Posted 11/14/2009 01:52:00 PM by Douglas

There's an age-old argument in politics: Does the government benefit the people by taxing the shit out of them just to (poorly) spend the money on government services? Here's a fascinating look at two states: Texas with relatively low taxes doing a shitty job of providing services versus California, with high taxes doing a shitty job of providing services. What really amazes me is that there are people that are genuinely surprised by this:

It’s not surprising, then, that an intense debate rages over which model is more satisfactory and sustainable. What is surprising is the growing evidence that the low-benefit, low-tax alternative succeeds not only on its own terms but also according to the criteria used by defenders of high benefits and high taxes. Whatever theoretical claims are made for imposing high taxes to provide generous government benefits, the practical reality is that these public goods are, increasingly, neither public nor good: their beneficiaries are mostly the service providers themselves, and their quality is poor. For evidence, look to the two largest states in the nation, which are fine representatives of the liberal and conservative alternatives.

Well, duh. That's one of the key differences between liberals and conservatives, back when we still had fiscal conservatives.

The high-benefit, high-tax model can work, but only if the high taxes actually purchase high benefits—that is, public goods that far surpass the quality of those available to people who pay low taxes.

And here, California is decidedly lacking.

I'm sure there are examples I'm not aware of, but are there any places where people just love the government services their high taxes buy them? The only people that want the government to give them crappy services are those with no money to provide them for themselves.

But, I hope no one reads this article, especially people in California. That's just what Texas needs, more idiots from California that think a two and a half hour commute and $350,000 for a 1,400 square foot house is a great deal.