A friend of mine frequently insists if that those of us that have our children in good schools would just pay a little bit more in taxes we could do a lot to help schools in less fortunate areas.
Wednesday night, economist and humorist Ben Stein told the CNN audience that he favored some way of supporting healthcare even if it is a tax where he had to pay more. He said that he doesn’t believe it is right that someone like him can get all of the healthcare he needs because he can afford it, while other people are unable to receive healthcare for lack of money.
I understand both of these viewpoints. People want help for those less fortunate, especially when it is children that are those less fortunate. Help for schools and children’s healthcare is certainly needed.
Private charities should be the method for people to support their favorite causes. However, the demand for tax payer funds is very high right now for causes including, healthcare, education, adult remedial education, homeless shelters, the arts; this list could go on.
That’s why I support the concept of Opt-In taxes. We already have Opt-In taxes in place for some causes. You can check a box on your Federal tax return authorizing the IRS to take a dollar from you to support Presidential election campaigns, and here in Georgia you can Opt-In to Wildlife Conservation, the Children and Elderly Fund, Cancer Research, a Greenspace Trust Fund and several others.
Opt-In taxes can help to provide additional funds above and beyond what the government already provides for a number of causes. Most important, Opt-In taxes allow the people that claim they want an increase in taxes for a particular purpose to go ahead and pay the tax and demonstrate their commitment. What could be better?
