[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, i-, isn't correct.
[speaker002:] Well, I'm sure that, uh, probably every person in this country would agree with you on that.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] 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 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,
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] Desert Shield, uh, situations.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] Uh, I guess my particular beef is that having participated in the mi-, 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 gue-, 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 w-, 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 T I, and one of the things we were told is, like, they had eleven thousand HARM missiles which T I 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, 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 w-, 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 [LAUGHTER],
[speaker002:] Tha-, 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 course now, we used up twenty per cents, per cent of that inventory,
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] in a matter of just a few weeks,
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] and, uh, uh, uh, T I also makes the missile, which was the, the T V laser guided bombs
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] and, and, a big percentage of that was expended, as well, that n-, that w-, that was just a matter of,
[speaker001:] Oh, 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 tho-, those are two areas in which T I stands to, to gain some, some short term business to restock that.
[speaker001:] Yeah, well, uh, 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 kn-, 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 ex-, 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:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] and send them to other parts of the state, that are not so affluent.
[speaker001:] They, they don't have a broad based income tax that funds the educational system,
[speaker002:] Uh, well,
[speaker001:] or is it all funded out of local taxes?
[speaker002:] okay, to g-, 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. So,
[speaker001:] Sounds like the way the federal and state system works now.
[speaker002:] Really.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] 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
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] uh, that everybody, uh, ought to be able to have, uh, but, I am opposed to, w-, 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 s-, 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 G I Bill.
[speaker002:] So did I. My Masters, 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 ex-, 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 guess the enactment of that form of legislation,
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] would give many people who, I, I think, 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 mo-, lot of money, but I guess it would be for fifteen hundred dollars a year.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] They went from eleven to fifteen hundred,
[speaker002:] 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.
[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,
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] the states now establish, uh, don't have enough money so they, they must charge fees. Uh, 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 p-, 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,
[speaker002:] Yeah, yeah.
[speaker001:] some sort of an airport departure tax, 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 i-, if, uh, the Democrats had more say.
[speaker001:] You really think so?
[speaker002:] Yeah, I really do.
[speaker001:] But I mean, w-, 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 ex-, uh,
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] quite a bit more taxes and, and, and,
[speaker002:] Everybody, 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 [breathing] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] Well I,
[speaker002:] To keep it, to keep it b-, 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.