Wednesday, February 19, 2003

There should be red alert for more and more taxes

If we had color-coded alerts for taxes, I am afraid we'd always be at the red level, the highest.

Saturday's AJC had a front-page article trumpeting that "Metro leaders will push tax to ease gridlock." When you read it, you find that it's the sales tax somebody wants to raise, and that Fayette County would have to pay it.

Just a few weeks ago, one read that the Peachtree City mayor wanted a municipal option sales tax, which he called a MOST.

We know, of course, that our own county commissioners renewed our local option sales tax, or LOST, for another 10 years, in early December, without batting an eye. We also know that there are in our midst people who love SPLOST.

Canadians now pay 15 percent in sales tax, and if we don't watch out that's the level we are headed for.

On another front, I noted that our Fayette school board just recently decided to lease, rather than buy, some more school buses. Assuming the need is genuine and the lease terms are reasonable, that was truly the right decision to make and the board should not have had to agonize about it.

Buses are capital equipment, to be used for many years. By paying for them as they are being used, we have more money up front for the current needs of our current students.

Good accounting practices lead to good government. I only wish we had more public officials who understand accounting principles and the logic behind them, which is to promote equity in the allocation of tax burdens and resources.

Claude Y. Paquin

Fayetteville

cypaquin@msn.com