Your Opinion: Tax would finance 'feel-good' projects

Dear Editor:

To all those conservatives out there who abhor those filthy tax and spend liberals let me remind you a vote in favor of the Transform Jefferson City sales tax increase makes you one of those you so detest.

This spending spree (see the list of projects and who benefits) is expected to cost over $40 million. Since the Jefferson City 2010 population was 41,297 this calculates out to be about $1,000 per person. And of course sales taxes always hit the lowest income citizens the worst. They must pay a greater percentage of their income on sales taxable items to survive; they can't afford nontaxable investment expenditures.

Since these projects are not essential city services they can be characterized as more like feel-good projects. In this incredibly difficult economic time, where people are really hurting, why are the voters being asked now to finance feel-good projects that private developers won't invest in? I'm guessing those who favor this wish list of projects can obviously afford a few extra thousand dollars for their family to make this city feel good about itself.

Maybe it won't actually cost the poor $1,000 per person because they can't afford to buy all the food and other niceties that the proponents can afford. But it will seem like far more than $1,000 to the poor and what about a family of four making minimum wage?

Unfortunately there are a whole lot of people in this town that don't have an extra $1,000 per person to throw around; we're not all lawyers or doctors. What do you proponents say to those people? Tough luck, we have to feel good about our town. It's only $1,000 per person.

So vote for the Transformation Jefferson City sales tax increase if you want, that's your right, but don't call yourself a conservative. If you vote for this increase you have no right to complain about those tax and spend liberals in Washington. You are one of them if you vote for this proposal.