In Wicomico, Cutting Taxes Is Absurd
During yesterday’s Wicomico County Council meeting one thing was made abundantly clear - the Wicomico County government has little interest in tax relief for its residents and NO desire to cut spending.
I arrived a few minutes late to Tuesday’s meeting. I walked in to find that the agenda had been changed and the vote on the FY 2009 county budget had been moved up. Unfortunately, I was there to hear two councilmen express views on county fiscal matters which distressed me to no end.
Councilman Bill McCain (D) provided the public with his views on tax policy. Referencing Councilman Joe Holloway’s (R-5) attempts to cut the county income tax rate McCain stated, “(it is) …absurd to cut a county revenue source.” It appears that McCain views our tax dollars not as OUR money, but as “a county revenue source” to be spent by our county government.
Given that five members refused to even research the potential cost of an open ended pension liability (which could cost taxpayers over $1 million), assuming that McCain and his like-minded cohorts will spend tax money wisely could prove both dangerous and expensive. McCain’s apparent belief that taxpayer money is the county’s lends additional credence that he shouldn’t be trusted with fiscal decisions.
Councilman Dave MacLeod (D-4), while taking a different approach, leads Wicomico down the same fiscally disastrous path. Stating that he doesn’t subscribe to the “doomsday scenario”, he believes that “we can look forward to a BIGGER and BETTER budget down the road”. While I have to credit MacLeod with being so open, I have to condemn his philosophy of government.
When discussing fiscal matters, BIGGER is not de facto BETTER. I know that MacLeod is a man of good heart and conscience. He feeds the homeless and hugs trees. These are admirable qualities. Expropriating funds from the taxpayer to redistribute wealth has proven disastrous almost everywhere it has been tried (the exceptions being in relatively small, homogeneous populations).
The bottom line is simple. Are we here to be slaves to the government or is government to serve us? In Wicomico County, the views of our elected officials is becoming rapidly clear. We are blessed with two council members (Holloway and Prettyman) who understand that government should serve the taxpayer. McCain and MacLeod apparently believe the opposite. We have three members who, at least rhetorically, are sitting on the fence.
Retaining their perch will not only give council members John Cannon, Gail Bartkovich, Sheree Sample-Hughes splinters, it will strengthen the voters’ belief that they too subscribe to the McCain / MacLeod philosophy of government.
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