"Total tax collections in the U.S. are expected to be $2,667,000,000,000 in 1998. This represents 35.4% of the country's total income. In comparison, medieval serfs paid an effective tax rate of 33.3 percent." (Source: Just Facts)
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"Total tax collections in the U.S. are expected to be $2,667,000,000,000 in 1998. This represents 35.4% of the country's total income. In comparison, medieval serfs paid an effective tax rate of 33.3 percent." (Source: Just Facts) |
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The budget suffered "cuts" - in truth, the budget has never been decreased, only the rate of growth has been slowed. Indeed, the budget has almost never grown slower than inflation and for the last several years has grown at a rate double that of inflation (inflation 2-2.5%, budget increases 5%)
More money improves education - In Hartford they spend nearly $10,000
per pupil, we spend under $7,000. But whose education is better? Private
schools spend even less per pupil, and even those which do not reject pupils
based on test scores or performance, attain higher levels of education than
those in government schools serving the same area. In addition, enrollment
at the elementary level has slowed, suggesting that future education budgets
should shrink to accomodate fewer students (a national demographic trend).
· Smaller classes mean better education (and require more teachers
and more money) - But between 1950 and 1995, pupil-teacher ratios fell nationally
by 35 percent. Test scores have not gone up. Even a Tennessee class-size-reduction
experiment didn't improve student performance from the first grade on up.
American students’ performance on the [Third International Mathematics
and ScienceStudy] test declines after the 4th grade. In mathematics, American
4th graders scored above the international average. But students in seven
countries (Singapore, Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, The Netherlands, the Czech
Republic, and Austria) outperform U.S. 4th graders, and only 9 percent of
U.S. 4th graders are in the world’s top 10 percent. Meanwhile, 39 percent
of Singaporean students, 26 percent of Korean students, and 23 percent of
Japanese students rank in the top 10 percent.Yet Korea, and Japan have typical
class sizes of 49 and 36, respectively.
People have to be prepared to pay for services they want - But households with students are a small proportion of the population. Those who use the most social services typically own the smallest amount of property and pay the lowest taxes. Protecting large properties costs no more than protecting smaller ones. People with homes don't use the roads more than people with apartments. And for almost every government provided service, there is a private provider who can do a better job.
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