[speaker001:] I pay a good deal of taxes I guess because I I make a fair amount of money and uh the taxes that I pay um I guess as a as a general statement I feel I I guess I get my money's worth for
[speaker002:] okay
[speaker001:] I'm not sure though whether I feel I guess I am sure that I feel that in general though uh the allocation uh of the taxes in certain areas isn't isn't correct
[speaker002:] well I'm sure that uh probably every person in this country would agree with you on that because everybody has a different idea of where the money should go
[speaker001:] well I I lately I guess um uh or at least for the last twenty twenty years or so I've felt that the expenditures of our taxes into high cost uh defense items at least in the last ten years have been uh there's been and extraordinary amount of money spent there and I'm not really sure that that we've gotten our money's worth there uh regardless of the outcome of the Desert Storm uh Desert Shield uh situations
[speaker002:] uh-huh yeah
[speaker001:] uh I guess my particular beef is that having participated in the military military off and on over the over the years of being called back and things of that nature is uh I've found that you know there's an extraordinary amount of waste I take that as a as a given in any military operation and
[speaker002:] oh yeah no argument here
[speaker001:] yeah and I guess I I should imagine that that that what the what the problem why I I'm I'm a little concerned about today is that this uh rather uh quick and and easy I don't know I shouldn't say easy rather quick victory in the in in the uh Mideast uh uh over the uh Iraqis uh might lead us into uh a false sense of security that we can do that against any other foe I'm I I don't know what other foe that would be but uh I I'm just getting nervous again now hearing the voices come up that there has to be increased expenditures in that area
[speaker002:] yeah well of course uh a lot of uh a lot of missiles and things were expended in the course of fighting the war and the and the inventory's going to have to be restocked uh on now I work for TI and one of the things we were told is like they had eleven thousand Harm missiles which TI is the sole supplier for and they used up two thousand of them in in the war so they're going to have to do another contract to restock that to get ready in case something else is needed
[speaker001:] yeah but it it it it would that be uh well let's see two thousand out of eleven thousand that's about a little over twenty per cent uh I I should imagine that that would be to keep it at a level those levels I guess that that were originally appropriated was was when the Soviet threat I guess was perceived as being a greater one I don't think there's very much of a threat there today I do worry about what nuclear weapons are left in the territories uh in their territory over there and who's controlling them but
[speaker002:] that that's true that's true
[speaker001:] I I don't know what amount of what amount of our hardware would stop some fanatic I guess from doing anything uh that would be irrational
[speaker002:] well of of course now we used up twenty per cents per cent of that inventory in a matter of just a few weeks
[speaker001:] right yeah
[speaker002:] and uh uh uh TI also makes the missile which was the the TV laser guided bombs
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] and and a big percentage of that was expended as well that that was that was just a matter of
[speaker001:] what what is the name of that
[speaker002:] uh it's called Paveway
[speaker001:] yes yes
[speaker002:] and uh a big percentage of that was used up during that conflict also so those those are two areas in which TI stands to to gain some some short term business to restock that
[speaker001:] yeah well I I I'm what I'm uh I guess uh it concerned about talking about the taxes in general and that that was an area that I I perceive as not being the best expenditure for the amount of dollar that we're taxed for uh in the area of defense or perhaps we have paid too much there I don't know it just seems to me that over the years now the and and it's it's a cliche I I but I see it myself I see where the infrastructure is sort of breaking down the roads the highways
[speaker002:] oh no doubt
[speaker001:] I I I don't know uh I know I'm familiar with some some upbeat school areas so I don't totally agree with the the great uh uh with the with the great expenditure expenditure of effort and time there but I guess overall because I guess I'm not associated with what ghetto schools and and uh and uh rural school systems are like I I should imagine that would take an enormous expenditure
[speaker002:] yeah as a matter of fact in Texas um we've had our school funding system declared unconstitutional by the a state judge and they and uh the legislature just passed what they called a Robin Hood Bill which basically what it does is it takes extra money from the more affluent school districts that are that are you know come from local taxes
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] and send them to other parts of the state that are not so affluent
[speaker001:] that they don't have a broad based income tax that funds the educational system or is it all funded out of local taxes
[speaker002:] uh well okay to give to give you some perspective this this town that I had lived in for sometime in nineteen eighty three was funded sixty five per cent by state funds
