Dear Editor,
In the bad old days, when Moonbeam was governor, this was known as Santa Claus County because of all the giveaways. The name was appropriate then and now; the only thing county officials know how to do is nickel-and-dime the people.
The latest scam is to ask for a 6 percent tax hike. Yes, that’s what the half-percentage-point increase (from 8.75 to 8.25) is. There is a huge difference between a percent and a percentage point!
When we last fell for such a sham (twin measures A and B in 1996), they promised it would go to the roads, and then they diverted half to the joke known as the VTA (bus and rail), the most inefficient (slow and costly) public transportation system in the country! And what did go to the roads was delayed for years and the cost went up, typical of county mismanagement.
With property tax at an average of over $5,000 a house, and the sales tax already at the highest in the State (and I need add one percentage point, or seven percent, higher than the state base rate), how can Santa Claus be broke?
A few years ago, when they extorted money from the tobacco companies, they used that money to fund free healthcare for illegal immigrants and their children in the County. (It is supposedly for all children, but I chose to name the primary beneficiaries.) That was a one-time extortion, so the well is going dry and they think they can pull off a 30-year con.
We would be absolutely STUPID to increase ANY tax. Vote NO on A and force both reform and fiscal responsibility!
Alan Viarengo, Gilroy
