Don’t get the wrong idea about this article. It isn’t about the Arkansas Razorbacks kind of Hogs. It is about the two kinds of hogs that populate state government, the legislators and the others, who work in the various departments of the state, commonly know as the bureaucrats of the bureaucracies. From the Arkansas Democrat Gazette newspaper accounts the first week of March, 2005, it seems neither ever has enough money so they want to tax everything that moves or that which is likely to move. 

One article dealt with septic tank permits to help fund the Department of Health.  The proponents of “give us more money” want to charge more for permits when one house is bigger than another. The rationale is that bigger demands higher permit fee regardless of how many bathrooms or the intended number of occupants. No matter that bigger doesn’t require more septic field, it is the idea that folks who build bigger houses should pay more than those who build smaller houses because of one simple idiotic reason which Representative, Johnny Key, a Republican of Mountain Home explained. He said that it might be better to lower the increase of the fee for the ones building the smaller houses and increase it for the bigger ones so that those building bigger houses would pay more of the cost of funding the needs of the health department.  It is very apparent that the doctrine of Marx which takes from those with more and gives to those with less is alive in the mind of a Republican no less.  We need not worry about enemies without when we have the “dunder heads” within helping destroy our liberty, which in this case is penalizing those who want larger houses.

The next item is property taxes. The legislators can’t get it through their heads that the property that is held by private ownership isn’t theirs to tax until there is no longer the ability of the owner to pay. They never have enough money and again the reason is simple: they are spending vast amounts of money on things that aren’t the role of the government to provide. 

The bureaucrats aren’t a bit better either.  Debbie Ausbury … told the committee that "the biggest unfairness" in property taxes is the caps imposed under Amendment 79. Millions of dollars in property taxes go uncollected as a result of the caps, she said. Under Amendment 79, appraisals for property taxes on homesteads are frozen when the owner-occupant reaches age 65 or becomes disabled.” (Source: ArkDemGaz 3-05-2005)

You can see the greed in the eyes of the lady. Horror of horrors, millions of dollars are remaining in the pockets of property owners and the money isn’t being handed over to the state which deserves it to pay for all the socialistic schemes that they can create.  What is unfair is that property owners are required to foot the bill for most of the state’s follies and renters don’t pay much of anything except sales tax on their purchases. That’s fair?

Apparently some tax initiatives will go before the voters to change property tax provisions in Constitutional  Amendment 79. Any property owner who votes for any proposal that increases property tax isn’t thinking squarely. Whatever form the amendment takes, it needs to be defeated big time.

And speaking of fairness again, why should those who don’t’ own property be allowed to vote on the amendment to change taxes on property owners?  Fair, Ms. Ausbury? You don’t have a clue.  

http://www.ardemgaz.com/ShowStoryTemplate.asp?Path=ArDemocrat/2005/03/05&ID=Ar01202   

© 03-10-2005 DEC