OPINION:
Governments around the world attempt to balance their books by increasing taxation on residents rather than finding ways to reduce expenditure.
I encountered this problem nearly 60 years ago while living in Reading, England. A group of young Labor Party members took control of the local council, and its exorbitant spending aspirations led to significant increases in local taxation. I wrote a letter to the local newspaper, and much to my surprise, it was placed on the front page and led to a swell of local support.
A group of us formed a local ratepayers (the British term for local housing tax) association. A council election was due within a few months, so we rented halls around the area and appealed to the electorate to vote on the basis of the quality of each candidate rather than their political party affiliation.
The theme repeated at each well-attended local meeting was, “Which candidate would you trust to invest a few million of your savings?”
Amazingly, the election resulted in a hung council with three parties — Conservative, Labor and Liberal — each getting one-third of the membership, and no group receiving a working majority.
For the next three years, the council budget was reviewed and modified by the newly formed ratepayers association, leading to a significant reduction in expenditure, followed by no increases in local taxation.
Control can be achieved, but it requires an educated electorate to vote appropriately, not purely on party affiliation.
It looks as if the problem of growing public expenditure will not change easily in the short term in the highly polarized U.S.
STANLEY ORMAN
Rockville, Maryland
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