Why Should We Vote “NO” To This New Seminole County Sales Tax Increase?
Grant Maloy
Chairman of Six for Seminole
One reason is it will further hurt our economy. Another is it won’t improve the quality of education.
This is a very bad economy. People are suffering. Unemployment is very high at 11.2% locally. Some businesses are closing and many people are losing their homes. Any credible economist will tell you higher taxes hurt our economy and kill jobs. This is NOT the time to raise taxes!
Yet four school board members and the bureaucrats in charge of the educating children have apparently not learned of this economic lesson. These tax raisers in the school system like Superintendent Vogel say the $260 million tax increase will help the economy. I hope they are not teaching this nonsense to children in economics class.
Of course overpaid bureaucrats like Vogel, who pulls in over $300,000 per year earning both salary and retirement and other benefits at the same time, won’t feel the pain of higher taxes like we will. Most people in the private sector don’t have the luxury of earning a $370,162 retirement bonus like he did and then go back to work a month later and double dip. A private company would go broke. A government would raise taxes.
Lower taxes help the economy by allowing us to keep more of our money and spend it on our own families and businesses. We can spend our money better than the politicians can. The good news is finally, after 20 years of paying nearly $1 billion dollars in extra local sales taxes, the tax rate goes back down to 6% versus the 7% it is now! This will allow hundreds of millions of dollars to return back to our local private sector economy.
These are uncertain times. Next year federal tax rates will go up substantially. Congress is proposing new energy taxes. State level fees are higher and the same school board added an extra quarter mil property tax the last two years. We are being squeezed more and more. On this tax however, we have a say. We can vote NO and send a message.
Voting against this tax and allowing the sales tax to return to 6% will also make our local businesses more competitive with other counties. We would actually be lower than surrounding counties for a change. Imagine how this would help our local businesses. We replace the logo on those overpriced signs as you drive into the county that now say “Florida’s Natural Choice” to “Shop in Seminole, We Have a Lower Sales Tax”?
This is a bad economy. Raising taxes is a bad idea. The tax increase does not improve the quality of education. It does not build one new school and it does not go to teacher pay, textbooks or supplies. It needs to be defeated November 2nd ! Visit our web site at www.six4seminole.com to learn more or to help.
In upcoming part two; I’ll address why higher taxes do not result in better quality schools and what is in the tax increase proposal.
