The Imploding Tax System

by Christopher G. Adamo

It may seem alarmist to warn that America's tax system is on the verge of total collapse, but it is no exaggeration. Throughout America, such handwriting is undeniably on the wall. And though the federal budget is itself presently in dire straits, it is among state governments that many budgets are strained beyond the breaking point. Worse yet, few at the state level show even the slightest intention of realistically dealing with the problem.

Several months have elapsed since it first became apparent that California simply could not maintain a “business as usual” fiscal policy. Yet Governor Gray Davis refuses to tackle the underlying problems that, if left uncorrected, will ultimately bankrupt his state's treasury. Instead, he searches for methods of somehow maintaining the bloated status quo, seeking vainly to recoup shortfalls through the standard liberal approach of inventing new taxes.

At the other end of the country, New York State holds the dubious potential of surpassing California's fiscal irresponsibility. Like California, New York's problems are only exacerbated by wrong-headed “fixes.” New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, along with the state legislature, seeks to alleviate a multi-billion dollar budget deficit by… you guessed it, raising taxes. Their unimaginative approach is to impose a “millionaire” surcharge on those earning $100,000 and up. You do the math…

The proposed budget of New York State presently stands at $93 billion, with a projected shortfall in the billions. To truly appreciate the enormity of such figures, consider what they mean on a per-capita basis. New York intends to spend nearly five thousand dollars in the upcoming year for every man, woman, and child of the nineteen million people who live within its borders. To liberals, this is the essence of “compassion.” But as usual they give little or no thought to the fact that every one of those five thousand dollars, for every one of those people, must come from somewhere.

The nation's founders wisely regarded government as a necessary evil, and thus sought to Constitutionally restrain it from unbridled growth. State governments would have done well to follow this path. However, far too many legislators believe that the size of government should be constantly expanded to consume all available funds. Economies rarely remain constant, but swell and contract as a result of normal business cycles. Even prior to the attacks of September 2001, most sectors of the economy were retreating from the incredible booms of the ‘90's.

Unfortunately, whenever growth spurts occur, every imaginable special interest group lines up with hands extended, demanding indefensible increases in funding. At the head of the line is always the public education bureaucracy, predictably pointing to its abominable performance as proof of the dire necessity for more money to fix its problems. And every bit as predictable is that it has no intention of actually correcting anything, for in so doing it would destroy its best reason to request still more funds in upcoming years. (Has anyone noticed the total lack of improvement in standardized test scores anywhere, which ostensibly should have accompanied ballooning education budgets from coast to coast?)

Had state governments acted prudently during periods of vigorous growth, they could have diverted tax windfalls into various “lockboxes”, to tide them over through times of malaise. But such was simply not the case. Robust economic times meant revenues to state treasuries increased dramatically. Consequently, so did expenditures. The present austere times mean those in the private sector must tighten their belts just to get by, though bureaucracies seek instead to maintain the inflow of cash by squeezing the beleaguered citizenry all the harder.

The results in New York, and anywhere else in the nation where such methods are attempted, will be that many who are presently living there and struggling under the present tax burden will simply figure out ways of relocating their finances. Among those pondering a move to the Empire State, a new round of confiscatory taxation may tip the balance in favor of a move elsewhere. Perhaps the least encouraging aspect of all this is that ultimate responsibility for changing the political mindset falls to an electorate that, in recent years, has shown an ever-increasing propensity to vote based on short-term self-interests.

In the absence of major changes in voting patterns, state and city budgets will stumble relentlessly towards a grim “day of reckoning”, when neither slick talking politicians nor accounting gimmicks can extract more funds from sources that are presently being bled dry.

Growing up during the turbulent decades of the ‘60's and ‘70's, Christopher  Adamo saw, to his dismay, the nation's moral foundations being destroyed  before his very eyes. But even then he was a staunch Conservative at heart,  and rejected outright the tenets of America's counterculture revolution.

 After a hitch in the Air Force, where he specialized in airborne  electro- optical systems, he pursued a career in the field of aerospace,  working for major defense contractors in California, Florida, and Colorado. But his career plans abruptly changed during the industry-wide downsizing that followed the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.

Presently he is working in the field of industrial instrumentation in the state of Wyoming. Concurrently, he has become involved in that state's political process, attending state GOP conventions as a delegate, and serving as a member of the Wyoming Republican Central Committee. He has also aided in the candidacies of local legislators and state senators, as well as a U.S. Senator and Congresswoman.

From 1993 to 1996, he edited and wrote for “The Wyoming Christian”, the state newsletter for Christian Coalition of Wyoming. During that period, he developed an acute awareness of the harm being done to Conservatism by liberal activists within the Republican Party as well as the Democrats. This remains a favorite theme of his articles, which now appear as a regular feature on GOPUSA.