It simply doesn’t pay for itself

It’s interesting, isn’t it, how letter writers who support development insist that their viewpoint just makes common sense? Encouraging companies and industry, and of course more people, to locate here is good for the economy, they say. More jobs, more people, more tax base, is progress. That is, in theory, how it is supposed to work.

The results, however, suggest otherwise. After a decade of unprecedented growth, record profit for industry and record spending by consumers, our state’s economy is no better off than any other’s. In fact, our economy is one of the worst, due in part to airline cutbacks and the loss of orders to Boeing. It also doesn’t seem to make any difference how a state collects taxes. Income-tax states are just as bad off as sales-tax states.

The fact is, growth has to pay for more schools, more roads, more police, etc., or taxes have to be raised for everybody to help pay for these things. Every tax we now pay will have to be increased sooner or later. Some increases are caused by inflation. Some, like electric bills, are the result of government incompetence or corporate conniving. But the biggest reason for tax increases is growth. Growth simply does not pay for itself.

I would suggest that common sense to growth advocates really means dollars and cents in their pocket. Rarely does benefiting some add up to prosperity for all.

Camano Island