Man,My paper s FULL of things I need to comment about today..another one!!

A taxing economic problem of scale
http://www.thedailylight.com/articles/2010/07/18/opinion/doc4c429b3b6176b545953636.txt

Paul Perry
Guest columnist

Most of us will start trying to make some rational decisions if we are taxed more. We will try to spend less; after all, we have less money to spend.

We might not buy a new car. We might not hire someone to help with lawn care. We might just cut back on meals out.

For most of us, these are options. In short, the more we are taxed, the more we decrease personal spending. This is not helpful for an economy that is in low gear, but these decisions are rational.

The poor or those with too much personal debt may not be able to cut spending easily. Increasing taxation may cause true suffering.

Those that have little extra money have fewer options.

Governments on the other hand, often will try to spend more money if the economy is in recession. It is kind of like trying to dig yourself out of a hole by digging deeper. You have to be a government economist to understand the logic. The money they use is either borrowed or confiscated from you.

The simple fact is, the more money our various governments take from their citizens through taxation, the less money is available to individuals, businesses and local communities. With less money available to local economies, the hole gets deeper.

Much spending in the private sector goes to support the local economy. If you pay 40 bucks to have your yard mowed and hedges trimmed, $40 goes to the yard man. If you pay an extra $40 in taxes, who knows where the money goes? Maybe Puerto Rico?

Some government spending stimulates local economies – through construction projects, for instance – but too often government spending is frittered away through various programs that may not affect the communities in which the tax dollars originated.

Money taxed from someone in Texas may be spent at the discretion of community organizers through federal block grants in, say, Chicago.

Your yard man, let’s call him Bill, has never seen a tax-funded block grant. He is likely to take part of the money you pay and spend it locally for gasoline and oil. Maybe Bill takes part of your hard-earned coin and saves it toward the purchase of a new weed eater or lawn mower. Most likely, new equipment will be purchased locally. Most of the rest will be spent nearby. All of this happens without government direction.

These activities will help someone in the community make a living and/or keep a job.

In Texas, even much of the sales tax will come back to the community where he makes his purchases, even if he buys his new lawnmower at mega-mart.

In his own way, Bill is contributing civically. That is how things are supposed to work, anyway. He is helping the economy without ever serving as a community organizer.

Forty dollars in taxes will be washed through the bureaucracy. Some might go to stimulus, or it might not. Maybe part of it will come back to the community. It is likely most of it will never directly benefit local needs.

Forty dollars in Bill’s pocket will circulate throughout the community, including through local bank deposits where it might allow banks to lend locally.

Better our money goes to Bill than to the various governments – state, federal and local – through higher taxes.

Paul D. Perry is a contributing columnist for the Daily Light. He is a local businessman and mediator and a former Ellis County justice of the peace.

Buying a mower at Walmart made in China doesn't really help workers in your local economy.

Buying a week's worth of food at the farmer's market does.

Purchasing a mower at the Salvation Army helps the poor in your area.

Purchasing a mower from a yard sale or flea market -- the money stays in your local economy.

Much of our consumer spending does not stay in our local economies d/t multinationals. Sales taxes stay in your community/county/state, property taxes stay in your county/town, school taxes stay in your school district.

If you look at Federal spending, a good portion goes to service debt, another large portion goes to military, it also goes to pay federal employees, pay for federal grants for education, healthcare, research, etc.

Just as Clinton did and the nation went on to experience the "Greatest economic expansion in history". The very wealthy will not cut back on food if they have to pay more in taxes. They will cut back on absolutely nothing, because they already have everything money can buy..

You can't do that long before you're forced to file for bankruptcy, much less after you file. Even with a job, if you're lucky to have survived being laid off.

That's my story among too many similar ones to count.