Who pays for what, and how?

tax (tāks)
n.
A contribution for the support of a government required of persons, groups, or businesses within the domain of that government.

fee (fē)
n.
A fixed sum charged, as by an institution or by law, for a privilege: a license fee; tuition fees.

-- From the American Heritage Dictionary


In my last post about fees, I quoted Constituent #2, "With the cost of governing the Town increasing substantially over the past several years, revenues from such things as user fees have not kept up. It can certainly be argued that some fee increases are long overdue."

This, and my suggestion that it's a fair argument, prompted a response by someone we'll call Constituent #3, "It is not a fair argument. The purpose of a fee is not to "keep up." That fallacy is the reason why many fees have "crept" up and continue to creep just for the sake of "keeping up."

Constituent #3 goes on, "Fees are a necessary source of revenue, but the school of thought that says that a departmental fee should raise the amount it takes to run the department forgets that the primary source of revenue, taxes, is designed to support local operations. The belief that we should raise fees to fund operations has led us to the affordability challenge that our working families and seniors now face."

So how does this relate to a potential increase in the fees charged by the conservation commission?

An aside...I'm not picking on the conservation commission, but rather using them as an example because 1) Constituent #1 raised concerns about their recommendations, and 2) because I'm familiar with the commission. The commission makes recommendations to the selectmen and the conservation staff implements whatever fees the selectmen have set. The selectmen make the decisions here, so anyone who has a problem with any fees - conservation or otherwise - should look to the Board.

Constituent #3 seems to agree with Constituent #1, who had stated, "Municipal fees are purely and simply additional TAXES euphemistically labeled by another name." The problem is that in any given year, only a tiny fraction of Falmouth's citizens will ever apply (and pay a fee) for a permit from the conservation commission. If a citizen never goes to the conservation commission, should any of his taxes be used to support the commission?

At the root of all of this is the $64,000 question: Who pays for what, and how?

My perspective is based in part upon the definitions I've provided above. If fees are charged for a privilege, what town services are considered a privilege, and what should be included in the taxes we pay?