Today's Letters: Rubio is a hero to the overtaxed people

By LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published June 14, 2007

The bully with the bad ideas  June 13, editorial  

Boy oh boy, the St. Petersburg Times gets it all wrong once again. Bad ideas? House Speaker Marco Rubio has wonderful ideas. And guess what? The "people" like his ideas.

Furthermore, Speaker Rubio is not a "bully." He's the hero of overtaxed people!

Most people probably know that even if the Legislature paves the way for a constitutional amendment for super-size homestead exemptions, it won't pass! Why? Because those people "nicely protected" under Save Our Homes won't be willing to give up the protection they receive from the cap.

However, I'm willing to bet that these same people who are "nicely protected" under SOH would indeed vote to abolish all property taxes on homestead properties.

Since the Legislature probably won't do very much to help the overtaxed taxpayer, perhaps Rubio can help with a citizens' petition that would abolish all property taxes on homestead property, replace them with a higher sales tax and roll back taxes on all other properties to 2001 levels! Yes, the people love Rubio's original plan! It's a wonderful idea!

Go, Rubio! Lynne Shelby, St. Petersburg

Budget ax to cut more than taxes June 13, story

End the free ride

As usual, the St. Petersburg Times has it wrong again! Typical of the Times and liberals in general, they have made us endure weeks of doom and gloom over the impending property tax cuts being proposed in Tallahassee. The voters spoke in November as to what they wanted. Let the powers that be try to solve a problem instead of taking pot shots!

I am equally assured that if Jim Davis had won the election and proposed the same remedy you would be and bowing at his feet. Instead you insist that some vital services will be cut. Well, let's take a look. Could it possibly be that our government spends too much, or in some cases wastes too much?

The areas you listed that could be affected by the cut in taxes were homeless assistance, museums and such. Cry me a river. Instead of criticizing a plan, maybe you should embrace the idea of putting an end to the free ride that you liberals always want and embrace. You should come to grips with the idea that all these programs are taxpayer-funded and should be used more wisely in the first place.

John C. Luttrell, Clearwater

Budget ax to cut more than taxes June 13, story

Trolley's a waste

The photo you used with this article inadvertently told the real story of the necessity for tax relief in this county.

What I saw was a beautiful trolley, probably costing hundreds of thousands of dollars, a professional driver, and a fuel bill that probably runs into the thousands each month.

What I also saw was two or maybe three riders on a 32-passenger bus. What a waste of taxpayer money. How many homes' taxes does it take to purchase and operate this amenity each year?

Yes, there will be services cut with a tax rollback. But some of these would probably never have existed without the tax glut of the past few years and the city and county officials who spent our money without regard for responsibility.

Dave Hoyt, Palm Harbor

Budget ax to cut more than taxes June 13, story

Start cutting here

With regard to the upcoming tax cuts, it seems the local government officials and the St. Petersburg Times are trying the same scare tactics they used to get the "Penny for Pinellas" passed again.

You could have not used a better photograph with this Page 1B article. It shows the St. Petersburg Looper trolley as one of the things that might be cut. Since we can see only one woman passenger and maybe a couple of kids, one might think that it perhaps should be cut, along with a lot more local government pork.

With cuts like these we will still be able to provide the services that are really needed.

Gordon Johnson, Palm Harbor

50-car chase June 13

Enforcement excess

If our police organizations can have 50, yes 50, police cars "chasing" a single holdup suspect and still provide adequate protection for the rest of the city/county, then those organizations must be way overstaffed. Seems a likely area to focus on for possible tax cuts.

L. Wilson, St. Petersburg

Why tax plan faces a tough road ahead June 12, story

We will pay

How amusing. The politicians include $7.1-billion in cuts to school budgets in their property tax cut scam. They say "trust me, we'll correct that in the next state budget." This is the same group that included in the last state budget a requirement that local property taxes used to pay for schools be increased by 7.4 percent. That's right, the state "tax cutters" just increased your local property taxes.

Eight years ago, the state paid more than 60 percent of the total needed to fund local schools. Today the state pays 45 percent and requires that the rest come from local property taxes. Yep, our former so-called education governor cut back on funding local schools and, in effect, raised your property taxes. Hey, someone had to pay for those billions of dollars in tax cuts Jeb gave to large corporations and the wealthiest Floridians.

John F. Wasik of the Bloomberg News wrote, "Tax revolts from Florida to North Dakota have proven one thing: If you lower the local tax bill, you need revenue from other sources. You end up swapping one levy for another."

Yet politicians know they can pull their "tax cut" scam over and over, because rather than seeing the whole picture as money comes out of their pockets somewhere else, many people will just focus on their property tax bill or income tax return and falsely believe that the politicians helped them.

Dan Favero, St. Petersburg

What services?

I'm reading a lot about how local governments are worried about tax cuts and how they will handle them. I live in an unincorporated area of Pinellas County (Lealman) and I don't see how things could be any worse than they are now.

The only time I ever see a sheriff's car in the area is when they're responding to a robbery call or shooting. I can spot a ton of code violations from my front yard that are never enforced. There are open ditches in most of the residential areas that are breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

My taxes have tripled in four years, yet on top of that I have to pay extra for street lights and garbage service. I find it hard to believe that any government could tell citizens with a straight face that we might lose some services. What services?

How about putting a hold on pensions and pet projects and concentrate on helping bring our neighborhood up to the 21st century? With all the extra money my neighbors and I have poured into the government in the last four years, I think we deserve it.

Brian Kollar, Lealman

Pensions drain tax coffers June 10, story

Curb those pensions

As it stands, the current Civil Service pension, benefits and pay-scale system will continue until it devours itself or the taxpayers. It should come as no surprise that the system has no constraints. Who will restructure the system in the face of the numerous unions? The elected politicians who also establish their own pension programs? Highly unlikely!

If risk is a factor for determining some benefit packages, imagine what the pensions of our military personnel should be.

The automotive Big Three are on their knees as a result of overburdened pension and benefit packages, and their options don't include raising taxes.

R. Biggers, Clearwater

In the end, "nothing" meant everything June 13, commentary by William F. Buckley Jr.

Vocabulary builder

I just love it! For most of my life I always had to consult a dictionary when I read William F. Buckley, one of my favorite writers. He hasn't failed me this time! I'll bet almost everyone had to check their Webster's for that last adjective!

Betty Upson-Schmitz, Largo

[Last modified June 14, 2007, 09:53:31]