The size of this tax, and the

inequity of its distribution, should have made it a worthy subject of

debate when we had our elections for county commissioners in August. The

incumbents, who already feed at the public trough and thus are interested

in keeping it full, wouldn't touch this issue with a 10-foot pole. The

challengers wouldn't touch it either, as all three live in cities that

happen to benefit from the inequity. Instead of tackling the issue of

whether the 10-year burden of $225 million in sales tax could not be handled

differently, one challenger sought to make a big issue of the $25,000

(or so) annual pay of the county commission chairman.

When a debate was organized

among the county commission candidates last summer, the sponsors didn't

bother with questions about the impending consideration of renewing our

LOST for 10 years. The local press didn't bring it up. To its credit,

the AJC brought up the matter on Dec. 2, alluding to the unfairness of

the tax and showing there is no such tax in Cobb, Gwinnett, DeKalb, Rockdale

and Cherokee counties. The elections had long been over by then.

As for ethics, protestations

of high ethical standards notwithstanding, the mayor of Peachtree City

displayed no misgivings about any inequity that might result from squeezing

the most he could out of his fellow Fayette citizens who, unlike him,

happen to live in the unincorporated part of the county.

Ethics didn't seem to trouble

the county commission chairman much either, even when the county staff

indicated that the cities' percentage of the take was way too high. Like

all the commissioners except the ineffective VanLandingham, he lives in

a city.

Ethics is the last thing that

would have troubled one council member in Tyrone who wanted as much of

the LOST pie as he could get.

Our LOST tax was scheduled

to expire on Dec. 31. Like many, many taxes, it was extended. Those who

like to beat up on Democrats should observe that it wasn't Democrats who

extended it either.

So why was it done with so

little fuss? Because addiction makes you do things without thinking. It

doesn't matter whether you're a Republican or Democrat. The first lesson

here is to beware of taxes. You'll seldom vote for a tax that doesn't

turn out to be permanent. Addiction is hard to shake off.

The ultimate lesson is, don't

ever start!

Claude Y. Paquin

Fayette County

[email protected]