The Gadfly is a series of letters offering commentary on local issues and published in the Warrensburg Gazette.

Dear Editor

The Warrensburg City Council approved their FY2000 budget last week night. As soon as public copies are available, I'll report some of the more interesting items in it.

A recent story on CMSU's state funding request got me thinking about all the "government" money spent here in the Warrensburg area. CMSU will ask for more than $65 million, which I don't believe includes tuition, gifts, and self-generated income. The City of Warrensburg has a budget in excess of $10 million. The County spends tax money; so do schools and the hospital and library, etc. Whiteman AFB "contributes" a lot of "federal" money on payroll and local purchases, too.

The local area gets money from direct and indirect government payments & assistance to individuals & businesses, including various government employee retirement programs, welfare, food stamps, social security, farm programs, small business loans, student loans & scholarships, subsidized housing, government-insured loans & mortgages, disaster aid, SBA loans, training grants, etc.

Government also provides money in the form of "grants" and "projects" - some higher bureaucracy awards money based on some criteria, which often includes a form of institutional grovelling. "Aunt Ida" says that the grant for Main Street reminds her of the old "Queen for a Day" TV program - Warrensburg has to prove we're more 'blighted' than the next town. Another criterion is political pull - the town whose elected representative gets along best with the higher level politicians gets more "projects."

Favorable tax treatment for gifts is another way to transfer money. If a wealthy person, with an effective state & federal tax rate of 50%, gives $100,000 to a university, he's really only giving $50,000; the rest of the taxpayers will pay the remaining $50,000 - and they won't even know it! This subsidizes "charity." Tax deductions for mortgage interest are another indirect government subsidy for individuals.

Whenever government sends money, it's money that we taxpayers have sent to Washington or Jeff City or the Courthouse or City Hall. Any level of government that touches the money extracts a portion for overhead - the higher the level, the higher the overhead costs. If the money goes through several levels, each takes its cut. Every new program takes money from someone & gives it to someone else, less the overhead. And, we elect our legislators on how good a job they do of taking from our neighbors and giving to us. Think about it!