Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Stealing Tax Money to Give to Special Interests

The voucher issue and HB148 are emotional issues in Utah that require some clarity and a moment to step back. No matter how you word HB148 and claim you are not taking money out of education, you still need to fund it. Supporters claim that the money will come out of the general fund rather than education. So, basically, prisons and health care suffer.

Creating a voucher program is, therefore, an attack on any social program and an attack on the social aspect of our community. An example would be if I decided that the fire department was not adequate in my community. I decide that I would like a private fire department to just take care of my property and those who think the way I do. However, I want to have some public money to pay for my private fire department out of the general fund, the same fund that pays for the public fire department.

We need to face the fact that we live in a community with other people and that it is our social responsibility to pay taxes and fund social services like education so that all in the community can get an education for the community's benefit. Supporting a voucher plan is anti-community and shows that you care only for your own children, not those of the whole community you live in. Legislators pushing vouchers are not supporting the community and voucher supporters appear to be just as selfish.