The Wisconsin Policy Research Institute

They’re at it again. The folks at the Institute for Wisconsin’s Future are popping champagne corks over a tiny change in a speech Tom Barrett gave. It seems that at that last minute Barrett changed his mind (imagine that). Rather than saying, “Our families and businesses want state tax increases to stop,” as the speech was originally written, Barrett said, “Our families and businesses want fair taxes.” Some people become giddy at the thought of fair taxes.

“Fair taxes” has become the new euphemism for higher taxes. Further, when someone champions “fair taxes,” they are actually using the code words for higher taxes - which someone else will have to pay. It makes them feel good to parade the streets wearing in a fair taxes sandwich sign. However, if they’d look around they would see that the public isn’t buying it. The public is no longer a willing combatant in the class warfare that these aging Bolsheviks want to wage.

Maybe it’s the recession or maybe the public is just cheap. Whatever the reason, the public sees the oversimplified debate over taxes and spending as a relic of days gone by. Even if they are fans of particular government programs, they no longer buy into the argument that more taxes will yield better services.

What the public wants from their taxes is exactly the same thing they want from every other financial transaction they enter. They want to know that they are getting something for their money. The public wants value.

Unfortunately, "value" has never been part of the lexicon of government spending. We are told that most government services are simply too difficult to measure. We are supposed to take on faith the precept that more spending will indeed be justified. Nonsense!

The public wants to know what it is getting for its investment in government. For example, the largest check written from the state treasury each year goes to Milwaukee Public Schools - $752 million last year. That’s $752 million for a district with spotty academic results and a fringe benefit rate that equal 68% of salaries. Little wonder that the public is beginning to feel as though it’s being played for a sucker.

In this light, the concept of fair taxes is nearly irrelevant. The public won’t be willing to entertain the concept of fairness until it is satisfied that its investment is producing something of value, fairly or unfairly. The public will no longer simply leave the cash on the stump with no questions asked. Frankly that is a concept that might have played in an earlier era but not today.

This is the new reality for government. The public doesn’t just ask whether government is too big, they ask if it is any good. Those who run schools, social service agencies, universities, highway department and every other government operation must be prepared to show the public value for its investment. If it does produce value, then Wisconsin has proven time and time again that it is willing to support it. However, if it cannot show value, it will not survive.

-December 8, 2009

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