It's been years since I've been on. Things have happened and, unfortunately, my obsession with ProgessiveU dwindled into nearly nothing until a few weeks ago I remembered my long-lost blog. And oh, how I've missed it!
A new thought of the day (or month, as it would seem):
We are having elections in November (as I'm sure every city and state are) and one of the biggest issues is whether or not to raise taxes to ensure the jobs of some of the police and fire fighters here in the city. It seems like a good idea up front. I mean, nothing is more important than keeping families safe and keeping response time up. However, last November when the presidential elections were going on, there were some questions concerning the taxes and whether or not they should be raised to *gasp* keep fire and police crews and keep response time up. What happened to the $23 million they've already took from us? Surely they hired those cops like they were supposed to and kept some of the schools maintenance up. So, should I vote "yes" on 2C this November? It's hard for me to decide. Yes, I would love to keep 21 ploice and fire officials employed, but what about our financial issues at home? My husband is out of work, I barely make minimum wage. We're barely scrapping by and paying the mortgage on time. They've already raised my mortgage by $200 (mainly because of the property tax bill that took place in March of '09). They want to raise property taxes by 200% over the next four years! Have they forgotton that the unemployment rate went UP over the summer? Have they forgotten the big bonuses they've been giving to state reps? Have they forgotton the state senator who voted "yes" to raise property taxes but moved to Tennessee because the taxes were LOWER? What would you all do? Vote yes or no?
Whenever the government wants to raise taxes they always threaten to cut services on the few things that the government does that the majority of the public actually cares about. This includes: police, firemen, schools, parks and roads.
They never threaten that the Mayor or Governor or Legislators will have to do with a smaller Administrative staff. Or that they will cut the fat out of the back office. Or that government workers won't get a fat raise during a recession. They don't make these threats because obviously the taxpayers would approve of this type of cost cutting.
Always vote against tax hikes. The government will come through with police and fire protection or they will be replaced in the next election. It is time for the taxpayers to demand that government stop growing at a pace that outstrips inflation and polulation growth. Like the rest of us, they need to learn to make do with limited resources and budget them wisely.
We are pretty much tax slaves now. Most of us work for almost half the year to pay taxes. This is SLAVERY! The government workers are getting themselves fat pensions, deluxe healthcare, 100% job security and big raises and it is all coming at the exxpense of the middle class which is expected to ever further enslave themselves with even more taxes.
I just can't believe that they think they can get away with it ... I don't know a single person who's actually voting yes on 2C. The city was in danger during the Presidential election and they won higher taxes from us. Now they want more? I voted no.