Your Opinion: More government won't grow community

Dear Editor:

Don't do this. Not again. We have got to stop believing that if we just give the government a few more of our tax dollars that they are going to somehow solve all of our problems. It's always the same old song "just give us a little bit more because this is so important and then that's all we'll need ..." The economic problems in our community will not be solved by taxing ourselves another half cent so that the folks down at City Hall can decide how to better spend our money.

If you want to see how this thing would play out if passed, you need look no further than the conference center proposal. They showed you a picture of it, they told you where it was going to be, and then they told you that you weren't going to have to pay for it. What happened you ask? Well, they have no idea where it's going, no idea what it's going to look like, 15 percent of the costs are coming straight from general revenue, and now about a year later they are proposing to spend 25 percent (or $10 million) of the "Transformation" tax on that very conference center. To be clear, they are asking for 25 percent of this new tax increase to pay for the conference center less than a year after telling us the lodging tax increase would fund it. Don't take the bait.

Increasing the size and scope of our government will not lead to economic growth. If we want to grow the answer is not raising taxes on individuals and businesses. The answer is lowering taxes and offering additional incentives for expansion of existing businesses and new businesses. An aggressive approach in these areas would create local jobs, create local income, create local spending, and then increase the city's pile of money, in that order.

Their plan calls for increasing their pile of money first and I think we'll find that starting point contradictory to economic growth. Vote no on this one and keep the money for yourself, you know best what to do with it.