In the Dec. 9 Readers' Forum, Hal D. Farrer complained that the Salt Lake County tax people have ruined his Christmas. He says protests are being answered with arrogant replies like "if you can't pay, move."
And Vida Wright of the Holladay area recently complained of a 150 percent to 300 percent tax increase and was told, "If you can't pay your taxes, it means nothing to us."That is just the beginning. Before tax officials are done, they will ruin all our days, not just Christmas.
Tax collectors have found out Utahns are a pack of sheep and are shearing us. Our politicians in California behaved the same way. The people of Utah are heavily taxed, even worse than California, from where I escaped almost three years ago.
Too bad there are not two good men in Utah like Howard Jarvis and Paul Gann of California. They pinned back the ears of confiscatory tax collectors with what was called Proposition 13. They helped us spend our own money in California instead of having the state do it for us. And it helped California's economy for most of a decade.
But nobody is going to step forward with such "true grit" here in Utah. And even if they did, the political leaders would convince a majority that it would be bad for education and the proposition would fail. Has that happened here before?
No one would believe that any tax collectors in Utah would actually tax homes away from poorer citizens or the aged like they did in California. I mean, the tax collectors in Zion will be "just" men, right?
Gordon Norman
Provo