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Posted by David Sherman on Monday, May 04, 2009 at 14:50:55 :
In Reply to: Re: primers& permits posted by 74w300uteline on Monday, May 04, 2009 at 11:08:16 :
I find that I can accept building permit fees if I think of them as a tax on construction, or as a protection payment to the mob. When you think of a "fee", you think you should be getting something of value in return, like with a greens fee at a golf course or a fee to dump your trash at the county dump. With building, excavating, or bird-watching fees, the government is providing you with nothing of value in return for the fee. That makes it a tax, but somehow a tax is more palatable because it's at last honest. Or, if you look at it as a protection racket, you're paying them to leave you alone, which again, is at least more honest.
Of course we used to have higher standards for government accountability and honesty in America, but from what I can see, part of "globalization" consists of modeling our bureaucracy after that of some third world tin-pot dictator where you have to always pay off the police and other government officials if you want to do anything, or if you want them NOT to do anything to you.