Originally Posted by benhogan

I fall in this category. I would vote for higher taxes.

My kids go to private school but I would still vote for higher property taxes because it makes the public schools in the county I live in better.

It helps to think of it in an extreme way. Let's say they could not afford to pay the teachers anything and the kids end up not learning how to read (at all). Say I'm driving in my car and I get killed by one of the students at an intersection because he could not read "STOP". Who's fault is that? Mine or the kid's. Your call.

My point is that everyone benefits from the community owned 'goods'- in this case, the literacy of kids. It could very well apply to roads, defense, etc etc.

There is a flip side to this. I happen to be an accountant so I know the tax laws very well. I know when to zig and when to zag (legally of course) so my taxes are minimized. My 'realized' income is much larger than my 'taxable' income.

I personally think a lot of people can live much better on a lot less if they just took the time to do some tax planning.