Local right wing gas bag, Mike Rosen, has a new opinion piece in the Denver Pest arguing that government workers are not really tax payers because, you know, they are paid with tax money.
I am shocked to hear that all the money withheld from my paychecks was not taxes but something else. What on earth could it have been?
Here are Rosen's opening paragraphs.
With all the tumult over public-sector labor unions launched by the Battle of Wisconsin, there seems to be some dispute over whether those who work for government are actually "taxpayers."
Although, superficially, it may appear that they are, for the most part, they're not. Yes, they pay property taxes on their homes, sales taxes when they buy something and have income taxes withheld from their paychecks. But the fact remains, the source of their wages, salaries and benefits are, ultimately, the taxes of those who work in the private sector.
If a government worker defers consumption in order to invest some of his pay in the stock market, he'll pay taxes on what that investment yields, but, it should be noted, the source of that investment gain is also the private sector. If he invests in a tax-exempt municipal bond, he may not pay taxes on the interest he earns, but, once again, the interest on that bond is ultimately provided by private-sector taxpayers. All income and wealth in a free-enterprise market economy comes from the private sector.
This is the full extent of his reasoning on this matter. If you read the rest of the article, you will see that it does nothing to make his point clearer, and nothing to justify his belief that the money withheld from my checks was not taxes.
His reasoning seems to be: Wealth comes from the private sector. Your pay comes from the public sector. Therefore, you do not pay taxes (you scummy teacher, you).
Note that in paragraph 2 Rosen says that I did in fact pay taxes, its just that I didn't because, you know, the private sector and all of that. His reasoning is non-sequitur. There is a lot of that going around these days. Basically it comes down to a game of ipse dixit (I say so). Why were my taxes not taxes, because Mike says so. That's it.
The Denver Pest website is racking up commentary on this "issue" -- sadly, there are lots of folks on there defending Rosen.
My thinking: it would be nice if some Kossacks joined the discussion there.
My counter argument to Rosen: when I collected a Colorado state check I did not just pay for Colorado govt. I also paid for the city of Denver and for the Federal govt. Surely, those taxes were real? If not, then I want my money back.