What Does the State Get in Return for Our Lives?

I've been tracking state budget cuts to programs that service autistic adults and people with other disabilities as much as possible here (service cuts is an item IMO worth the repeated news coverage). One recent bit of coverage is of this rally in Pennsylvania. Something state officials seem to say in all these cases--indeed it's what state officials have said at hearings I've been to in my own state--is that while they regret cutting funding for seniors and people with disabilities, it has to be done in order to balance the budget.

The PA article brings up the interesting point that the cuts wouldn't necessarily have to happen if there was a small increase in taxes. Politically (not ethically) however, a small increase in taxes has been rejected as an option.

I want to bring up the also interesting point that while we hear so much about "we have to cut programs for vulnerable people because of the budget" we never hear about what items exactly aren't being cut, or cut as much. What exactly is it that we're being asked to sacrifice our quality of life for? What is at the other end of the "hard choices?" Is it really just so that people don't have to take a small tax increase? Or is it for something that's more worthwhile like sewage treatment? Or what?

As state cuts continue, I'd like to hear more about what exactly it is we are buying, perhaps literally, with out lives here.