Once again the good citizens of Utah have fallen victim to the creeping tax-increase disease. The back pages of the newspapers of the state are loaded with "Notices of Tax Increases." The property evaluations have been sent out from the counties with their never-ending increases.
The Utah Legislature gave every form of government the power to tax their populace. They no longer need to go through the process of holding a bond election. Taxing entities need only notify us of the tax increase, and we have no choice but to pay it.
We are told the increment is small, but we only need to look at our tax notice to see that the tax burden has reached a point of serious significance. The elderly and the poor are caught in the real bind of paying their taxes or going without many of the necessities of life.
The danger of these tax increases, and all future tax increases, is that we, the citizens, no longer have control over our taxes. The Legislature took that power from us and gave it to those who spend our tax dollars. Any time they want more money, they just put a notice in the paper, and our taxes go up. The only way to fight back is to go to the tax meetings and protest all increases regardless of how small. The only problem is the meetings are not held during times that the working people can leave work and make it to the meetings. The timing is not meant to encourage taxpayer participation.
It is time to give us citizens back our right to control tax increases. All increases should be voted on by those who pay them. We must put a stop to holding bond elections at unfamiliar times and in unconventional locations. We are tired of bond elections being held at times and locations that are known to only to a few.
Gerald N. Durtschi
Bountiful