Coming back here to Fayette

County, we note that not a single county commission candidate dared talk

about our LOST, or local option sales tax, and its distribution among

our citizens. Not one. That's probably because not a single one of them

is conservative enough, and daring enough, to suggest we scrap it. (By

the way, Cobb County does not have a LOST.) We'll have to see how their

current negotiations to divide the pie with the cities end up. Notice

how quiet everyone is about this.

Which brings us to Governor

Roy Barnes, and the forthcoming fall election for governor.

The media now tell us that

Barnes favors putting a 5 percent cap on annual property reassessments.

Of course, the Republicans claim they were first to think of this and

to propose assessment caps.

The Republicans who proposed

that had the wrong idea, and it does not make it any smarter for the Democrats

to adopt it. If assessments are held down, the millage rate will go up

and there will be no decrease in taxes. So who are they kidding? The whole

system is unworkable, and to the extent it may cause two adjoining property

owners to pay different taxes on properties of equal value it violates

the equal protection clause in our federal and state constitutions.

Let me tell you who they are

kidding. They are probably kidding the 1,210 lost souls in our own Fayette

County who, on Aug. 20, cast their vote in the Democratic primary for

Public Service Commission candidate Mac Barber. The man got 48 percent

of the Fayette votes cast in that primary.

Why do I consider them lost

souls? Because Mac Barber had been disqualified by the Georgia Supreme

Court as ineligible to run for the PSC office he was listed for he lived

in the wrong place and there was a large printed notice on the desk of

precinct workers warning the voters that the ballots had been printed

too early to remove his name and that any vote cast for him would not

count. But, 1,210 people from Fayette County voted for him anyway.

Republicans have lately been

making noises about cutting taxes for senior citizens, thinking that will

buy them votes. It's true that sooner or later we all get old, and few

normal people, of any age, enjoy paying taxes. But just like being old

does not necessarily mean being poor, getting older does not mean getting

stupider either. Our senior citizens who are well off do not mind paying

their fair share of taxes, though they hate to see money being wasted

and they can't stand patronizing politicians.

Most of the promises about

taxes are not meant to be kept, or are impossible to keep. Sometimes there's

just an exchange of taxes, equivalent to jumping from the frying pan into

the fire. Like switching from property taxes to sales taxes.

If politicians would only remember

that we vote for them because there's nobody else better on the ballot,

they might be more humble, and make fewer foolish promises. Especially

about taxes.

Claude Y. Paquin

Fayetteville

[email protected]