WILL THE ELECTION CHANGE OUR TAXES?

The Tax-and-Spend Game Introduction

“Change” is the operative word in the presidential campaign this year. But what is supposed to change? Who is supposed to change? You or me? What values and priorities will create the change we say we want? And most of all, what effect will change have on taxes and the government programs those taxes are supposed to fund?

After listening to candidates call for change, hope, and unity, I am dusting off a Tax-and-Spend Game that I created a few years ago. It won’t be available until next week, but this Q-and-A Club blog entry will get you started thinking about the topic before you start the first category of questions, which will be on education.

The game is designed to help you explore what you want done with your taxes, and the other guy’s taxes. Who should pay more? Who should pay less? Who should receive more services? Who should receive less? In other words, if change is the byword of the day, there will be a change in whether we spend more taxes or fewer taxes. Change will determine which services will be expanded and which will be reduced.

A Very Few (but Important) Statistics

Now, before you run for cover in fear that the game will cause your eyes to glaze over and you’ll need to get out a calculator, let me assure you that I offer you no statistics except the following (but hold onto your hats!):

The proposed national budget for the next fiscal year is based on an estimated revenue of $2,662,000,000,000. That’s 2.662 trillion in taxes if the zeros are too hard for you to count.

Expenditures for the same period? $2,902,000,000,000. 2.902 trillion in expenses takes up less space.

If I’ve done my math correctly, that leaves a deficit of 239 billion!!

AND that doesn’t include Iraq and Afghanistan expenditures.

NOR does it include state and local budgets, which our tax dollars also support.

Who Got Us Into This Mess?

I can’t get my mind around figures that huge. Can you? One thing I do know is that the numbers represent our collective willingness to spend more than we take in. They remind me of the words of the philosophical classic comic strip character Pogo. We can paraphrase him by saying that “we have met the enemy“—that is, taxes—”and he is us“—that is, our reliance on government to fund and regulate a wealth of services that extend beyond our desire to pay for them.

If America is to truly change and become a country more united in values and principles than it is today, we will have to have a serious discussion (many discussions, in fact) about what we want to change and how. We will have to talk about those taxes we don’t want to pay and the services we want to continue using.

Unless we are willing to dig into the whole mess of taxes and the programs they fund, we will continue to succumb to thirty-second sound bites that make us feel comfortable by oversimplifying complex issues and obfuscating how unbalanced our government’s income and outgo has become.

How Would YOU Balance the Budget?

Let’s assume that we will achieve change most easily if we all take a closer look at the balanced-budget fiasco and the role we play in asking for more than we want our taxes to support. That means me. That means you.

So what would happen if YOU were given sole power to balance local, state and federal budgets while providing basic services, balancing the budget, and repaying the national debt? Do you think you could do that? You’d have to decide how spending should be allocated. You’d have to decide who should pay for what services. You’d have to decide what local, state, and national programs should be cut, reduced or eliminated.

That is what the Tax-and-Spend Game gives you a chance to do. It isn’t difficult, but it also isn’t as simple as saying “I will balance the budget.” No, you have to make some choices. Begin with asking yourself the Q-and-A Club questions below to stimulate your thinking. Then come back to these pages (or to the blog) to find the first set of questions for the Tax-and-Spend Game.

A Few Websites to Give You a Headstart on the Tax-and-Spend Game

The California Budget Challenge is an interactive game that demonstrates the difficult decisions elected officials must make in weighing the needs of a broad constituency. It allows you to see how your decisions compare with others. Even if you're not from California, you will find it to be a valuable exercise.

"Death and Taxes" is an exceptional graphic poster of the 2008 federal discretionary budget proposed by the president that will be debated, amended, and approved by Congress by October 1st to begin the fiscal year. It contains over 400 programs and departments and almost every program that receives over 200 million dollars annually. I wholeheartedly recommend you view it.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities is one of the nation’s premier policy organizations conducting research and analysis to inform public debates of proposed budget and tax policies. It wants to ensure that the needs of low-income families and individuals are considered in these debates.

The Cato Institute seeks to broaden the parameters of public policy debate to allow consideration of the traditional American principles of limited government, individual liberty, free markets and peace.

The National Priorities Project (NPP) is a nonprofit research organization that analyzes and clarifies federal data so that people can understand and influence how their tax dollars are spent. NPP focuses on the impact of federal spending and other policies at the national, state, congressional district and local levels.

© Copyright 2008, Arlene Harder, MFT, and Support4Change