Taxpayer-funded

Guest post by Suzann Darnall

“Givers have to learn to set limits because takers don’t have any.”

Hard-working Americans really need to learn the truth behind political language. Especially when it comes to the phrases “government funded” and “free”. There is no such thing as “government funded” or “free”. Both are “taxpayer funded” and often come at quite a cost to the citizens who are being robbed of their hard-earned monies to allow politicians to make campaign promises and buy votes without actually paying out anything but lip service!

If every hard-working American citizen would automatically think “taxpayer funded” when they heard or read or saw the phrases “government funded” or “free”, they might be less inclined to support those politicians who constantly preach a litany of all the government is going to provide for “free” to their constituents. ‘Cause maybe if hard-working citizens think “taxpayer funded” they will realize that the monies are coming out of their pocket, their paycheck, their spending money, their savings, their investments, and their children’s inheritance. Particularly since the government not only taxes us while we live, they essentially tax us after our deaths, and sometimes they tax each dollar more than once!!!

Perhaps I am especially sensitive to the tax issue at present ‘cause we are coming upon the dreaded Ides of April, also known as Tax Day. April 15th. When our tax returns must be filed with the IRS. Income Revenue Service. Or, as my hillbilly ancestors most likely referred to them, Revenuers. Personally, I see no service involved. I see only government basically stealing our monies to give to others. Not only do we pay income tax, we can be hit with audits, fines, and even criminal charges. Sometimes for simply not understanding a tax code so convoluted that the IRS does not even know how to explain portions of it! On top of that, in this day and age, very little of the monies collected are actually used for keeping us or our communities safe. How can it be when there is pretty much a Congressional Hush Fund for paying to make sex scandals go away??? And, that is not the only money waster we support.

Anyway, back to “free” or “government funded” versus “taxpayer funded”. A favorite here is “free tuition”. A pet project for politicians and activists on the Left. Excuse me? Colleges are not giving education away. I find this is kinda funny considering that so many academicians are supporters of “free” education and “free” tuition, yet they are not willing to work for “free”. They seem to keep insisting upon salaries, which means somebody has gotta pay the bills. Even for the “free” tuition recipients. Again, this most often means the American taxpayers.

Even the student loans are now, all too often, falling upon the backs (and wallets) of the taxpayers. Student loans are being forgiven or defaulted with regularity. Which means that those who assumed the loans are not paying back the dollars that were lent to them. They have basically stolen that money. Quite often that money came from the taxpayers in one way or another. Yes, even student loans are pretty much “taxpayer funded”.

Even so-called public education is not “free”! Yes, it is true that people send their children to public schools and do not pay fees or tuitions. But, it is taxes which support those schools and pay those education employee salaries. So, again, “free” means “taxpayer funded”. School bonds to finance district projects are also “taxpayer funded”, although voters do at least get a voice in whether the school bond election is passed or not.

When will the Left and the government admit that nothing is “free”! Not food, housing, healthcare, education, cellphones, or anything else. Somebody pays, which generally means the hard-working citizens. Heck, it has gotten so the government has figured out how to tax us for just about anything, including air, water, and soil. What do you think the EPA runs on??? Yep! The Environmental Protection Agency annual budget is over $8 billion. That means each American pays about $20 per year for the EPA to figure out new ways
to fine us for supposed infractions of their non-understandable codes. ‘Cause, oh yeah, we do not just fund them through the budget, we fund them through fines and fees as well.

IRS and EPA are not the only government entities which double and triple dip as they take money from taxpayers. If it is a bureaucracy it is probably getting funds through budget, fines, fees, and any other way it can grab a bit of our hard-earned money. Income is not the only tax that robs citizens - road taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, etc. Every “free” program raises the taxes that must be collected which means everything costs all of us more.

But, as we are talking about “government funded” programs, let us be sure to separate the goats from the sheep in one very particular area. When people speak of “entitlements” they often lump everything together. Let me be very clear on this: Military Retirement or Veterans Administration Benefits are not the same as Welfare. Social Security Benefits are not the same as Welfare. State Pensions or Retirement are not the same as Welfare. Government Pensions or Retirement are not the same as Welfare.

Military veterans earned their retirement or VA benefits through their service. Government employees earned their pensions or retirement through service and often from paying into a retirement system. Most workers pay into the Social Security system through payroll deductions for a working “lifetime” to earn their Social Security Benefits upon retirement. These retirees and pensioners are entitled to the monies they are paid. The “entitlement” label being used on Welfare is not at all the same thing. Welfare should not be an entitlement, it should only be a last resort for the truly needy.

I am not sure how we fix the very much broken system that is our now “taxpayer funded” free-for-all. We have too many greedy politicians, too many bloated bureaucracies, and not enough concerned voters. But, so long as American taxpayers ignore the overspending situations in government (pretty much at all levels) we will continue to lose vast amounts of our income to what amounts to little more than government Slush Funds which keep the swamps well and truly filled to overflowing with corruption, fraud, waste, and abuse.

We are quickly approaching the tipping point where taxpayers cannot pay enough in taxes to fund the ever-increasing amounts that bureaucracies are either swallowing down or throwing away. Tax and spend only works for so long. Eventually there are no more taxes which can be collected. But, will our governments ever learn to curb their spending sprees? Only if voters realize they are the citizens who are the taxpayers and that everything called “free” or “government funded” is actually “taxpayer funded”. And, citizens, even the wealthy, do not have unlimited funds for government to take. At the rate governments are spending, politicians will run out of other people’s money. In this case, my dear fellow taxpayers, we are the other people whose money they are spending!

“If too many people enjoy the free ride . . . and not enough people help pull, the wagon isn’t going anywhere.”