The County Commission via the Finance Committee is once again discussing taxing the citizens of Bradley County Tennessee.
The “what if” by the finance committee to propose yet another tax on the citizens in light of a recent overwhelming wheel tax defeat is beyond what my somewhat simple mind can handle.
Listen to the people! We do not want another tax! We are living in tough economic times! We are hurting. Struggling to feed our families and make ends meet.
Are we so comfy in our lofty elected and appointed posts that we do not see the ramifications? Why is it that everytime we need to fix something the first and second response is to turn to the peasants for a constant stream of seemingly endless requests on our revenue stream?
Some have told me that it’s only about 50 dollars on the average home in the county. Quit looking at it as a single hit on our budgets, it cumulative and it’s more than likely permanent. This 50 dollars gets piled up on another 50 dollars etc and eventually we can’t pay it anymore and we lose our property and the rights that go with it.
I was recently asked in an email exchange from one of our elected State Representative “Why don’t you provide some solutions?” In other words, stop your bitchin and do something about it! Really? Should I, a citizen, who just cast a vote that elects you to be my representative and you tell me to provide solutions to solve the problems of our state and local governments. My response is to that scenario is either resign or don’t run again and I gaurantee you we can put a citizen in that will represent the people and act on their request. Please forgive me this morning, I woke up in a rather gripey mood and I feel an overwhelming need to apologize. This type of malarchy just sets me off.
If the best you can do is shuffle a few line item scenarios around to make it look good on paper then perhaps your rent is up and it is time to elect someone who can put it all together and get our county back on track. This is a replacement tax for Gods sake, in case the County loses the 3,000,000.00 case over a sales tax issue. This tax will not even be attributed to knocking down our current debt load, but to replace money lost! It will not help our situation one bit, it just gets us back to where we were! What an excellent opportunity to have to cut costs within our county budget. What an opportunity missed to fix our problem with big government before we tax the citizens further. That sounded original didn’t it and it looks proactive, right? Another apology for my grumpiness.
You have to be one brick shy of a load to think this will be the only tax in our future. We are facing a 4 to 10 billion dollar growth plan in our immediate future. Who do you think is going to pay for that? Let’s not also forget we have already shifted close to a million dollars to an out of state company that has at best cut out a cardboard cookie cutter county growth plan that has drawn the ire of and disapproval of 73 percent of our citizenry. We, you and our children will be the beneficiary of this debt fiasco. Oh yeah, how could we forget the county mayors stealthy 16 county, 3 state regional growth plan that is well under way. Let me mention this while I’m here and I will elaborate later, this regional growth plan will take your county, Bradley Counties tax dollars and send it to another county to help them pay for one of their projects. How you like those apples, grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!
Is there some type of unspoken rule or edict that says our County has to take federal grant money in great amounts and more often than not turn around and ask the citizens to turn over increasingly greater amounts of their hard earned money? I am aware of Public Chapter 1101, but the immensity of it? Who dictates how big it has to be?
Keep in mind, I’m just a concerned citizen, with a keen sense of insight who happens to like to write. I am not a professor of finance nor a guru of all that is financial but let me ask one more question of our elected officials then I will shut up.
Why dont we fix our problems inside our own government house before we request more from the already unstable and stretched budgets of the citizenry? If someone can answer that with a logical response will get a big hug from me. Why not get our house in order first. Why not take the politics out of it and look at it from a human perspective?
King George and his court were ousted and our country reshaped some 250 years ago for this same type of behavior and blatant disregard for the people he represented. Sounds like it is time to do the same and vote these distinguished characters out of office before we can’t afford to live here anymore.
The message is simple, lean in closely, I am about to scream. NO NEW TAXES! PERIOD!
And I mockingly borrow from a quote by one our elected Mayors from the city as he screamed at me recently in one of his familiar rants, “If you are man enough,” and I add, “Put this to a referendum and let the citizens decide if they want to give you more of their hard earned money!” I am pretty sure the response will be the same as the wheel tax and the growth plan. This way it will leave you no doubt whether you are simply doing the job you were elected to do. No guilt, let the people decide for you. You know the old adage “to be representative of the people and for the people.”
Good day and I’m very curious to see if anyone mans up and steps up and not on the citizens of Bradley County Tennessee! I doubt it, but i’ve seen greater miracles.
One of the sources of info:
http://www.clevelandbanner.com/view/full_story/20535126/article-County-looking-at-%E2%80%98what-if%E2%80%99-over-sales-tax?instance=homefirstleft
Bradley County News Network 