It’s easy for people to get behind the idea of tax cuts, especially when they aren’t aware of the consequences:

TAMPA – The University of South Florida plans to cut more than $52 million from its budget during the next two years, a grim prospect that likely will force layoffs and could further reduce the number of students accepted.

Half of that comes this year and includes $12.2 million USF has cut as a result of a $1 billion state budget shortfall. Every public service from education to law enforcement has felt the pinch.

That’s just the start, however. State economists predict a $2 billion shortfall next fiscal year, a symptom of Florida’s housing woes that are depleting tax collections. Anticipating those bad times, USF leaders will spend the next two weeks considering how to cut $26 million more out of next fiscal year’s budget.

It’s not just education; it’s roads and infrastructure, health care, social security, etc.

Taxes, when you think about it, don’t go to "the government".  Sseeing as how we (the people) are the government, they go to us.  A lot can be said about who should and shouldn’t pay more (or less) taxes, and even more can be said about the proprities of government spending (the classic bombs-vs-butter argument).  But the simplistic notion that taxes are per se bad is mindnumbingly facile.

Once you start to see the interconnectedness of it all — the housing crisis, tax rates, fiscal spending — you’ll understand how we’re all in this together, and everything — everything — affects you.