The expansion of government spending directly correlates to the increase in revenue government receives from citizens. The more government takes, the more they spend.
The recent election in Wyoming proves this fact. The majority of voters decided that the government needs more of our money by rejecting Proposition One; the citizen-initiated residential property tax relief ballot question.
Politicians and their wealthy insider friends convinced enough citizens that all kinds of government services would be cut if hard-working taxpayers got a reasonable break. All the while, they have accumulated and now sit on tens of billions of our tax dollars.
Be for warned. In two to four years from now, we will again hear that there is a dire financial crisis and that government needs even more of our money after they have spent our funds on dozens of pet projects.
Opponents of Proposition One claimed that the initiative was a tax give-away to those wealthy Wyomingites living in Teton County. How ironic that the people in that county rejected the initiative by a vote of two to one.
Was this really a tax break for the wealthy? Consider this. If my home is valued at $200,000 and a rich guy’s home is valued at $10,000,000, he is paying 50 times more in property taxes than I am. Yet, we both get about the same amount of government services.
If Proposition One had passed, he still would have been paying 50 times more than I am.
The tax break is probably not a big deal to him as he is fortunate to have his wealth. However, for many of us, including retired citizens and young people trying to buy their first home, a tax break makes meeting our basic budget requirements very important. Our fellow citizens who rejected the tax break just made it financially harder for the rest of us as property taxes continue to increase.
As the new legislative session begins in January, watch for the proposals to increase government spending coming out of Cheyenne. Visit the legislative website at www.wyoleg.gov for all the details.
~ Ross
