>> What about the people, especially children, who do not have the money to pay for park access or to buy books?
(1) Charity. People are even more generous when they’re not taxed to death. Charitable facilities for children’s recreation and learning activities are hardly unheard of.
(2) Schools and day cares (private and otherwise) have playgrounds, computers and libraries.
If people truly value these services, they can donate the exact amount that’s being taxed to a charity to run these things ... and they’d probably be run more efficiently.
Privatization via charity and marketization is almost always superior to government control. I find it odd that I’m needing to reiterate the value of voluntary spending/giving over tax-and-spend. Since when is government the preferable solution?
SnakeDoc
Many municipalities apparently have decided, through their electoral process, to provide services to all of their citizenry, through secular means and without regard to those citizens’ ability to pay. These policies would reflect a general attitude that it is healthier, in some way, for the polity to let all citizens enjoy free library borrowing or public open-space recreation, without having to divide them by social or economic class, through “charity” v “pay” services.
If the citizens of aa municipality wish to combine their money, through taxes and elected oversight, to provide these services, they obviously believe that this method is actually superior than charity or a marketized system that has to provide a profit to someone right off the top. Perhaps it has turned out to be cheaper for them. In my own state, several municipalities have opted to return garbage pickup or senior services to local government, having found that privatization provided poorer service at a higher cost.
Luckily, people can vote with their feet. If paying less in municipal taxes, and then paying out-of-pocket for (formerly municipal) services, is what you prefer, there’s bound to be a place for you to live in this great country that will match your philosophy.