Tax Less Or Die Hard...


If you've been thinking of late that paying the taxes in this city and county has been become something resembling an ordeal that only Officer John McClane could emerge victorious from...you're not alone.

The seemingly endless "plot twists" in our current situation regarding taxes are nothing short of something only Bruce Willis would sign on to tackle. Actually, if John McClane WERE on this case, we'd have had a fair (and final) solution for this LONG ago...it's what he does.

The "latest" Hitchcockian spin has our fearless leader (Graham Richards) basically blaming the STATE for our predicament. And I'm sure if you ask the Governor along with the state senators and representatives, they'd spin it back to the local levels. Sure are lots of fingers pointing all over the place, aren't there? But all the fingers in the world can't seem to halt this never ending reliance on OUR PROPERTY to fuel THEIR fires.

Now all of you in Aboite KNEW your taxes were going to go UP....that's because we here in the city took you under our wing, as it were, allowing you all to partake in the "amenities" this fine city has to offer. Well, really you had NO CHOICE in the matter...the city needed YOUR money, and that was basically that. You were annexed...deal with it. At least now you have an idea what WE, the home owning taxpayers of the city live with...or try to SURVIVE ON.
Of course the city DID see a 20% jump in their property tax revenue from 2006 (99.5 million). That's what annexation does...it "shores up" an otherwise eroding tax base, thanks to all those living here for FREE, while we, the taxpaying public front their lifestyles. It's called "government programs", or as I like to call it...the FREEBIE GRAVY-TRAIN (designed to help those in need). And if you're from a multi-generational family that's been sucking this $hit up like some sale-priced cheap-ass orange drink for years, you're well informed on how to "play the system" to get whatever you want...screw all this welfare reform...it's just NOT working (same as these low-lifes). I live among them...I see and I know what goes on. Damn shame others can't be privy to "crimes against the people" such as these. It's not about EQUALITY..it's about SUPERIORITY, as in they get it for free while you bust your hump to EARN it...that sure ain't equal to me.

At this rate, all of the existing middle class will be on the dole soon enough, and guess WHO will be paying OUR bill then?

We keep hearing talk of tax RELIEF, but so far, I'm not seeing any of it. Any "rebate" we might receive is based totally on GAMING REVENUES from those slots I mentioned yesterday (that is if you read that post), so if there's little revenue, there will be little (if any) rebate. And that's just another "band-aid" fix for the hemorrhaging state of affairs in the city and county. No one is attempting to roll back the tax rates, so where EXACTLY is this "relief"? And if they RAISE the income tax, that will effectively OFFSET any reduction in property tax, so again, I pose the question....where is the "relief"?

Seems like it's time to stop robbing Peter to pay Paul, eh?

I guess the elimination of that inventory tax helped nudge this debacle along. Raising the GAS tax wouldn't be the most popular manner to secure revenue either. And *if* all the smokers decided to quit sometime soon, there goes ALL that money gleaned from the ciggie tax...OOPS! Can't tax fireworks much more....people can go elsewhere to secure their bombastic ordnance (no pun intended). Can't tax booze much more either....people are already NOT showing up at venues that serve alcohol because of the new smoking ordinance, and again, people will find their liquor elsewhere than here. We could make POT legal, then tax the crap out of that, but that would serve NO useful purpose, as people would go a little farther "underground" with their "dealings". Not to mention that would start us down a VERY slippery slope, and we've got enough problems here with drugs as it is.

One thing we COULD tax would be STUPIDITY (which, if enforced would bring in MORE MONEY than we could possibly spend), but all the politicians would get pissed off because only THEY, along with the diverse human flotsam that live among us would be the ONLY ones paying it, so that won't fly. But all the white trash, along with every other ethnicity that fits the bill, as we already know, don't pay a dime to any government as it is...that's OUR job...to pay FOR THEM. We're not going to suddenly be able to get blood from turnips. And I don't see any porcine aerobatics over my house either.

Looks like the MIDDLE CLASS is well on the endangered species list, and a few steps closer to extinction...well the good news is that the BALD EAGLE is OFF that same list.

In that...there is parity...