ugly patchwork quilt that fails to cover the bed. Rick Mons Shoreview TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
