As I've Said Before...

Months ago, I commented that taxes are not evil - they are a daily necessity that pay for basic things such as infrastructure and services the state provides, and that instead of getting outraged about whether taxes go up or not, we should get outraged on how our taxes are spent (outrage over spending on state highways is stupid; outrage on spending for a trillion dollar war that could have repaired highways multiple times over is not stupid).

Sure enough, it looks like the Minnesota disaster is going to lead to a raise in taxes (gas in this case) to pay for infrastructural improvements. Once again, it's this simple folks: if we want services like roads, interstate highway systems, fire departments, clean water, etc., you have to pay for it. As they are services states do and should provide, it will cost tax money. It's that simple. So next time somebody starts blowing up about the rates of taxes, remind them that, even with increases, the United States has some of the lowest tax rates in the world, and those taxes don't just pay for programs like Medicare and Medicaid, but things like the highway or bridges systems that, we learn too late, are in bad shape.