In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, economists Steve Hanke and Stephen Walters show how most Americans pay 26% less than the true cost of the government services they consume because politicians hide the true cost in long-term deficits. When taxpayers pay 26% less than the true cost of government—even less as they earn less—what incentive do they have to optimize government spending and taxes? I wrote about this in my book The Upside of Inequality (pp. 108 and 248).