The ice cream of politics is the promise of lower taxes and increased government spending. The public likes ice cream, so any politician who can convince the voters that he will serve them their favorite treat at every meal has got himself lifetime job security.
The broccoli of politics is the reality that lower taxes must be matched with reductions in government services and increased government spending requires increased taxes. Voters don't like broccoli and the honest man who seeks public office by telling them they have to eat it had better not give up his day job.
Some of the candidates running for mayor of the City of Union seem to understand the public's demand for ice cream and its aversion to broccoli. One candidate is demanding an end to tax increases in favor of a more efficient spending of city resources, a tasty scoop that doesn't exactly jibe with reality. The last time the city raised its tax millage was in the 1990s when it went to 80 mills. Reassessment caused the city to roll back its property tax to 74.3 mills in 2001 and it's remained there since.
This is a variation on the “government should be run as a business” flavor peddled by many a political Good Humor man over the years. The idea is that by applying business principles to the public sector you improve efficiency to the point where you can increase government services while realizing such savings that you can lower taxes.
While it makes for catchy bumper sticker, it doesn't take into account that by their very nature a number of vital government services cannot be run like a business. In economic downturns businesses lay off employees because personnel is their largest expenditure. Do you want the city to lay off its police officers, firefighters and other emergency personnel because the economy is in recession? Do you want garbage left uncollected and litter left in the streets because the bean counters have laid off the entire sanitation department?
Even worse, though, is a form of ice cream popular with politicians running in urban areas - double taxation. One candidate has trouble with the concept that Union is part of Union County and therefore its residents pay both city and county taxes. His position is that if you live in the city you should pay only city taxes.
My position is if you don't like paying city and county taxes move out of the city.
This nonsense about double taxation is based on a lack of understanding of urban life. People who choose to live in cities pay municipal taxes to receive an added layer of government services. They are not victimized by paying both municipal and county taxes, but are instead opting for additional services.
This includes police and fire protection as well as street and sanitation departments. The county provides recycling convenience centers used by city and county residents.
Union's utility department, allows the city to offer its residents lower utility rates than it does those living outside its boundaries. These help counterbalance the municipal property tax.
Cities are often centers of culture and learning which in Union's case means the Union County Carnegie Library, the Union County Museum, USC-Union, etc. They have also traditionally been centers of commerce and industry. A city also has greater clout in securing grants based on population.
Incorporated municipalities generate revenue streams they can use for economic development inside and outside their boundaries. Union has helped finance a number of economic development projects outside its boundaries that have befitted Union County as a whole.
Double taxation is an empty bit of rhetoric that sounds good but doesn't survive first contact with reality. To be successful, municipal government must be based on a clear-eyed appreciation of reality, not bumper sticker slogans.
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