Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Laying it Out There
It’s no secret that I work for a part of the U.S. government that doesn’t tend to get a lot of credit (and does get plenty of criticism). Particularly around tax season, there is a lot of grumbling that goes on, and the State Department – not to mention the foreign assistance budget – is definitely not immune from being the target of calls for significant cuts in government spending.
With my own friends and family, I can make the case for how teensy a piece of the federal budget is taken up by our foreign affairs and foreign assistance efforts. However, I’m the first to admit my own efforts don’t go very far. Enter, the Obama White House’s brilliant idea of a tax receipt. Now, nobody can claim ignorance about how much of their tax money goes where. Maybe, just maybe, this will help people gain some perspective and realize that all our budget troubles will not be magically solved if only we just start ignoring the needs of those less fortunate.
