Unlike businesses, government for the most part does not make a profit on the services it provides. Any service provided by government, is funded by guess who? That's correct, you and me. We fund the day to day operation of government.
Do you think that government overspends, and that it does not use your money wisely? You are not alone in thinking this way, but we [ you and i] have allowed this to happen over years. We have permitted government to grow into areas better served by private industry.
Why should government provide services, with our taxpayer dollars that a private or publically traded business can provide? Government at all levels must start to evaluate their delivered services and maybe, just maybe, allow business people to operate them. Imagine, privately run sewer plants, parks, waterfronts and beaches, just to name a few.
The facilities could still be owned by the taxpayers but operated by somebody other than the government. This outside entity would pay the government an annual fee for the privilege of running any one of these aforementioned programs, and hopefully they would do so at a profit. This would remove the operational costs of running these facilities or services from the government as it lowered our tax burden.
Private operation of government services is not a novel idea. It is an idea whose time has come, as government does not belong in places where business can provide the same or better services for less.
 | Thomas J. Kehoe |
