Those costs aren't hidden at all. It is fairly easy, admittedly very tedious though, to figure them out.

No, it is not easy at all to figure them out. How much of the price of
ham is due to the fact that it takes two minutes longer to get through
town? How much of my income is leaking away in little costs like this
because a developer put a corporate park next to the river? And even if
you could figure it out to your own satisfaction, could you do so well
enough to convince the voters?

If you are benefiting [from a good school system], then then you are a user of the system and should help pay for it. :-)

I am not a consumer of the school system in any shape or form.
Nonetheless, I benefit because my fellow citizens know how to add and
subtract, can reason properly, understand logarithmic progressions, and
are familiar with literature. This means for example that plays and
concerts are popular (which allows me to be a consumer of these events),
and that when a referendum comes by, I can count on people to think more
than react.

If the schools were funded simply by tuition, I'd be getting a free
ride. But if the schools are funded publicly, I might argue (like we
are doing in aviation) that I'm not a user of the system and shouldn't
pay for it - the money should come strictly out of the pockets of the
students.

I use the aviation system just by eating a ham sandwich (and not just
when I'm navigating . Why shouldn't I pay for it (in taxes) instead
of having pilots getting a weather briefing fork over their credit cards?

It isn't that hard to compare crime rates in areas with street lights and those without.

True, but as an indirect measure of an indirect benefit, it's subject to
much interpretation.

Jose
--
Get high on gasoline: fly an airplane.
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