There are two sides to welfare spending

Organizers of protests like the recent “Medicaid Matters” rally seem to take the position that preserving government welfare spending is the moral high ground, and that anyone who opposes this spending is cruel and insensitive. They need a larger view.

Government isn’t a philanthropist with extra money to hand out. Every penny spent by government has to be taken away from the public, including the poorest of the poor, in the form of sales taxes, fuel taxes, tobacco taxes, the shifted burden of the corporation tax, and so on.

Some of the money for welfare spending may come from “fat cats” who can afford it, but the tax system also takes money away from struggling single moms, from unemployed construction workers, from people with disabilities, and even from the homeless.

Those who oppose welfare spending are speaking on behalf of all these stressed citizens.

JIM PAYNE

Sandpoint