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Voters rejected sales tax hike because they'd already paid for them; politicos frittered money away
The YE$ campaign (falsely) thought that
the increased voter turnout meant that they were going to win because
everyone was coming out due to being tired of being stuck in traffic.
Voters overwhelmingly turned out to vote
NO because they knew that they had already paid for these projects and
the money was wasted.
The legislators now need to understand
that the voters want their hard-earned money put to good use on
legitimate roles of the state government, one of which is roads.
The fiscally irresponsible increase in
state budget spending of 42% over the past 5 years, totaling approx.
$8 billion could have paid for these projects. In fact, if the
legislators had been fiscally responsible, the first shovel load of
dirt to start building these projects could have been struck this
morning, instead of waiting 10 years more as the tax referendum had
required.
The editorials that I have read so far
have been full of obvious sales tax supporters crying in their milk.
They decry the voters and especially, the Ax the Tax Coalition and
other opponents, as being people who don't care about our area and
that we aren't 'forward-thinking'.
Unfortunately, the YE$ side doesn't
realize how myopic their 'forward' view actually was and everything
looks good through rose-colored glasses.
The NO side knows that hindsight is 20/20
and saw all of the tax money that we've been paying for years spent
frivolously and did not want to see more wasted.
Now that the voters have given the
legislators a resounding "NO!" to this blank check, it is
time to work on real solutions for our transportation woes and to do
it with the money we are already giving them.
Brian Babb - Norfolk
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