With Tax Day looping for Americans across the country, the Royal Purple asked UW-Whitewater accounting professor Dr. D’Arcy Becker about the importance of taxes.

Taxes are a mechanism for pooling money to create a common good. Elected government officials get to decide how to spend tax money, helping ensure it is spent in the best interests of the people they represent; they essentially decide what ‘common good’ means. Without taxes, we would not have an Interstate Highway System, a National Parks system, or public colleges and universities like UW-Whitewater, among thousands of other long-term public commitments.