Editor, The transportation 1 percent tax known as TSPLOST will be determined by an election rigged and pre-determined by the General Assembly and the Governor.
Having a vote decided by regions within the state is a calculated maneuver by the state to ensure passage of this tax and the reasons are listed below. The state knew the likelihood of failure with a county by county vote so the law was written to decide by a region-wide vote, a first for the state of Georgia and a rigged election if there ever was one. And the ARC region will get some of the money from the rest of the state and regions and you can be assured of that.
1. The 12 regions are unbalanced by population from one region to another.
2. With the exception of the Atlanta region, all other regions are made up by counties that surround one or two major cities and county. Region 7 has two out of 14 counties with over 70 percent of the population in the region.
3. A “yes” vote in those two counties will force the other 12 counties to pay the tax, even though the other 12 counties may vote no.
4. Most of the 75 percent of taxes collected in the region will be used by the largest counties in that region. The smaller and poorer counties will be paying for transportation needs of the larger and richer counties. A new way of taking from the poor and giving to the rich, courtesy of the state of Georgia.
Is your county for sale at any price?
Vote for county home rule. Vote “no” on TSPLOST.

Mike Sims
Blairsville, Ga.