Huntington Republicans Raise Taxes
Posted by Jeff Pruitt - 8/27/08 @ 1:41 am - Filed Under Featured, Local Politics
Every community is going through tough times right now. The economy has weakened and HEA 1001 has forced government bodies to cut their budgets. But the Republicans that control Huntington County decided that what the people really needed in this economic environment was a tax increase:
The controversial vote to approve the Local Option Income Tax (LOIT) was approved Monday evening by the Huntington County Council.
Following a lengthy public meeting session with public input, the council voted 5-1 to approve a qualified residential .25 percent LOIT tax for 2009 and voted 5-1 to approve a .1 percent public safety LOIT.
“We don’t want to see a tax as much as anyone else,” Pam Updike, council member said. “But we have tried to cut every budget that we can.”
Unbelievable. Of course Updike isn’t just any old council member. She’s also the Republican county chair, the mayor’s wife and the mayor’s executive assistant. Can you imagine the outrage if mayor Henry hired his wife to be on his staff?
At least she had the courage to vote. John Hacker, incumbent Republican councilman up for re-election, didn’t even show up for the meeting - now that is leadership. The other two Republicans running for council seats didn’t show their face either.
This is just another example that one-party rule breeds incompetence and corruption. Fortunately the voters of Huntington have a choice this election cycle:
Gary Snyder, Democrat candidate for County Council was on hand and voiced his opposition to the LOIT and criticized the city for spending $35,000 on a study “to provide political cover.”
“This is a tax on the hard-working middle class families of Huntington County and what we will pay will be equal to a 100 gallons of gas - who wants to lose a 100 gallons of gas,” Snyder said.
That’s a good question. There’s an old adage that people don’t really care about politics until it hits them in the pocketbook. Well the wallets in Huntington will be noticeably lighter as of October 1st so I guess we’ll see if they start paying attention…
Comments
Leave a Reply
