HARTFORD, Conn. April 20, 2011 - Do boaters in the Constitution State deserve to be taxed more? Governor Dan Malloy's proposed 2012 budget adds significant new tax levies for boaters and proposes to eliminate the state boating fund and divert boating registration fees and tax dollars - paid by boaters - into the state's general fund. BoatUS says these changes could threaten the state's vibrant boating industry, and lead many cash-strapped residents to quit boating. Connecticut boaters are urged to send a message to their state legislator this week by going to BoatUS.com/gov/ctaction
As can be surmised, the natural progression of government is to spend more than it takes in and to spend on unnecessary things, and then, instead of cutting spending, simply blame the revenue side, and go out and seek devices that allow you to collect more. Now, the best way to “get more” is NOT to institute a pervasive across the population tax. No, that would excite the passions of too many, and so what is done, as in any good military operation, is to segregate the population into groups, find an attribute unique to that group and then tax the group based on that attribute
For example, if a city want to raise more money from homeowners, they can first start by finding an attribute that gives them a small enough “taxation group”that will be below the critical mass which would incite riot and blowback. Maybe they would institute a special tax on all those like me that have artificial turf in their front yards - claiming increased fire hazard, or reduction of green plant’s or some other made up reason.
Now, because of human nature, my neighbor will not storm city hall on my behalf, and indeed will welcome a tax on my yard because it keeps his taxes low.
After this tax on me in rolled into place, the government can then add another tax against my neighbor's swimming pool, the other guy's 3 car garage, and other people's incandescent lights, stand alone mailboxes, etc. By the end of things, everything is taxed and the citizens are in chains. (Pretty crafty those in government can be, huh?)
Back to Connecticut. This was surely sold as a modest tax to cover the cost of supporting the boating infrastructure, and surely was sold under the “promise” that the revenues would be used for boating purposes. Now, once the mechanism of boiling the frog has been put in place, and the infrastructure for collecting and paying the tax has been implemented without revolt, the government moves into Phase II of the shakedown. This phase consists of raising the taxes and diverting the monies to the general fund where they will be used for other things. Phase III will come when they raise taxes on boats again, under the promise of course that this time their money will have to go into a boat trust fund and this time really, really will not be diverted .... that is, until they want to divert it again.
Lest you think this happens only to boaters in Connecticut, think again. I happens to motorists in Texas whose hiway fuel tax money has been diverted, leaving the state hiway department having to curtail projects. It has happened to engineers in Texas, where, in addition to paying a registration fee, they are now required to pay another general fund fee that is spent elsewhere by the state.
This, all my good readers, is the nature of the STATE. Although at first the state is “by the people, for the people, of the people”, those elected to the functionary positions within the government soon turn to mischief and they inexorably pervert that ideal of “by the people, for the people, of the people” into the ugly reality of people being “of the state, by the state, and for the state.”
This natural tendancy to grow and devour is why we have a constitution - a document that tells us how our government is to be constituted, such constitution (makeup and structure) of the state being that of a state with shackles placed on it. Not to put too fina a point on things it is because the framers knew that a state, unrestrained, would end up devouring the very countrymen that created it in the first place and the people wopuld end up serving the STATE instead of the other way around.
BTW - If you want to see it in fiction set with an array of archetypal characters just read Ayn Rand’s - Atlas Shrugged. If you want to see this in action - just look around.
.
No comments:
Post a Comment