{"id":276,"date":"2014-04-02T11:56:16","date_gmt":"2014-04-02T11:56:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dave0.nfshost.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/2014\/04\/02\/the-public-library-americas-most-beloved-and-transparent-taxing-entity\/"},"modified":"2014-04-02T11:56:16","modified_gmt":"2014-04-02T11:56:16","slug":"the-public-library-americas-most-beloved-and-transparent-taxing-entity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/2014\/04\/the-public-library-americas-most-beloved-and-transparent-taxing-entity\/","title":{"rendered":"The Public Library: America’s Most Beloved–and Transparent–Taxing Entity"},"content":{"rendered":"

I continue to write a monthly-ish column for the Ann Arbor Chronicle<\/i>. This most recent installment is a 2600-word love letter to local libraries<\/a>. It begins:<\/p>\n

Say a precocious child \u2013 like Glenn Beck, for example \u2013 asks you how much the library costs. The library is, after all, readily confused with a bookstore (because it is full of books) or NetFlix (because they let you have stuff for a while, but expect it returned in good condition).
\nWhat\u2019s your answer?
\nProbably the first thing that comes out of your mouth is that it\u2019s free \u2013 which makes sense to the child (and, evidently, Glenn Beck<\/a>). After all, the kid never sees you pay anyone there, and (assuming your household finances are like mine) it is also likely often a place you go to have fun and get stuff after you\u2019ve explained that you can\u2019t buy this or pay to visit that on account \u201cWe don\u2019t have the money for it.\u201d
\nBut we\u2019re all grow-ups here \u2013 even Glenn Beck \u2013 and we certainly know that the library costs something [1], we just don\u2019t know how much (or, evidently, who foots the bill). If pressed, we\u2019d wave our hands and say that the library is probably funded (note that passive voice!) by some sub-portion of a portion of our property taxes, plus a little Lotto money and tobacco settlement, multiplied by the inverse of some arcane coefficient known only to God and the taxman, or something \u2013 yet another inscrutable exercise in opaque bureaucracy.
\nBut it\u2019s not that way at all.
\n. . .\n<\/div>\n

And goes on from there, with footnotes and charts, a picture of my tax bill, links to videos of Glenn Beck and Jon Stewart–we’ve got it all! Make sure to check the comments for my 1000-word (!!!) drunken clarification\/addendum. Enjoy!
\nThe Ann Arbor Chronicle | In it for the Money: Your Public Library<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I continue to write a monthly-ish column for the Ann Arbor Chronicle. This most recent installment is a 2600-word love letter to local libraries. It begins: Say a precocious child \u2013 like Glenn Beck, for example \u2013 asks you how much the library costs. The library is, after all, readily confused with a bookstore (because … Continue reading “The Public Library: America’s Most Beloved–and Transparent–Taxing Entity”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_share_on_mastodon":"1"},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}