Tax Addiction - How it Starts

Addictions come in all shapes and sizes these days. Addictions to alcohol, illegal drugs, sex, money, power, have all become common place. In the world of government, the most tempting addiction is your tax dollars... the crack of government. An addiction so strong that once tried, it's almost impossible to break away from.

Our Eyes tell us that last Thursday night, The Mayer (Councilor Mayer) used the most common excuse known to addicts when justifying her support of the extension of the Transportation Infrastructure Tax... we need it and we can't live without it. Like any addict Councilor Mayer believes that without her fix of 1/4 cent, the city's streets, bikeways, and walkways would cease to exist or fall into utter disrepair.

Unwittingly, she also gave us the reason why we should NEVER, NEVER, NEVER impose a tax on ourselves... It will never go away. Once we let those addicts down at city hall get their first fix, they're hooked.

They become dependent through a process called supplanting. Once the public passes a tax on itself to achieve a specific goal that was originally funded through the city's general fund, the money in the general fund is shifted to pay for other things that are usually more about leaving a legacy (See Marty's MyCentennial Towers) than about the basic and most important functions of government.

Sometimes we have a hazy memory, but we're pretty sure that the City of Albuquerque had roads, bike paths, and walkways before the imposition of the Transportation Infrastructure Tax back in 1999. Now addicts like The Mayer tell us that there's no way we can survive without that tax, an addiction shared by the Almighty One's Chief of Operations, Ed Adams who defended the tax extension in just those terms.

It always starts innocently enough... that first taste of taxation bliss. A tax to fund public safety, or for better parks, or transportation or quality of life; before you know it they're hooked and you're broke.