Us baby boomers who remember our 50s TV know the answer to the question, "Say kids, what time is it?" Well, in August 2008, the answer isn’t "It's Howdy Doody Time!" The modern answer is, It’ Tax Bill Time! Even knowing what the increases were really doesn’t prepare you for seeing the numbers in print.
For my house, the new city, school and County rates translated to a 7.76% increase from last year. But when I compare this new bill to our 1995 bill, it comes to a whopping 70% increase. I think we get a lot of value for our tax dollars, but here’s the thing. We have more and more people who will be forced out of our community if we aren’t careful.
Those citizens on fixed incomes, and many still working are not going to be able to keep pace with these increases. We all know that we depend much too much on personal property taxes and that we need more businesses paying commercial taxes. I think we have to reexamine constantly our needs and wants. We have to fix what prevents us from having a more balanced tax base. We also have to take a hard look at how we are using our tax dollars.
If the greatness of our community is placed in jeopardy because more and more citizens can’t afford to continue living here, then we are not the community that we should be. Even Buffalo Bob and Clarabell the clown would understand this threat and they would support the need to fix this. How about you?
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