ISN'T IT TIME FOR A TEA PARTY

IT IS TIME TO REDUCE REGRESSIVE TAXATION IN CUYAHOGA COUNTY; IT IS TIME TO STOP TAXING LOW INCOME PEOPLE FOR HIGHER INCOME DESIRES.

 We are too busy to remember that the taxes discussed below are relentlessly collected every day, hour and minute on required purchases by all of us. 

It’s time people begin to understand that as long as they are quiet, THEIR REPRESENTATIVES will think they don’t mind being taxed more and more.

No squeaky wheel, let’s hit them again, they seem to reason. And why not?

 With the economy tanking, with people being thrown out of jobs, with family incomes being depleted, isn’t it time that Cuyahoga County at least ended the quarter-percent sales tax the County Commissioners added for the elusive medical mart and convention center. 

People didn’t vote for an increase of the sales tax to 7.75 percent, the highest of any Ohio County. It was Tim Hagan and Jimmy Dimora who decided for them. Now, tell them to decide to eliminate the tax. It’s going to take a strong community reaction, similar to the sit-in workers at the Chicago factory, Republic Window and Door to get anyone’s attention. 

But Commissioner Tim Hagan has been the central figure in much of use of the sales tax for these corporate friends’ desires.  Here are the latest figures on sales (sin) taxes for the Browns stadium - $46,619,238 - from August 2005 until the end of November this year; and for the Arts & Culture tax $35,122,858, Feb. 2007 through November, 2008. 

That represents $81.7 million in regressive sales taxes, $45 million of it from smokers, known to be mostly lower income working people. 

How would it be if that tax money was in the hands of consumers who would be buying goods in Cuyahoga County, or possibly food for their children? Why is it that city, county and state officials can’t think of taxes other than sales taxes, which fall most heavily upon working families? 

By the way, the latest figures for the medical mart tax were not included in figures released to me. The medical mart tax will likely hit $40 million by year's end. With the above $81 million, we will have at least $125 million in EXTRA sales taxes paid by County residents. How nice!

Do you think that the Ronn Richards and the David Abbotts recommend luxury taxes or corporate taxes for all these doodads that they want? 

The game is fixed and unless there are people who are willing to demand that these changes, they won’t change.