With so much money changing hands, a huge debt in the government, and each state not sure how they are going to make ends meet more and more every year, the real question is: Where does the revenue that states make go? Each state has different types of taxes at various amounts, but most of that tax money goes into the hands of the people who run the state. Even though they are voted to serve the people, sometimes they end up serving themselves.
An obvious physical evidence of where the revenue goes is seen every day when someone walks to the store or drives down the road to the library. The roads are a huge part of state revenue. They must be kept up, as well as new roads built to accommodate a growing state population. This would include, then, upkeep and construction of roads, stop lights, traffic signs, light posts, etc. To keep people happy, they must be kept moving; therefore, money must be used to keep the roads built, clean, and “healthy” in their upkeep.
Another physical evidence of state revenue can be heard: police and fire sirens. Every time a fire breaks out some of the state revenue is there with those putting it out. Every time a criminal is caught, state revenue is there paying for the police officers to handcuff the bad guy. Speaking of bad guys, they have to be incarcerated somewhere. State revenue also pays for jails and the care of those imprisoned.
If a state wants to be a family state they must offer an education program. Money from state revenue goes towards education. For example, in the state of Texas, a huge chunk of property tax is used for the funding of primary education. Because children need a way to get to school, public and school transportation is also financially supported, as well. Libraries help students from all ages learn more about their world, as well as completing their homework assignments. Public libraries are all funded by state revenue.
In order for construction to be done, libraries to have people who shelve books, drivers to drive kids to and from school, state revenue must pay for those workers. This includes benefits, pensions for retirement, as well as hourly or salaried pay. Of the benefits paid to the workers, medical costs through health care is paid by some of the state revenue as well. Not only does state revenue pay for state workers’ medical care costs, but also pays a huge portion of money towards federally funded medical programs for lower income families and individuals.
Now a large picture is painted of where state revenue goes. There are more fine details regarding this matter, but in general services that are free to the people are not really free. They are paid for everyday utilizing the very tax dollars spent on state income, gasoline, sales tax, property tax, etc. People who do not pay their taxes are not paying for services they have used or will use in the future. While there are other ways revenue is created for the states, taxes play a large role in supplying the tax payers with public needs. Meeting public needs is the basic premise behind the use of state revenue.