Satisfaction with Government

I get it that some people don’t like government. They think it is too much givernment. But that’s sarcasm and we have too much of that already.

So, let’s look at this issue a little bit more.

First of all, we have the national or Federal Government. Uncle Sam. And second we have state government. Third are the several forms of local government – city, county, library, fire and park districts. Maybe you have townships, too? Well, local governments are assigned a lot of tasks. Most are specialized by function and geographical territory as well. Taxing bodies have physical boundaries found on area maps. You own property in that area you then pay taxes based on property values for the various taxing bodies.

Let’s start with the most local form of government. If people are dissatisfied with local governments, then it must be because they dread the amount of money going to each. Actually, most taxing bodies are modest in their tax levies. The sole exception are school districts because their service is so large, so far reaching and costly that a large tax bite is extracted from property owners. This is significant in many locales.

It should be remembered that renters of residential properties don’t pay property taxes directly; they do, however, pay indirectly through their monthly lease payments. And yes, rent prices rise along with tax collections so landlords have the funds to pay their property taxes.

In Illinois, especially suburban Chicago, property taxes for local schools generally amount to $4000 per household; many are much higher, approaching $7500 per household.

Other taxing bodies typically charge less than $100 per year for their services. Fire protection districts are usually over $100, but libraries, junior colleges, counties, and the like are much less than $100 per year each. Most municipalities cost less than $500 per year, often much less.

Local taxing bodies are important to our routine lives. We see them at work every day and we interact with most taxing bodies in some manner or other on a daily or weekly basis. If you use schools daily you fit this description. Same with frequent visits to the park district for several of your family members.

Municipalities of course build our local streets and roads, traffic signals, sidewalks, plow our streets in winter and sweep them in summer. They prune public trees growing on public parkway, too. They provide support, building codes and enforcement of same, and provide much of the infrastructure (water, sewer, garbage collection) the community relies on every hour of every day. And governance is an open book: public meetings, newspaper reports on those meetings, periodic newsletters and reports to the public by the taxing bodies, and voting in elections for representatives to serve on the governance boards and commissions. Local taxing bodies are accountable to the people and most are serious on being accountable frequently throughout the year. If you don’t like something you can call or meet with someone to discuss the issue directly. Dissatisfaction should be short lived unless your complaint is cost and you live in a high cost of living area. Not much you can do other than move to a cheaper area.

Now, state government usually exacts fees, excise taxes, sales taxes, fuel taxes and income taxes. The amounts can be heavy but usually are much less than property taxes. That is the case in Illinois but it may be the exact opposite in other states. To compare apples with apples in these matters, one must know first how taxes are levied and by whom.

In Illinois the dissatisfaction is broadly based not on tax rates but on services provided and the accountability of governance overall. Our state legislature is deeply gridlocked by political party and ideology. No amount of logic or sanity enters this picture. Only power. And no one is giving an inch. The result is nothing much gets done. The state budget was due July 1, 2015 and none has been passed yet. This is a deplorable situation and schools, hospitals, doctors, social services and life and death support systems are all hurting.

There is much to be dissatisfied with in Illinois and that has little to do with local governments. State government yes.

About Federal Government, yes we all can be dissatisfied with Congress because it is gridlocked on political and ideological bases. Nothing more and nothing less than that. Nothing much gets done because of this. We can all be dissatisfied with this state of affairs. Blaming this on the President is dumb because he does not control Congress nor should he. That’s the way the Constitution arranged the separation of powers in the government. If you don’t like that then your argument is with the constitution. Personally, I blame ideological purists in both parties that keep Congress from doing its job. They do this only for political power and ideology. It has nothing to do with the President. Oh there are plenty who want to put all the blame on him but they would be wrong to do so. This is a constitutional fight within the Congress and between ideological camps.

So, there you have it. The public is generally dissatisfied with all government in the USA. But it is important to separate which governments are being discussed and then focusing on the why of the dissatisfaction.

Personally, if we junked the party system and began again with a more functional approach to doing business as governments, I think we would be better off. 

But then you have a lot of people who believe that no government or minimal government is the only way to go. I feel life is far too complicated to drastically reduce the function and reach of government. People need help and far too many people are too selfish to do this sort of work themselves. No, they want someone else to do that; meanwhile they don’t want to be bothered with the details of human suffering and policy discussions. After all, that is just too far beneath them!

More’s the pity!

April 20, 2016