Free Stuff

One of the more common criticisms of Bernie Sanders is that he (if elected) is going to raise taxes in order to give lazy people "free stuff". Senator Sanders claims that he has a plan to offset the additional expenditures that his plans will require, I'm a little skeptical about his math and the underlying assumptions, but not about the basic rightness of what he wants to do.

Sanders describes himself as a Democratic Socialist (but could more accurately be described as a Social Democrat ) and his detractors latch on to the label "socialist" as if it were a synonym for "evil". Socialism has many forms, it is not a one-size-fits-all system or philosophy. On one end of the spectrum you have the communist dictatorships and on another point in the spectrum you have the Scandinavian nations. Comparing Sanders' brand of socialism to the communist regimes is a straw man: he is not advocating anything that extreme. He is not advocating abolishing capitalism for instance.

We all (in theory) pay taxes. Taxes (again, in theory) finance things that benefit the nation as a whole. Many of the programs that our taxes finance have obvious universal benefits. We surely need a military, even if we disagree about its mission at times; but beyond that, it could probably be argued that every other federal expenditure benefits some people and not others. I use the interstate highway system, but not national parks, for example. Some argue that most of Sanders' proposals are merely giveaways, "free stuff", akin to welfare. But it could be argued that we already have plenty of giveaways that benefit the wealthiest among us. How many cities build sports stadiums that are then operated for the profit of a private company? Many of the giveaways to the wealthy come in the form of tax breaks or tax refunds. Homeowners receive a tax deduction for the interest that they pay on their home loans. If you are a homeowner receiving this benefit, you undoubtedly think that it's a good thing, because it benefits you. There are numerous tax exemptions and incentive programs available, usually to those who already have quite a large bank account balance. You don't hear a lot of opposition to these "giveaways".

What is the best use of our tax dollars? It could be argued that making it easier for everyone to get a college education is beneficial to the nation as a whole, in addition to basic fairness to the individual. This ties into the idea of a higher minimum wage. An argument against a higher wage is that it is a disincentive for people to seek more education, "bettering" themselves in order to find better paying work. While there is some truth to this position, the availability of well-paying jobs and careers for those without a college education has diminished over the last decades. A generation ago there was an abundance of jobs in manufacturing, railroads, government, law enforcement, construction, and the building trades that paid well enough for someone to live fairly well, buy a home and perhaps even send the kids to college. Those jobs are disappearing. And even where they still exist, the pay rate is lower for the newer hires and there is often not the pension plan that the previous generation enjoyed. There often is no opportunity for people to better themselves, to move on from entry-level jobs and college is either priced beyond reach or a graduate is saddled with crippling debt. Couldn't it be argued that using our tax dollars for this purpose was just as legitimate as providing tax shelters for the wealthy?