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] then we had a number of education reforms that the legislature said hey we got to do this we got to do this we got to do this but they forgot to put in the state budget the money to pay for it and they dumped it all on the local school districts
[speaker001:] sounds like the way the federal and state system works now yeah
[speaker002:] so really so so what ended up happening was was a was a shift we went to sixty five per cent state funding to sixty five per cent local funding in a matter of four years and uh I mean
[speaker001:] uh do you mean a a complete reversal
[speaker002:] oh complete complete it's all shifted to local districts and now even the money that's been raised for the local districts is being is going to be siphoned off and sent to other parts of the state
[speaker001:] because I guess they can't raise that money in those those poorer districts huh
[speaker002:] that's right and and I have I have no problem with uh a certain uh floor level minimum level that's a standard uh that everybody uh ought to be able to have uh but I am opposed to
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] any attempts to restrict um local communities from taxing themselves above that to provide above the minimum
[speaker001:] yes I see what you're saying uh I uh I I do I I guess I am a strong uh a strong and staunch supporter of some subsidy for any forms of education I mean by that I mean I'm a product myself I have uh a a a a background of uh being uh getting my college education through the GI Bill
[speaker002:] so did I my Master's anyway
[speaker001:] what but uh when I look at it to me uh it doesn't really make any difference it was a marvelous opportunity that I couldn't have done I don't think I would have gone on unless I had that financial
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] uh easement made possible
[speaker002:] that's right
[speaker001:] and I I don't really care what it takes to qualify whether you're uh an an whether you're a veteran or whether you I don't even know if you have to perform community service or unless uh or or you promise to even do something in the future I think that uh the that that the subsidy itself or I gu ess the enactment of that form of legislation
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] would give many people who I I think I I think I perceive the fact at least what I read is that some younger people feel that education is priced out of their uh out of their uh budget I know in the state of Florida just today uh the the legislature uh adjourned and uh they had completed a fifteen per cent increase in the in the uh state land grant colleges which which isn't I mean to me it doesn't sound like a mot of money but I guess it would be for fifteen hundred dollars a year they went from eleven to fifteen hundred
[speaker002:] uh-huh yeah
[speaker001:] and uh for an out of state student the tuition went up twenty five per cent I don't know what that would be
[speaker002:] yeah they had to they had to raise uh community college taxes here a few years ago too
[speaker001:] but that uh I guess that goes along with the general idea that the federal government had to uh was expending so much money on defense uh that that the program now is a uh program now is uh fees that that fund these things I guess that's trickled down to the states and the states now establish uh don't have enough money so they
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] they must charge fees uh I I I'm not too sure of that reasoning
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] but I guess to get back to the main topic I don't know whether I pay too much taxes I I I travel extensively in Europe and see enormous uh people pay pay uh a great deal in taxes they tell me when I sit and talk to people there they tell me they they some states they pay uh in Germany or in in England in some cases people in my income level at least allege that they pay up to six fifty five percent of their gross income in taxes
[speaker002:] oh oh I can believe that
[speaker001:] but but I'm not too sure when I put my property tax in my car tax my income tax and these myriad of uh now it costs me money to leave the country some sort of a tax to leave the country some sort of an airport departure tax
[speaker002:] yep yeah
[speaker001:] uh uh a tax a sales tax which is getting to uh quite high levels I'm not sure that I'm not up fairly close to that
[speaker002:] well I guarantee you you'd be paying a lot more in taxes if if uh the Democrats had more say
[speaker001:] you really think so
[speaker002:] yeah I really do
[speaker001:] but I mean what what's what's happened here is is is I feel that that in the last ten years uh my taxes have gone up they haven't gone down I pay uh quite a bit more taxes and and and
[speaker002:] yeah every everybody is
[speaker001:] but that's been a Republican government for the last ten years
[speaker002:] well what what what they've been able to do is slow down the rate of increase
[speaker001:] well I
[speaker002:] to keep it to keep it becoming from becoming even more obnoxious
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] well this has been really interesting and I've enjoyed our talk
[speaker001:] okay uh I guess I just push something here push one again right
[speaker002:] no you just uh we just say say good-bye and that's it
[speaker001:] just hang up okay Don good talking with you
[speaker002:] nice talking with you too
[speaker001:] bye-bye
[speaker002:] bye-bye