Taxes; self-help?

Question

Rather than relying on taxes, communities should be directly responsible for raising any required funds to pay for all extracurricular public school activities, including after-school sports.

agree/disagree? what are your reasons

Answer 1

Disagree. There are a good many things, for example schools and roads, that benefit the community in general and shouldn't each have to be voted on individually. And volunteers these days are pretty tapped out, so relying on some individual to spearhead a fund drive for everything that's needed would be impractical at best.

That said, there are a number of things funded by taxes that probably should be optional. But the problem there is that each person's list of those things is probably different from each other person's.

An example: I personnally feel very strongly that people should have a public library available to them, but there are people who feel that they aren't necessary. The state where I live provides a portion, but under 1/4 overall, of the funding required to support their libraries, expecting local government to pick up the rest. Some do voluntarily, but many don't. Several years ago in our area, we had a referendum in three local governmental areas for people to vote on giving local tax money for library support. A "yes" vote meant a tax increase for that, averaging $21 per home (real estate tax is the only way that a referendum is allowed in our state for libraries). It passed in two areas of the three areas. The library still gets slightly less than half of its total operating expenses from state plus local governments, and must rely on fundraising and donations for the rest.

Answer 2

Communities raise funds by imposing taxes. Also, they raise funds by imposing other costs. For example, the park district has a recreational center that includes a full gym. In order to use the gym, you have to pay an admission fee or purchase a gym membership.

So, I guess I agree that communities are directly responsible for raising funds.