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Why do we elect these people?  They get us into debt, and then they tell us they are capping our property taxes.  Then they say that a 2% tax cap is really a 4% or 5% tax cap, and that local governments can easily override the cap whatever it is.  Local governments say they have to override the cap to pay for State mandated programs.  From the State on down, each government pushes the tax burden down to the government below it in the political food chain.

And we all pay more to get less.

Wednesday night the Lansing Town Board discussed large rises in Bolton Point water rates, much of which is targeted at capital projects including a new water tank, work on filters and infrastructure, and so on.  Lansing Town Supervisor Scott Pinney laid out four or five items that he was not convinced need to be done at this point.  He said that engineers' reports supporting some of the projects were not even turned in yet, so how could they plan a construction project based on the not-report?

Pinney noted that the Town replaces water lines when there are four or five water main breaks in a year's time, but the water commission wants to replace lines that haven't had a break in a year and a half.  Deputy Supervisor Connie Wilcox said she doesn't support the price rise because it is all about wants, not needs.  They and Councilman Robert Cree questioned the rise, saying that the goal should be a zero percent rise, not over 7%.

It seems to me that should be governments' goal.  If you start by saying you are going to raise the levy by 2% or 5% or more you may end up even higher.  There are certainly legitimate expenses that governments have, and their costs go up the same way our own costs do.  But when they give themselves the slack from the git-go to raise their levies they are guaranteeing that taxes will go up.

In this economy legislators should go to jail for raising taxes.  Who, exactly, are they representing?  Aren't the people who are struggling to keep their homes their constituents?  Not just the people who want their favorite programs to continue to grow?

And who got us into this mess in the first place?  The tax situation in New york has turned into a perfect argument to say that dictatorships may not be such a bad idea, because government by committee is definitely not working.

I want Governor Cuomo to say that his so-called 2% tax cap is a sham, a political ploy to make legislators in Albany look good while actually screwing local governments and taxpayers.  I want him to concede that shifting the tax burden from income taxpayers to property taxpayers is fundamentally unfair, and that is just what the State is doing with it's happy-talk tax cap.

Yeah, I also want to win the lottery.  Sure, THAT'S going to happen!

What is absolutely going to happen is that our taxes are going to continue to rise at a rate higher than the rise of the cost of living.  And that's going to mean that fewer people are actually going to be living here.

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