Other articles by Tom Beal:

Astronomer to explain why he let Pluto down Enthusiasm for Obama high for Tucson's blacks UA genomics lab tackles Holocaust puzzle Architect chosen for Historical Society's Rio Nuevo museum '06 cascade of boulders was rare, but a red flag, too Asteroid searcher hopes his discoveries won't produce direct impact Towering turbines coming to AZ Danny's gone, but he helped his O'odham culture live on Student group off and running with UA plan for sustainabilityUniversity of Arizona students have major plans to make campus 'green'

General
CORT
WAREHOUSE/DRIVER Education
Assessment Technology, Inc
Social Studies Content Writer Construction
Komatsu Equipment Co
Mechanic General
CORT
Warehouse Supervisor Health Care
Rio Salado College
PA's/Online Instructors

It's April 15, and here are 15 reasons to love the tax man.

OK, love is, perhaps, too strong a term.

Here are 15 reasons to tolerate taxation.

1 The interstate through town is being widened. Sure it's a nuisance now, but when those eight lanes are all open in a few years, they will accommodate 196,000 vehicles a day, and we'll be able to speed safely through Tucson. (Of course, traffic by 2030 could exceed 300,000 vehicles a day.)

2 When you turn the spigot, water comes out. Yes, we know, there are doubts about the future supply of water in the Colorado River, but for now the $4 billion Central Arizona Project, your tax dollars at work, is keeping us from sucking our aquifers dry. Imagine, a 330-mile uphill river, just for little old us.

3 Those saguaros sure are nice. The federal government didn't send us those saguaros in the two units of Saguaro National Park, but it did preserve the land on which they grow.

4 The ride to our closest summit is smooth. The road up Mount Lemmon to Summerhaven is no longer the nail-biting, near-death experience it once was, courtesy of a federal highway project that took only 17 years to complete.

5 We didn't get bonked by a satellite. We have mixed feelings, polls tell us, about the uses of those missiles and bombs developed by our neighbors out at Raytheon Missile Systems. But who doesn't appreciate the skill involved in shooting an SM-3 missile 100 miles into space and taking out a tiny, decaying spy satellite? If the mission had failed, our only hope would have been Bruce Willis with a pipe wrench.

6 Sabino Canyon. 'Nuff said (though it took a private fundraising effort to repair the road recently).

7 Airline inspections. Sure, we'd appreciate quicker action to avoid entire airline fleets being grounded when they finally catch up, but hey, we're still alive, thanks to the FAA inspectors.

8 Social Security. Had we taken the money the federal government took from our paychecks and placed it in mutual funds, money markets or mattresses, we'd all be rich. But we wouldn't have done that, would we have?

9 Buses. Federal bucks buy the fleet. If you're an average Tucsonan, you've never set foot on a Sun Tran bus. But now that you've paid your taxes and have seen the gas prices, perhaps that will change.

10 Suburban crime fighting. The Oro Valley police used a $600,000 federal grant to begin a Community Action Team to fight drug crime on its mean streets. Last year, the team confiscated 79 grams of meth, 27 grams of heroin and 19 grams of cocaine — more than 4 ounces total.

11 Concerts at the Fox Theatre. It was a $1 million federal grant in 2001 that started the ball rolling for renovation of the gorgeous art deco movie palace on Congress Street Downtown.

12 Job training. Our tax dollars help train unemployed Tucsonans for new jobs. Unfortunately, those funds are at their lowest level in eight years. We won't mention which category is at its highest, for fear of upsetting you today.

13 iPlant. The University of Arizona's BIO5 Institute is assembling the "cyberinfrastructure" to solve "grand challenge" biology problems and provide a better understanding of how climate and ecosystems relate to each other. We're not sure what it means either, but it's important enough to net us $50 million over five years and create 15 to 30 jobs in the sciences.

14 Student loans. Federal student loans create an average debt of $18,029 for undergraduates and $35,880 for graduate students, according to a report given to the Arizona Board of Regents recently. But those smart young men and women can figure out how to pay it all back.

15 Books for kids. The U.S Department of Education is giving Presidio School, a charter school at 1695 E. Fort Lowell Road, $100,000 to buy books and create a library.

Source: Arizona Daily Star archives