Editor, The Transcript:
In the Jan. 19 edition of The Transcript there was an article written by Barbara Hoberock of the Tulsa World about the subject of proposed limitation on the percentage of property tax increases.
In the article, Rep. Chris Benge, R-Tulsa, reminds us that the state agencies are facing cuts and we have had a tough budget year. Sen. Jim Reynolds, R-Oklahoma City, thinks that we should limit the rate of property tax increases per annum to save the property owners the burden.
Mark Bledsoe, United Suburban Schools Association executive director, expresses disappointment that there is support for this measure to decrease this property tax increase given the new state law and schools' budget problems. Oklahoma County Assessor Leonard Sullivan says he doubts that it would get out of the legislature, but if it was on the ballot he thinks it would likely pass because the voters obviously would embrace it and oppose more tax and spend approaches.
When will our city, county, district, state and federal governments realize that you can't keep coming back to the well, constantly increasing taxes on the same taxpayers over and over again asking for more money while they do not equitably distribute those tax burdens among all people? I believe there is about to be a public uprising in this country of those people who pay taxes (which seem to be the minority anymore) over the constant government increases that are not proportionate, at least, in the state of Oklahoma to the population it serves.
Governments at all levels of the people, by the people, and for the people are appropriate, necessary and incredibly beneficial. However, all of our government agencies seem to have taken on more bureaucratic and administrative costs than they have service for the dollars that they take in.
I firmly believe it's time for the officials that we pay to provide governmental services for all of us, to have a vote of the people on these types of issues. The runaway federal government is a good example of what happens when the public has no ability to control people who believe they have the right to override those who pay for the government. They give tax money away or distribute it any way they wish ... without any considerations of current and future debt limits and burdens on the already highly taxed legitimate taxpayers.
In closing, what happened to the large Oklahoma Rainy Day Fund that the legislature seems to have squandered here in the last few years that was bulging at the seams just a short time ago? Now the state is strapped for cash and looking for more ways to take money from the public without looking at how to increase the qualities that bring more people into the state of Oklahoma. We could be distributing the burden of taxation over a greater population instead of increasing it on the individuals already paying more than their fair share.
I'm convinced the largest percentage of households in the City of Norman and Cleveland County have seen themselves experiencing some belt-tightening over the last year and maybe our government should be doing the same thing. The only problem is that these governments always start reducing their workforce employees and never do anything about the incredibly burgeoning bureaucracy at the top.
DR. ROBERT TALLEY
Norman
