DemoDick wrote:Just a couple things to ponder. Income taxes are not "collected", they are forcibly taken. When you hear people saying that the Fed "collected" X amount of dollars last year from private individuals, what really happened was those people were told to pay up or go to jail. Also, Federal income taxes were NEVER intended to be a long term strategy, but once Government starts hitting the pipe it can't put it down.
The questions we should be asking are as follows:
(1) Do our various levels of government really need the taxes they collect or could they do without?
(2) Where exactly is that money going and how much control do citizens really have over it?
(3) Could private industry do a better job based on a profit motive and free market competition?
As a general rule, if you want to get something done incorrectly, late, and overbudget, you turn it in to a Government project. If you want to get that same project done on time, affordably, and competently, you hire someone who knows what they are doing and give them an incentive bonus for exemplary performance.
It isn't rocket science.
Demo Dick
Demo, in general I agree with you. Many things done by Government could be done more efficiently by a for profit organization; the big HOWEVER though is that many things government does, it does because for profit organizations don't want it because there is little or no profit to be made.
I know it's tempting to assume that Government could simply get leaner and therefore save money. The challenge with that assumption is that it is not true across the board. I, for one government agency, watch every penny we spend and there is no profit to be made in disposable dogs. We just showed it by going out for a proposal that failed miserably. No one wants my throwaway dogs. One proposal was willing if they could also do all the licensing and citations and govern the cost of fines and be on a fee for service basis.
This means that those with money get service, those without do not...and frankly its been my experience that those without money are the ones we end up servicing because they have too many dogs or dogs they can't afford or need temporary food or other assistance.
So you must, as a community, make a choice.