The Local Taxing Cabal
Commissioners Chairman Jennifer Roberts continues to get her name in the news for the wrong reasons. It seems her relationship with County Manager Harry Jones is unholy and behind closed doors the two of them stir the pot backwards. These various episodes have only been a prelude to her next abuse of the taxpayers of Mecklenburg County. For that she takes a chapter from our duplicitous president. As I tell my wife, “He could be stabbing you in the gut with a Hari-kari knife while smiling at you and telling you he is your best friend.” Jennifer Roberts tries to emulate his abilities.
Some time previously I wrote about Mecklenburg County revaluation and how Ms. Roberts, in collusion with Mr. Harry Jones, is going to use that to hide a huge tax increase. Since then County Staff has regularly reported an overall 6 to 9 percent increase in values, even though the numbers approach and exceed 30 percent. Since people are now getting their new values, they are starting to take notice. One blog participant reports the farce goes even deeper and that the new value misstates his 2003 value, thus making the increase appear smaller. Why would anyone be surprised? The Democrats are in control and government expenditures are their survival. County Commissioner George Dunlap is a case in point.
Mr. Dunlap sees government expenditures as payment for his constituents. No different than Obama taking the bondholders of GM and giving their money to the auto workers unions (the only reason I will never buy another GM or Chrysler product), Dunlap sees increased taxes as a burden on those who don’t live in his district and a boon to those who do.
Further, the board of county commissioners and the school board see the hidden tax of revaluation as a way to fund, among other things, Bright Beginnings, which in large part is a taxpayer-funded baby sitting service for the poor. Then again, maybe Bright Beginnings is funded by the Education Lottery, in which case it is for the poor and paid for by the poor. (my apologies)
My point is made. Revaluation under the tutelage of Roberts, Jones, Dunlap, the self important Commissioner Dumont Clarke and their lap dogs is a method to bring in another $150,000,000 or so, while saying they gave you a tax decrease. With this they will fund the continuously wasteful school system, and other equally wasteful county programs and services. They will make payments on the bonds that former commissioners chairman Parks Helms was so insistent to have for his friends in the construction industry. They will pay off Dunlap’s and Leake’s constituents. Those of us who work to make a living for ourselves and families will, once again, be burdened with paying for those who don’t.
Certainly your tax rate will go down. The tax rate is not important, your tax BILL is. When your bill goes up, the tax rate doesn’t matter. And your tax bill is going to go up. For some of you, by 40 percent.
The county commission will vote on the tax rate in June. For most of the affluent in Mecklenburg, even a revenue neutral tax rate will mean a tax bill increase. For those who live in neighborhoods that are declining in value, they will find a smaller tax bill. This, dear readers, is the essence of class division.
Democrats, who generally consist of the poor and the upper class, (Hugh McColl is a Democrat and wrote in support of Obama) will not be affected by the change in values and tax rates. Those of you in the middle will be. Those in the middle will continue the process, started during the tenure of Parks Helms, of paying for the benefits of the rich and the poor.
But I give too much credit to Helms; government has long been a method of using the middle class to subsidize the rich while giving the poor enough to keep them quiet. With revaluation, Roberts and Dunlap will solidify their position as benefactors of the rich, while giving the poor enough to keep them quiet.
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