By Assemblyman Gerry Scharfenberger
One of the old standby promises for politicians who want to pander to their constituents or certain sub-groups within, is to offer them goods or services for “free.”
Free universal pre-K, free buses, free cell phones – free, free, free. What better way to secure votes than to offer voters something for free? The problem is, nothing the government gives anyone is free – it’s just a matter of who pays for it, or more specifically, that someone else pays for it. We all know who the someone who pays for it is, the beleaguered taxpayer.
For example, New York City has a new mayor not because of his wealth of experience and qualifications, not because of his sound fiscal plan or viable policies, but because he promised to govern like Santa Claus 365 days a year. Free universal pre-K starting at two years old (de facto daycare), free groceries, free tax preparation and free bus service, to name a few are just some of the goodies doled out to a grateful electorate.
Now comes the hard part: how to pay for it.
Aside from the usual massive tax increases on businesses and high earning individuals, the mayor is looking for an unprecedented infusion of cash from the state. Absent the latter, he is threatening a whopping 9.5% property tax increase.
Not to be outdone, New Jersey has its own amalgam of programs that provide “free” college tuition, school meals, health care and pre-K among others. Very pricey to say the least, but one look at the New Jersey state budget and it doesn’t take a CPA to figure out why the budget has grown by over $26billion in just eight years.
Providing “free” stuff is the antithesis of affordability since the tax bill to pay for it is borne solely by the taxpayers, some of whom will be the beneficiaries of those “free stuff” programs. In reality, whatever they gain from the program will be negated by the costs in taxpayer funds to pay for it. New Jersey has a population of 9.5 million with a proposed budget of $60.7billion.
Compare that to Florida with a population of 24.3 million, more than two and a half times that of New Jersey, but with a budget of $117 billion, less than two times that of New Jersey. The difference between the significantly less spending per capita in Florida compared to New Jersey is the dearth of “free” things that must be paid for in Florida.
The incredible expense that comes when things are made free is always left out of the rhetoric spewed by elected officials. Rather than say “I will provide X, Y, or Z service/goods at no cost to you” it should be required to fully disclose “I will provide X, Y, or Z service/goods paid for by the taxpayers.”
It wouldn’t lessen the damage of such profligacy in the name of currying favor with the voters, but at least it would give credit where credit is due. Maybe it would even scare some politicians away from using the taxpayers to fund their election time gimmicks to buy votes under the guise of “free stuff.”
