The $58,000 Question
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Imagine getting $58,000 a year just for living in a certain place. Not bad. But now imagine that every member of your family--your spouse, and every one of your kids--also got an annual check for $58,000. Well, that happens to be how much the federal government spends on the citizens of Washington, D.C.
For every tax dollar that Washingtonians send to the feds, the feds send $6.44 back to the citizens of Washington in services. That's enough to pay every man, woman and child in the district $58,347 a year, according to the Tax Foundation (search).
Now, of course, it's probably just a "coincidence" that politicians send so much money back to the city where "they" live and go to work. But some of the non-politicians who live in Washington have suggested cutting out the middleman and cutting checks in the amount the feds now spend on the district.
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Could the citizens of Washington do better cleaning, housing and educating themselves if they were simply given all that money? Odds are, they won't get a chance to find out.
And that's the Asman Observer!