Landowners from Holladay-Cottonwood are still stunned over the recent increase in their property taxes. Double or triple increases are common.
One beleaguered 90-year-old widow found the taxes on her vacant lot had increased 626 percent. The value on her leaky, 100-year-old log and adobe home was increased by $20,000. An 80-year-old widow with an income of $8,000 a year applied for a tax abatement only to be denied and told, "If you can't pay your taxes, sell. We can raise them again next year."What kind of a government abuses some of its most vulnerable citizens and puts them in economic jeopardy? Senior citizens in the past have faced a choice between buying food or medicine. Now, it's a choice between food, medicine or shelter. Many oldsters would prefer going hungry rather than being uprooted from a home where they've lived for a lifetime.
The anger taxpayers feel is the kind that fuels a drive for a California 13 type proposition. Right now, all that is needed to set off a spark is for someone to say "Let's organize."
Donna W. Paswaters
Salt Lake City