"Fees"

     The article "Your money now belongs to the state, but don't worry - it's not a tax" posted by FUBAR on Monday March 21, 2011 is about the government collecting fees from tax payers and not using it for anything useful. The government calls it fees but if you really pay close attention they are really taxes that you are paying in disguise. The articles clarifies that taxes is money that people hand over to the government. The government is trying to use these "fees" to pay some of the state debt of twenty seven billion dollars. This could help teachers and doctors recover from the economy.
     The author's intended audience is everyone in the state that pays some sort of bills and taxes. Though his claim lacks evidence, it still makes a valid argument. As a bill and tax payer of the state, I do see random surcharges and fees in my monthly bills and I always wondered what it was for and this article has given me insight on the situation. I wish the author would have given a specific example of a "fee" to support his claim.
    I found myself agreeing with the authors claim. I agree with the author that the government should not lie about the "fees" and they should tell us that they are really taxes. They should admit that they have been lying to the taxpayers and be more upfront on what they are really doing. They should use these "fees" to pay the debt cause this would help the people that suffered from budget cuts.         

Dirty Money!

     The article "Turn drug money into tool used against cartel" by the Editorial Board posted on the Austin American Statesman website on February 23 is about money being seized from drug trafficking being used for border security. It says about two-thirds of twenty-eight billion dollars is picked up in Texas. State Senator Steve Ogden said, "That's the Medicaid budget" once he heard that astonishing figure. 

     This idea is not a new idea in stopping crime but the author believes it is an effective one, which I have to disagree with. Since this sort of drug trafficking has been going on since Al Capone's time and it is still going on strong. The article showed some valuable information like the fact that $140 million has been obtained from drug captures and if we make checkpoints, this number could increase by twelve percent. I do agree with the author's point of view that this money should be used to fight the problem of drug trafficking but I do not believe it is the best way to stop crime. I think we should come up with more direct ways of ending the drug problem we are facing.

     We must find an effective way to stop the Mexican cartel from obtaining more political influence since it affects the United States as well. Although this might be an effective tactic, I wish the article could have given alternatives for stopping the transportation of drug money to the United States instead of the beginning of the problem which began with Capone.