It really shouldn’t have worked. According to all that we learn in economics, why would anyone voluntarily plunk down an extra $35 for a license plate when he or she could have bought it for less?

Buy cheap; sell high. That’s the rule. But the Iowa Sesquicentennial Commission records that 142,392 Iowans chipped in add-on price during the years they were on sale, generating $4.8 million — all from private funds — to support Iowa’s 150th celebration.

There is a reason to consider this fact in light of the major tax cut that the governor has signed into law. We all know deep in our hearts that tax cuts mean a reduction in services. We are not just cutting out ineffeciencies or waste. In the long run, we get what we pay for and when we pay less, we have to know that there will be less money to spend on the things that the government does.

What President Reagan pushed through the federal tax cut in the 1980s, he acknlowledged that government would (and should) do less. In its place, he urged Americans to make private contributions to those programs and services they wanted to support. This is exactly what happened in the case of the Iowa Sesquicentennial. It was supported not with taxes but by private contributions from Iowans willing to make it happen.

Several large contributions from individuals and private foundations made other Sesquicentennial projects possible.

Tom Morain

Administrator

State Historical Society of Iowa