When it comes to taxes, government should operate according to the following principles:

1. Government should be limited to only those services that the people cannot provide for themselves, either individually or through the private sector;

2. Government should provide those services the most efficient and economical way possible;

3. Government should exhaust every possibility to fund those services through non-tax methods (user fees, etc.);

4. Government should collect no more tax dollars from the people than is necessary to fully fund the provision of those services;

5. When ad valorem (property) taxes are used to fund government services, every equally-situated property owner should be treated equally.
 

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