He compared what difference

it would make in our taxes if the county used the

traditional general obligation bonds we're all familiar

with, or so-called public facilities authority revenue

bonds, or certificates of participation, or the infamous

SPLOST sales tax.

He explained that his

figures were dependent upon numerous assumptions about

interest rates, the growth of the local population and of

the tax digest, etc. About the SPLOST, he stated that the

figures he was presenting were based upon the assumption

that 25 percent of the sales tax revenue would be from

individuals who do not reside in Fayette county, although

he himself thought this percentage was too high.

In a letter to the editor

which The Citizen published on Oct. 27, 1999, I had

carefully demonstrated how, with all the taxes paid by

residents on non-shopping center items like cars,

groceries and taxable items delivered to Fayette

residents from outside the county, the sales tax now paid

local sales tax revenues. No one has ever dared try to

disprove my figures: no honest person could ever succeed.

So why did the

courthouse/jail financial presentation include the

assumption that outsiders would pay 25 percent of our

local sales tax?

I took up the issue with

the county commission Chairman Harold Bost, and here's

the answer I got. Compared with the alternatives, the

SPLOST method of financing the project already looks

undesirable when we assume that our county residents pay

only 75 percent of the local sales tax. (On that, he's

absolutely right.) Since some people entertain this

idyllic idea that a lot of our tax is paid by "other

people," he saw no harm in humoring them with this

little white lie. After all, he said, no one knows

exactly how much of our sales tax outsiders pay.

But that's not the point.

We know it's not 25 percent. It's at most 10 percent and

most likely somewhere between 5 percent and 10 percent,

as I clearly showed. (And, by the way, counting

out-of-county car tags in front of Wal-Mart is not the

scientific way of telling.)

So why perpetuate this myth

that outsiders pay so much of our tax? Is it to fool the

public in case the commission finds another project later

that it wants to finance with a sales tax? Is it to humor

those who don't have enough sense to understand the

simple math that shows how small a percentage it is? Is

it out of sympathy for sales tax proponents who earlier

bandied about figures of 30 percent and even 35 percent

to support school projects?

Mom meant well when she

played the little airplane game to get us to take our

medicine or eat our peas. While many voters have not

grown up a whole lot and are prepared to open wide when

presented with a little spoon feeding from the

politicians, it still is a bad idea to engage in

deception of the type I am reporting here. Even if well

meaning.

One has to wonder now what

other assumptions in the Jan. 6 financial presentation

might be doubted. The best financing seems to be from

options that do not require a vote of the people. Could

some of the assumptions behind the figures that show that

have been slanted toward that result, to avoid a vote?

That's the price you pay

for not being strictly on the up and up. People start

doubting everything else you do. Mom could be loading

some delicious ice cream upon that spoon, but would I

still open my mouth?

Even if the financing

method the county commission eventually concludes is the

best does not require a vote of the people, the

commissioners could still ask the voters their opinion

through a non-binding referendum on March 7, when we have

our presidential primary, or on July 18, date of the

general primary.

After all, recent past

elections have polled the voters on other issues, and the

boss in all of this (in case anybody forgets) is the

people. Anyone who does not fear the people would be glad

to put such issues on the ballot, and a favorable vote

could settle the recall issue, the location issue, and

the financing issue in one fell swoop.

When politicians truly earn

the trust of the people, they generally receive it. Why

not work to earn it, and why not trust the voters in

return?

Claude Y. Paquin

Fayette County

[email protected]