PolicyGuy

Monday, March 29, 2004


When Taxes Destroy Community Spirit
If communities are not as strong as they used to be, perhaps it's because government has taken over. Why help out voluntarily if you're paying taxes anyway?

In a February 9, 2004 article, the Toledo Blade says that "Toledo explores other options for funding community assets." While Columbus, Cincinnati and Cleveland and other cities have asked for taxpayer dollars for various arts projects, at least one arts organization knows that it's not always a good deal.

Says Bob Bell, executive director of the Toledo Symphony, "You give them a call, and our usual donors might say 'Well, now you've got this levy, why do you need me? A levy could be very tricky."

Not tricky (though more difficult) would be simply relying on voluntary, rather than forced contributions to the arts and other projects. Then we would know that the money came from truly community-minded people rather than the political process that was hijacked by a few activists.

"Justice Louis D. Brandeis'?s metaphor of the states as "laboratories" for policy experiments ... had almost nothing to do with federalism and everything to do with his commitment to scientific socialism. .... To this day, it continues to inhibit a truly experimental, federalist politics." -- Michael S. Greve

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