Americans of both major parties say infrastructure has worsened; want more spending: poll

[Igel]

10. Yup.

We want low(er) taxes and high levels of service. Can't have both.

Then again, Federal taxes should be spent on the common good, things that pretty much everybody uses. That should be the priority. Even a bridge over the Yaquina River or upgrading the port there is open to all and benefits "the common good". For a lot of funding, you really have to belong to a narrow demographic to access the benefits, with the justification "well, if one of us suffers, we all suffer."

In days when the Federal government was a small amount of the GDP, this wasn't a big problem. It was more clear how to spend money. Now that it's a fifth of the economy, there's a lot of ways to use the money. Cut one narrowly defined group, and you lose voters and their "oh, no, I could be next" supporters.

Upping the pay for federally financed infrastructure work also sounds great. At the same time, it means that a lot of those workers make more than their employers, taxpayers, and less can be built with the same funds. With more and more people saying their "fair share" of federal income tax to be paid is $0, that starts flipping the serf/lord scenario.