Say 'no' to all new taxes, by any name
To the editor:
We, the people of Highland County need to act responsibly with our money by paying our own bills for the things we actually need instead of being suckered by the various state employees who are coming here trying to get us to ignore our local needs and spend our money making the world rosy for them. In short, we need to open our eyes to the way the state bureaucrats are trying to fleece us… and that is exactly what it is.
Our county Clerk of Courts is drowning in work because of budget cuts. Her budget, even before the cuts, wasn’t even as 2/3 as much as either the State’s Ag. Extension/4-H office or the Soil & Water Conservation District. She has had furloughed employees in working for free just to help out the county. When have you seen a state employee do anything like that?
Yet, we are being swamped with letters and pleas and ominous predictions from state organizations and state employees telling us, or implying, that we are insane if we don’t send them money to pay THEIR salaries to run THEIR programs. They don’t give a flaming tiddly-wink if our Clerk of Courts office goes under, or if our police and fire depts. are cut to the bone, or if our streets resemble the backroads of South America. They just want us to keep sending them money to keep their jobs and benefits secure.. and with 80 cents of all our dollars going for their salaries, that is exactly the correct way to state it.
And it isn’t just the Ag. Extension or SWCD. It is a whole parade of overpaid state people and too-costly state programs. And it isn’t coming from everyday people – it’s coming from million-dollar university presidents, six-figure union stewards, and vote-hungry politicians who come around only for votes and money.
The latest is this “Ohio’s Third Frontier” rip-off (State Issue #1) that is nothing but a $700 million gift to Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati. Miami University’s president even has the nerve to tell one of the fairy tales of the decade about it – saying “it is not new taxes – just an extension of the previous program”. Of course the “previous program” is really a “previous tax”, an “extension” of which IS new tax. But the state and Miami University are certain we are too stupid to figure that out. Along with that is State Issue #2… to use money from all of us to move a casino site in Columbus rather than let Columbus or the Casino franchise pay their own bills.
C’mon Highlanders. Stop being swindled by the state snake-oil salesmen. We can’t keep our nice hometown and county if we are always falling for the hucksterism of the state bureaucrats. Let’s pay our LOCAL bills and just say “NO” to ALL of the state’s overpaid panhandlers.
Sincerely,
Jim Moore
Hillsboro