"You Don't Pay Taxes!"

When Mayor Matt Delligatti said the road levy should not fall behind other levies the voters will be con­sidering this year, Debbie Seifrit shot back with "You don't pay taxes". Delligatti does not pay property taxes because he lives with his parents except when he is staying in Morgantown. And Seifrit is right. It is easy for someone who doesn't pay taxes to say "let's pass a levy."

When do you think the last time was that Jay Rockefeller personally wrote out a check to the IRS? Ever? What about Bob Byrd? Harry Reid? Alan Mollohan? These people are isolated from everyday life. It's easy to pass tax increases on the rich and poor as long as you're not footing the bill. It's easy to say "give health care of everyone" when you pass those costs along to the "rich" and "big business."

I digress...I'll write more on that at a later date. Back to the Fairmont levy argument. The Fairmont City Council passed a resolution to place a road repaving/repairing levy on the May 2010 ballot. The Marion County Library and Marion-Fairmont Transit Authority will also have levies on the 2010 ballot and it's possile the Marion County Board of Education may attempt another bond measure in the near future.

"Under a draft proposal gen­erated by city staff, a proper­ty owner whose property is assessed at $100,000 could pay an additional $75 a year. Homeowners who qualify under the homestead act — senior citizens and disabled people — could pay $50 more in taxes on a home assessed at $100,000. Commercial property owners would pay $150 more in taxes for property assessed at $100,000." - Times-West Virginian

With water prices soaring in the city and the increasing economic pressure, will the citizens of Fairmont be willing to stomach yet another levy? Will seeing 3 or 4 levies on the same ballot turn off voters who will reject all of them? And why is this levy necessary? The citizens of Fairmont, Marion County and West Virginia are already being taxed to death for education, roads, health care, unemployment, government officials and other items of which we may or may not benefit. And with the specter of universal health care taxing looming, who can blame citizens for being wary of another tax?

Debbie Seifrit, I applaud you for standing up for the taxpayers and raising a concern about yet another property tax on the citizens of Fairmont. More people need to stand up for the American taxpayer and show the ways that taxes are creating the dispair in this country. Robbing from everyday citizens is not creating a utopian society. Quite the opposite.