Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Just to Elaborate

In reading more of my commenter's responses over on Mike Kole's Kole Hard Facts, I thought it worth elaborating on the commenter's thoughts:

In short, that is Governor Bowen's plan taken to its logical conclusion. Bowen's plan shifts LOCAL SPENDING to the STATE BUDGET. Why does the Libertarian Party believe that the STATE should pay for LOCAL spending?

Again, no, I don't think this and I don't think any Libertarians do. However, removing Property Tax Relief or capping it really doesn't hurt the counties terribly. It hurts the citizenry and the citizenry is who will suffer the damage. PTR should be only a first step in severe reduction or elimination of the serf-like system of paying property taxes. The counties must find other sources of income, and it is out there. Several states have experimented successfully with alternatives to property tax, and Indiana should be no different.

I don't necessarily see it as some sort of subsidy either, since the state is holding our money anyway. Governments don't create wealth. They take it from the citizens. Taking less of it, no matter the level, is a good thing to me. I'd think a Republican would agree with me, being from the party of limited government, lower taxes and all, but that doesn't seem to be the case these days. True fiscal conservatives are rare birds in the Republican party anymore and it is a shame.

So again, no, Libertarians don't want government subsidizing other government. We want it leaner, meaner, and more responsive to its citizens. Daniels may yet prove me wrong and accomplish that at the helm, but don't give me the "wait and see" and "trust me" lines. You're just being insulting when you do that. Waiting and seeing has produced a laundry list of tax hikes and increased burden on the citizenry. I think, even in all the months since he took office, Daniels has since found that bathroom you say they're having trouble finding and gotten down to business. And even as it is a new administration, the legislators have been there for a long time. Power changes, but agendas don't, and the Republicans who have been there, now that they have the power, don't seem interested in exercising it to the citizen's benefit in terms of tax relief. I don't have to have a crystal ball to wait and see where that's going.

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