Editor, If I see one more self-serving opinion piece from any of our area state legislators, whether Al Williams of Midway or Ron Stephens of Garden City, trying to tell us what a wonderful job they did as state legislators this year, I think I will throw up. Any rational person who has been following the news stories of this year's session knows it was a giant BUST, no matter how hard these people try to spin it.
Those amazing folks in our state legislature -- inbetween going to lunch with lobbyists, voting to stop issuing "Gator" license plates to folks from Florida who move to our great state, and then trying to seize the Tennessee River from Tennessee -- for some reason seem to think that they can get another term under the gold dome by eliminating ad valorem taxes on automobiles ($500 million) and reducing state income taxes ($1.2 billion by 2015), instead of funding education and trauma centers, not to mention transportation and water needs, among other priorities facing our state.
Then there's somebody's plan to add $10 to car tags as a means of raising the millions needed to fund statewide trauma centers, from Grady Hospital in Atlanta to Memorial Medical Center in Savannah. It must be that no one ever goes to emergency rooms suffering from gunshots, knife fights, bar brawls, or other causes, so maybe we don't need to think about putting taxes on anything else that causes trauma. But then, if the auto ad valorem taxes on cars are dropped, vehicle owners then would have lots of funds to pay for trauma centers, and gun owners get off scot-free. Who dreamed that up?
The governor, meanwhile, doesn't think folks ought to have the chance to vote on whether or not to join the rest of the civilized world by allowing Sunday sales of a bottle of wine or a six-pack of beer -- never mind the fact that only a minority of people in this state belong to his church or share his views. He's too busy lowering state revenue estimates, forcing the legislators to come up with all these creative means of funding state needs. But, now we can carry guns into parks and recreation centers, so I feel a whole lot safer!
Do we actually pay these people to make decisions like this? The list is too long to go into. The Democrats got so bad the electorate finally threw them out of statewide offices a few years ago. The Republicans who replaced them have sadly behaved much worse. These people must think we're all just stupid. But chickens will come home to roost.
It's enough to make me think I've gone to sleep in a burning marijuana field, and gotten too many fumes up my nose. My vision is blurry, and my head hurts. Mighty Mouse, where are you?
Those amazing folks in our state legislature -- inbetween going to lunch with lobbyists, voting to stop issuing "Gator" license plates to folks from Florida who move to our great state, and then trying to seize the Tennessee River from Tennessee -- for some reason seem to think that they can get another term under the gold dome by eliminating ad valorem taxes on automobiles ($500 million) and reducing state income taxes ($1.2 billion by 2015), instead of funding education and trauma centers, not to mention transportation and water needs, among other priorities facing our state.
Then there's somebody's plan to add $10 to car tags as a means of raising the millions needed to fund statewide trauma centers, from Grady Hospital in Atlanta to Memorial Medical Center in Savannah. It must be that no one ever goes to emergency rooms suffering from gunshots, knife fights, bar brawls, or other causes, so maybe we don't need to think about putting taxes on anything else that causes trauma. But then, if the auto ad valorem taxes on cars are dropped, vehicle owners then would have lots of funds to pay for trauma centers, and gun owners get off scot-free. Who dreamed that up?
The governor, meanwhile, doesn't think folks ought to have the chance to vote on whether or not to join the rest of the civilized world by allowing Sunday sales of a bottle of wine or a six-pack of beer -- never mind the fact that only a minority of people in this state belong to his church or share his views. He's too busy lowering state revenue estimates, forcing the legislators to come up with all these creative means of funding state needs. But, now we can carry guns into parks and recreation centers, so I feel a whole lot safer!
Do we actually pay these people to make decisions like this? The list is too long to go into. The Democrats got so bad the electorate finally threw them out of statewide offices a few years ago. The Republicans who replaced them have sadly behaved much worse. These people must think we're all just stupid. But chickens will come home to roost.
It's enough to make me think I've gone to sleep in a burning marijuana field, and gotten too many fumes up my nose. My vision is blurry, and my head hurts. Mighty Mouse, where are you?
A Disgusted Taxpayer,
Raphael Semmes
Midway
Raphael Semmes
Midway