Feeling Good About Taxes

* Re “A Word to Lift Spirits in These Taxing Times,” Orange County Voices, April 15:

Steven Frates is right: We taxpayers of Orange County should feel good when we pay our taxes. However, the rationale needs to be reviewed.

Frates says it’s because we “pay more than our share” to the federal and state tax people. Sounds fair. But on the block where I live, should the owner of the biggest house (who pays the biggest property tax) get more police, fire and sanitation services than the owner of the smallest house? If so, we can extend the principle of proportional return: Each neighbor can get his or her own shotgun, fire extinguisher and outdoor privy. We can fire all the council persons and pay no local tax at all.

I agree that keeping government close to home is best. But with population growth, mobility and the Internet, what goes on in a neighboring city (or county or region) is much more likely to affect my home today than a few years ago. Regional decisions become necessary.

Frates correctly warns that direct election of regional boards is risky because special interests (unions, corporations, etc.) can capture the board. But, alas, any elected body can be so captured if the capturers have the necessary financial or human resources to overwhelm the electoral process.

So let’s feel good as we pay our taxes. Good because we have been able to work and earn the money. Good because we live in a democracy where we can speak freely and throw the rascals out when they deserve it. And good because it’s our “rent” on an imperfect but correctable system.

DONALD E. MUELLER

Huntington Beach