SamSaid!

DUAL STANDARDS

    It takes a while for some things to register but I think I have finally figured out that there are two kinds of money in this country. There are REAL dollars such as those in your pocket, purse, wallett, IRA, 401K, savings accounts, checking accounts, etc. Then there are TAX dollars  –   those that our governments have taken from us in various ways.  According to the National Taxpayers Union, every thing we earn up to about May 20th of each year goes to taxes. Over 4 1/2 months. That's an awful lot of tax dollars.

     But tax dollars are different. If someone takes my real dollars, they face the real possibility of spending hard time behind bars  –  like maybe 2-5 years or even 5-10 years. . They call it theft, robbery, larceny, grand larceny  –  harsh terms.  When somebody steals $1,000 of REAL money from another citizen, it can be a very big deal.

     But with tax dollars, it seems that a different standard applies. When the government takes your real dollars and converts them into tax dollars it's about like taking a bucket of water and dumping it into Lake Superior. The money loses its identity and disappears into that big pool in Washington or Sacramento. Now, it belongs to nobody. It's just……..there. And the terminolgy changes. When persons of authority (or access) decide to dip into that pool to take a bucketful here and there and use it for their own purposes, it's called “missing funds”, “misappropriation”, “mis-use”, or (occasionally) more pejorative terms like “fraud” or “embezzlement”. And the penalties if the perpetrator gets caught are more like 30 or 60 days suspended sentence, probation, or maybe a few months of community service.The prevailing attitude seems to be. “no harm, no foul” since the money doesn't belong to anyone.

     When the money goes to Washington, there are legions who just can't wait to spend it. While some may profess to be cost conscious, that brief delusion simply precedes the overpowering impulse to spent the money. Conversely, there is no real incentive NOT to spend it. After all, it is there, and it belongs to no one.   

     George Bush is right. The only brakes on big time governmental spending  is not to sent the money to Washington in the first place. That doesn't necessarily prevent outright waste or deter deficit spending, but it can force prioritization. Neither will spending limits  eliminate the indifference to mis-use of tax payer dollars. It won't for example prevent the IRS from looking the other way as Jesse Jackson pays for his extr-marital dalliances with tax grants from the Feds.

     The reason is simple. Tax dollars are not real dollars. They belong to no one. Dollars NOT taxed are real  — they are ours.