Interpreting taxpayer’s reactions

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March 13, 2010

Anonymous Pharos-Tribune Sat Mar 13, 2010, 10:23 PM EST

An editorial last week noted that supporters of such extracurricular activities as band and athletic competition were concerned that state budget cuts would lead school boards to scale back or eliminate their programs.

We suggested that to make such cuts would be a mistake, that statistics indicate there is much more to a well-rounded education than reading, writing and arithmetic.

Research has found, we said, that kids who get involved in activities outside the classroom perform better in school and are more likely to graduate and go on to better things as adults.

Given all that, we asked a simple question in our weekly online survey: Would you be willing to pay more in taxes to support extracurricular activities such as the band and athletic teams in public schools?

The answer wasn’t all that surprising. Roughly two-thirds of those who took the time to respond said no, they wouldn’t.

So what does that mean?

Does it mean schools ought to scrap their athletic programs, sell off their band instruments and put all of their resources into the classroom?

Well, no, it doesn’t.

What it means, quite simply, is that most people hate to pay taxes.

Just ask the Internal Revenue Service. Lots of us enjoy the services our federal government provides, but we hate having to pay for them.

Many of us will spend hours sorting through receipts and adding up numbers on the calculator just to make sure we don’t send one extra dime to the IRS.

The same goes for our cities and our schools. We like having police and fire departments there when we need them. We like cheering for the hometown basketball team, and we enjoy seeing the fruits of a well-educated work force.

But we don’t enjoy taking money out of our pockets to pay for these things.

Ask any 10 people on the street whether they’re paying too much in taxes, and the odds are six or seven will say yes. Ask those same 10 people what services they’d eliminate, and it’s likely they won’t have a long list.

They don’t want to eliminate the services. They just want to cut all the so-called government waste.

We get virtually the same result every time we ask a question about taxes.

A few weeks back, we asked what readers would be willing to do to keep the municipal pool open, and for the vast majority of those responding, the answer was nothing at all.

Nothing at all? Really?

The good news is that every community has a few people who are willing to roll up their sleeves and put in some hard work getting the things done that need to be done.

Last summer, lots of local residents gave up part of a weekend to do some painting and fixing up at the pool.

For the last two weekends, a number of members of the local Roosters organization turned out to help with the restoration of a World War II Roll of Honor outside the City Building.

Week after week, especially in the summer months, a relatively small group of volunteers turns out to help in building and maintaining our local trails.

The list goes on.

The truth is that if we left it up simply to majority rule, many of the things our communities take pride in just wouldn’t exist. Left to our own devices, most of us would simply sit on our hands and wait for someone else to take action.

The reality is that most worthwhile projects or programs get off the ground and remain in existence not because of overwhelming public support. No, these projects and programs come about because of the vision of community leaders and because of the blood, sweat and tears of a small group of volunteers.

U.S. anthropologist Margaret Meade said it best.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world,” she said. “Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

• Kelly Hawes is managing editor of the Pharos-Tribune. He can be reached at 574-732-5155 or kelly.hawes@pharostribune.com.

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Interpreting taxpayer’s reactions

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