We are Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. That’s how our elected officials seem to view us.
We are The Taxpayer, and as The Taxpayer we must be both saved and punished.
As Dr. Jekyll we must be saved from excessive taxation and spending before — as Gov. Bruce Rauner said in his budget address — “asking for more of taxpayers’ hard-earned money …”
As Mr. Hyde, all this excessive taxation and spending goes to provide services for us.
For example, in order to save The Taxpayer, Gov. Rauner would punish The Taxpayer. Cuts in state funding for transportation would result in service cuts and higher fares.
And who would be the recipient of these cuts and hikes? The same Taxpayer the cuts are supposed to help.
And if municipalities receive less state money, your town will cut services and hike fees and taxes. Again, hit The Taxpayer to save him.
Cut child care and after-school programs to save The Taxpayer. Who suffers? Kids and their parents, who are Taxpayers.
One reason for red light cameras, we are told, is that they bring in revenue that otherwise would come from The Taxpayer. But who pays all these tickets? The Taxpayer. And have taxes gone down with red light cameras?
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Congressional Republicans would twist Medicare into a voucher program to save The Taxpayer. Yet surveys show nine out of 10 Medicare recipients are happy with the system, that Medicare is more efficient than private insurance companies at delivering care per dollar and that premiums and costs would rise under a voucher system.
So, who would pay more for less under a voucher system? The Taxpayer, naturally.
To elected officials, you, TheTaxpayer, are perpetrator and victim. It is a convenient view for them. It allows officials to do what they want, to impose their views, and hold us up as the reason.
But, as The Taxpayer, we should refuse to look at just the one side, the side officials would have us only see: how they do what they do FOR us.
We must also see what these officials do TO us.
Do you want to pay higher fares for less transportation when you go to work? Because I don’t.
Do you want to shell out $100 for inaccurate and unnecessary red light cameras? I don’t.
Do you want Medicare destroyed? I don’t.
Do you want services cut and taxes raised in your town? I don’t.
So, don’t be taken in or distracted. Elected officials do what they want for reasons of their own. They don’t ask you. They don’t ask me.
Make them justify what they do with facts, reasons and explored alternatives, not just hide behind you and me.
Don’t let them get away with making us their unconsulted accomplices.
Sincerely,
A Taxpayer.