Why should you vote for Linda Wells for tax commissioner? Perhaps the most important reasons are for a fresh perspective and for a tax commissioner who puts the citizens’ needs first.

According to the present tax commissioner, “I have without question led the Fayette County tax office to the point of being acclaimed the best tax office in the metro Atlanta area, possibly the best in the state.”

The question begs asking, What is that claim based on: Our collection rate? Our customer service rating? Time spent waiting in line? The ease of use?

Both Cobb County and Gwinnett County have all their forms available on their websites. In Fayette County, there are no forms available on line; one must physically come into the tax office to get a copy of any form.

When a citizen does get a form in the Fayette Tax Office, there are no large print forms for the visually-impaired; there are no accommodations made for those with physical-impairment — everyone stands and waits in line; and people often have to discuss very personal and confidential information while others wait in line behind them.

Throughout this campaign I have proposed making homestead exemptions available via the mail, but Mr. Wingo has repeatedly stated, as he did in his response to The Citizen, that “Georgia Law requires that applications for all homestead exemptions be made in person at the tax commissioner’s office, sworn in the presence of the tax commissioner or a staff member. I will be working to change the law so that these applications can be done online via the Internet with independent verification of pertinent data.”

Yet amazingly, in Cobb and Gwinnett County, citizens can download the forms for all homestead exemptions and the applications can be MAILED into the tax office. The taxpayers in these counties do not have to take time off from work, drive to the tax office, and stand in line to apply for their homestead exemptions.

Are the Cobb County and Gwinnett County tax commissioners not bound by the same Georgia law as is Mr. Wingo or he is just not aware of the current laws governing his office?

With 61 percent of our citizens working outside Fayette County, with gasoline costing more than $4 a gallon and with the busy schedules that consume our days, it makes no sense that our citizens must continue to do business the old fashioned way.

In fact, the current tax commissioner has campaign T-shirts saying, “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.” I suggest that attitude encourages citizens to settle for the status quo instead of demanding the very best.

A vote for Linda Wells is a vote for Fayette County taxpayers.

Linda Wells

Fayette County, Ga.

login to post comments