can we all just agree that the howard jarvis taxpayers association is ridiculous?

first of all, they're "dedicated to protecting proposition 13," which was the 1978 ballot measure that has caused california schools and libraries (and, by extension, kids and families and the economy and literacy levels and quality of life) to suffer ever since. the prop 13 debate is an ugly one, but i'm prepared to defend the "prop 13 bad" side of things, yes.

ever since i started reading the arguments for and against propositions (many years before i started voting, yes yes, nerd! i know.) i noticed that those folks are always on the opposite side of issues as i am. which, yeah, pretty much makes them lame. but in the last election booklet, they really tipped their hand.

in their argument against proposition 81 (library bonds), they do the predictable thing, throwing out lots of numbers and statistics that, divorced from any sort of context, seem to clearly indicate that california politicians are out-of-control compulsive spenders ("it is never enough. did you realize that, prior to 1986, the state only owed $4 billion in bonds?" [THIS WAS BECAUSE, IN PRE-PROP 13 CALIFORNIA, WE HAD ENOUGH MONEY TO DO THINGS. ] "california and its taxpayers built our entire freeway system, the entire university system, our water system, and all of our grade and high schools without borrowing a dime...in 1988, the politicians told us our libraries were in trouble, and needed more money" [BECAUSE OF THE EFFECTS OF PROP 13, GUYS!])

they goes on to complain and complain about borrowing (which i'm not necessarily arguing in favor of), but then things get interesting. or appalling. "we spent $9 billion on illegal alien [sic] welfare last year, yet the state can't find one dime in money for libraries, and has to borrow money again? something is wrong. we are going to be told how important libraries are, and how we have to borrow the money again. these politicians want our children and our grandchildren to keep paying more and more, so they can keep giving more and more of their money to illegal aliens [sic] and self-indulgent bureaucrats...instead of letting them borrow the money, we need to tell them to take the money away from the illegals [sic], and give it to us in libraries."

so there you have it. it's the fault of "illegals [sic]" that california libraries are in trouble. without getting too far into the issue of whether or not undocumented immigrants represent a net gain or loss to california's economy (it's a net gain, just like in every other state), i think it's important to stop and realize the degree to which this organization relies on the tired practice of immigrant-blaming to advance its allegedly taxpayer-friendly agenda.

but seriously, i want people to stop and think logically about the tax situation. i'll freely concede that nobody likes paying taxes. but i am unendingly frustrated by the pathologically short-sighted view that lower taxes=better.

taxes, in addition to paying for massive bureaucracies and office supplies at dmv and the governator's salary, pay for fire stations and battered women's shelters and toilet paper at public schools and children's books at libraries.

countries with higher tax rates than the united states also have things like universal health care (that means that everybody can go to the doctor when they get sick, not just the people who have health insurance and/or the capacity to pay for it out of pocket.) they have programs that allow every single kid to go to the dentist twice a year (and i can tell you from experience that the result of kids not being able to go to the dentist is horrible. tooth decay can actually be fatal.) they have libraries that are accessible and inviting to everyone.

it is a tradeoff, like every economic decision. but i am sick of the argument that lower taxes will somehow improve my life. if i made a lot of money and if i had absolutely no concern for any sort of common good or for the living conditions of my neighbors, then maybe. but since neither of those states of affairs are likely, i'm tired of people trying to convince me that paying fewer taxes will make me happier.

and i know that immigrant-bashing is totally chic right now, but that doesn't mean that i like it any better.