CHAPTER FOUR - A Bird's-Eye View of the Public Sector

Abstract

This chapter presents a bird's eye view of the public sector. Since the passage of California's Proposition 13, similar proposals are appearing in many other states. Their proponents are confident that the present levels of taxes and government expenditures are very high, and that if given a chance, people would vote to reduce them. This chapter discusses the reasons for legislators—who are representatives of the people—to not cut taxes and spend themselves if that is what the majority of voters want. Although a number of legislators have shown interest in cutting taxes and/or spending since the passage of Proposition 13, their proposals are not nearly as radical as either Proposition 13 or proposals at present before the voters in other states. Referenda serve to put a brake on the tendency of legislators to overtax and overspend. An important and difficult problem is to keep the two in balance. The real point of representative government is to allow individual voters to pay little attention to their government.