A letter to the editor in the Herald Times Reporter from Emily Matthews of Kiel, Wisconsin
I had an eye-opening conversation last week. I complained about Wisconsin's high taxes, and someone replied, "We need taxes; people want things." (Translation: "You need to pay taxes to support me.")
My reply? "There's a good old-fashioned way to get things," called work.
Is this how bad it is in Wisconsin? Do folks truly believe government can supply all their desires? That they don't have to work to get paid?
Wisconsin used to be famous for its work ethic!
Employers provide work (jobs); government doesn't. True, there are some government jobs, paid for by the rest of us.
Companies and entrepreneurs create wealth (and jobs); government saps wealth, through taxes.
When taxes get too high, companies leave to resettle in kinder states -- or else close down, and wealth and jobs disappear. Government may try to hike taxes to pay for itself, but this will end up driving more jobs and wealth out of the state.
No country or state ever yet taxed its way to prosperity. Deficits result instead. Wisconsin has the fourth-highest deficit in the nation. Citizens for Responsible Government and W.I.N. are tired of this vicious cycle, and want to do something about it.
Thomas Jefferson said, "A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take away everything you have."
Gov. Doyle's proposed bloated budget indeed will be "taking away" from the most productive parts of society.
Emily Matthews
Kiel
