If you were designing a revenue model for a huge organization, it would be hard to create a more dynamic system than the one that funds the various levels of government in these United States. The income streams are remarkable! It's the perfect storm!

There are literally billions of transactions in the American economy every single day, and almost all of them produce revenue to the government. They earn* revenue on what you make, what you buy, what you use, and what you own. And of course, after a lifetime of this, they deserve^ a cut when you die too.

Billions of dollars pour into the Treasury daily! If you didn't know better, you'd wonder how they could possibly spend it all...

Income taxes, sales taxes, excise taxes, property taxes, capital gains taxes, Social Security taxes, inheritance taxes, and more. When you pump gas, they make money. When you pay your cell phone bill, they make money. When you make a house payment, they make money. When you buy an ice cold soft drink from the neighborhood convenience store, they make money.

Notice I didn't say this is bad. We can debate good or bad some other time and place. The point of all this is very, very non-partisan.

I'm not going to use a business blog to spar over marginal rates or anything of the sort. I don't want to go on a lengthy tirade about the lunatic complexity of the tax code or the gross irresponsibility of our elected officials for whom all this money is never, ever enough.

There's nothing partisan about this. My point is, with revenue streams as incomprehensibly vast as the government has, we as business owners of every political stripe should have this in common: They absolutely must do better. It's non-negotiable. They must acknowledge that they are stewards of our money, and they must be reminded often what this means.

The federal government in particular is a grotesque, disgusting beast. They take a model that would appear foolproof, and demonstrate that nothing can withstand their breed of fool. Meanwhile, municipal governments are mostly starving.

This is going longer than I wanted, for which I apologize. I'm not telling you to call, write or email your Congressman or Senator. What you do with these thoughts is obviously up to you. But what I suggest is this: First, expect and pursue the very best out of yourself and your business. And second, insist on the same from your government.

Get your own house in order first. Then you can speak with authority when you expect them to follow suit, because it will be personal to you. And speak we must.

* I use this term very loosely
^ I use this term with all kinds of sarcasm

Labels: government