The Cost of Government, and Especially the Federal Government

 

Since I now have the time, I've been using a software program which tracks and broadly categorizes all my personal income and expenses and it's enlightening.

 

One thing that's notable is that the largest expense category of all is taxes. And that doesn't even account for added on taxes like sales and gasoline tax. Breaking that down further I found that federal taxes amounted to more than twice the amount of all other types of taxes combined together.

 

Now despite what it may seem I'm not an anti-government anarchist. Government is essential in human society for protection, settling of differences and as Jefferson put it, for the pursuit of happiness. And for these United States a federal government that's strong enough to carry out its essential functions is important. Our founders determined that point after observing the results of the weak federal government embodied in the original Articles of Confederation. The U.S. Constitution which they devised was truly a work of practical genius, world-changing really. They established the principle that governmental authority is derived from the consent of the citizens and they laid out a simple framework in which this principal could be expressed in practice. They came up with a system dividing up specific functions, balancing each with specific powers over the other, and accommodating regional differences.

 

There are essential services that belong at the federal level and these are timelessly spelled out in general in the Federalist Papers. That must have been a remarkable time when there was a real national debate on whether to accept the new constitution. The Feds are needed to protect the general integrity of the country from outside forces, to interact with foreign powers, to settle differences between the States, to establish a common currency, and importantly as a general protector of individual rights. On the other hand the principle was established that governing should be done as close to home as possible, where we can get our hands on it if need be, and where its services pertain specifically to the community. I like especially the 10^th amendment to the Bill of Rights which states that "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

 

So back to taxes. We certainly have to provide the funds for all this necessary government functioning. But I ask myself, should it be the largest expense category? Well then I look at what I'm getting in return. It's significant – roads, schools, garbage pickup, the courts and so on. But then it strikes me that most of that stuff is all fairly local, paid for by local and state taxes, plus the added on sales and gas tax. To be sure there are some important federal services that are not so evident, like the military and the ambassadors. But are these enough to justify federal taxes that are more than twice all the other taxes combined.

 

Then I look at the statistic about half of all the richest counties in the U.S. being with an hours drive from Washington and the $20 trillion dollar national debt, and it makes me wonder what's going on here. No real answers but it's worth thinking about.

 

Sent from Mail for Windows 10