Cal Beverly is voting “Yes” on the SPLOST. What a shame. I remember all the other SPLOSTs that he opposed. He stood for common sense and fiscal conservatism. But alas, no more.
Who could forget SPLOSTs from the past? The Fayette County Board of Education convinced us that we needed a SPLOST that built a elementary school that no student ever attended. Oooops. How about all the SPLOST money that went for West (the road to nowhere) Bypass. They were right, it goes nowhere.
When we raise our sales tax rate to that of surrounding counties it disincentives buyers to not come to Fayette County. Every county has the same stores, but tax savings certainly affects my choice of where to shop.
SPLOST hammers poor people and retired people on a fixed income. This regressive tax causes lower income people to pay a larger share of their income than wealthier people pay. I hate that. It is tough enough for those people as it is.
The fact that the county has to provide for the expense of a special election tells us that they are not responsible civil servants. If they had their act together this would have been on the November ballot. Or did they decide to waste tax payer money for an isolated voting situation? These special elections are designed to get those who benefit from the SPLOST money voting while most voters blow it of as not worth the time and effort.
Either way, they are not worthy of yet another tax. Live within your means like the rest of us must. We cannot have people vote to give us extra cash. TEA, in Tea Party, stood for Taxed Enough Already. I could not agree more.
Bill Webster
Peachtree City, Ga.
