Today, in 2011, I think that we can all agree that the greatest issues facing Wallingford, as well as Connecticut, and our nation, are taxes and jobs.
I know that tax dollars are the fuel that allows the government engine
to operate. However, I am also fully aware that tax dollars only come from taxpayers, and (as opposed to what many people think) that
source is not infinite. Also, all too often government operates
inefficiently. If government is providing a service, but is doing it in
an inefficient manner, then that activity (naturally) is a waste of our
tax dollars.
There are some things that are necessary government services. Police,
fire and military defense are some examples. On the other hand, some
things are better left to the private sector such as research, development, manufacturing and
construction. With the above in mind, it is my position that government
should only provide necessary services that the private sector cannot
reasonably handle, or that in the interest of public safety it must address. Striving for lower taxes prevents a government from going
amok and getting its wasteful hands involved in everything. Unless it is our
state or federal government, of course, as our Representatives in those bodies have
been practicing deficit spending for many years now.
During the past year, I wrote a Letter to the Editor of our local
newspaper in which I questioned why we have such things as
"non-essential government employees" and pointing out the fact that if
you are employed by my tax dollars, you had better be "essential". A
few days later there was a responding letter from a local resident who
claimed that government does everything more efficiently than the
private sector. I was floored until I read, in his letter, who his
employer was... the federal government.
Today, we are on a slippery slope. Millions of people are recipients of
some form of governmental aid, while the working class cannot sustain
the costs of this aid through taxes. Businesses are being taxed "out of
business" to support the aid stream. There must be an end to the
madness.
When you go to the polls this November, and those that follow, and you
go to fill in that circle next to someone's name, please ask yourself,
"Will this person conserve tax dollars to provide for essential government services, or make up new needs to get more tax dollars?" "Will this person use my tax dollars with
consideration of the fact that, after a certain point, taxes are straining my family and/or my business?" "Does this person really care
about our future, or in just getting elected at any cost?" I hope that when you vote next November, that you consider the above questions in making your selection(s).