Why do we have government? Why do we elect officials and pay taxes in the first place?

It’s not complicated: the core reason a society forms a government is to establish order and enforce the rule of law — so that the individual citizen is not forced into the position of having to defend life, liberty, and property by private force.

A working government keeps the peace. It provides for basic public safety, a system of justice, infrastructure, and fair treatment under the law. Citizens pay taxes in exchange for these services.

When that balance breaks — when government collects taxes but fails to provide its most basic services — the legitimacy of the system itself begins to crack.

The Unbalanced Civic Balance Sheet

This is exactly what many Vermonters are now seeing.

In areas across the state — Burlington, Barre, St. Johnsbury, Winooski, Rutland, and beyond — ordinary citizens are paying their taxes, but still finding themselves forced to buy firearms, harden their homes, install cameras and alarms, and alter their lives simply to stay safe.

This isn’t happening because Vermont is embracing some grand libertarian experiment. It’s happening because the state is falling short of its obligations.

When citizens must cover the same service twice — once through taxation, then again out of pocket — it amounts to an unbalanced civic balance sheet.

Public Safety at a Tipping Point

Public safety is the most obvious example. Across Vermont, theft, drug-related crime, vehicle break-ins, and assaults are growing concerns.

But while taxpayers continue to fund police departments, courts, and the justice system, the policy direction of the state is undermining those very institutions. Law enforcement can arrest — but soft bail policies, limited prosecution, revolving-door courts, and ideological priorities at the state level mean that criminals are often back on the streets with little consequence.

Meanwhile, citizens are left footing the bill for their own protection. Home security companies are booming. Gun sales remain strong. Self-defense courses fill up.

Not because Vermonters want to be vigilantes — but because they are being left with no other choice.

The Hidden Economic Drain

This forced privatization of safety comes with a real economic cost.

Every dollar a working Vermonter spends on cameras, locks, guns, insurance, or security is a dollar they cannot spend on something else — or save — while still being taxed for a service not delivered.

For many families, this is no small matter. They are now covering what should be a basic public function entirely at their own expense.

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Imbalances in Housing and Law

And public safety isn’t the only area where state policy has drifted out of balance.

Consider landlord-tenant law. Today’s legal framework heavily favors tenants — even those who fail to pay or damage property. Landlords, meanwhile, face long delays, legal hurdles, and increasing risk, while still paying property taxes to a state that often works against them.

Again: taxes in, service or fairness out? Not so much.

Consider housing policy. Vermont is pouring hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars into subsidized housing and expanded programs — with minimal accountability for how those funds perform.

Are recipients of these programs moving toward independence? Is there oversight to ensure public dollars are used effectively? Or is the state simply growing a permanent system of dependency, funded by those who are working harder than ever to keep their own heads above water?

If the State Won’t Deliver, Step Aside

At every turn, the imbalance grows. Taxpayers are being asked to give more — while receiving less of the core services and protections that justify government in the first place.

And here is the fundamental point: if the state is no longer providing these basic services — if it no longer fulfills the reason for which it exists — then perhaps it should stop standing in the way of those willing to take care of it themselves.

After all, no one wants to live in a world where citizens are forced into acts of private violence to defend their homes and families. That is why we build governments — to avoid that exact outcome.

But Vermont is moving dangerously close to that threshold. It is not because the police aren’t doing their jobs — it is because the higher levels of government, the state’s elected leadership, have stopped delivering what they were elected to do: enforce the law, protect the public, and maintain the trust that holds civil society together.

If the state won’t uphold its side of that contract — if it simply continues to collect taxes while leaving citizens to cover the same services twice — then Vermont’s balance sheet of governance is broken.

And voters will be well within their rights to demand a different approach.

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Dave Soulia | FYIVT

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