Friday, February 01, 2008

Read my lips, no new taxes

A good decision by the county board

Dear True,

Times are tough. It’s a safe bet that Cook County, at the tip of the Arrowhead, is especially hard hit by rising costs of gas and food; everything that other people take for granted has to be trucked up here and so we pay extra.

People are losing their homes. More and more of us visit the food shelf to make ends meet. We apply for fuel assistance but find it cut; Bushco prefers to spend tax dollars destroying Iraq. Budgets are scrunched down.

And so, it is with thanks and relief that I report that the county board decided not to ask for a continuation of the one percent sales tax now that the hospital bond is paid off. One percent doesn’t sound like much, but it can buy a couple of meals or a tank of gas over the course of a month.

The board voted unanimously to keep a sales tax referendum off the table this year. It will probably come back later, and most of us would probably support a tax that would give us a new library and a fix for the pool. But, not now. Now we need to help each other to survive these hard times. While the MSM won’t even admit to a recession, ordinary older folks are talking about their memories of the Great Depression, brought to mind by recent events.

There’s a time and a place for everything, and I am thankful that the county board recognizes that a one percent tax is not the solution now.

Anonymous

No comments: