Letter: Taxpayers, guard your 50 cents

To the Editor:

The Red Wing voters have spoken loud and clear. I wonder if City Hall heard the resounding repudiation of their latest effort to squeeze even more millions from the local economy by increasing the sales tax?

Yes, they heard. But a trifling referendum will not deter the government expansionists. Taxpayers must be ever vigilant of new and clever tactics that City Hall will devise to achieve their project dreams.

Only people who have spent their lives in government could conclude that increasing the cost of shopping in Red Wing would actually expand the local economy.

If they really need more revenue for their dream projects, why not look for ways to reduce business and residential taxes and regulations to attract more outside investment and residents? The increased revenue from an expanded local economy would provide more than enough revenue to fund their projects.

Governments, whether local, state or national, are populated with people who do not have to compete for capital in the free market, do not have shareholders who put their investment at risk every day nor are they generally accountable for failures and waste.

But unlike the private sector, they do have time, lots of time. They have time to expand their control over the lives of private citizens through ever increasing regulation, intervention and confiscation of your private property through taxation.

Remember, you are only left with just 50 cents of every dollar you earn after government takes its bite. Be ever vigilant of your diminishing freedoms because government has an insatiable appetite. And like a bad penny, they will be back.

Craig Livingstone

Red Wing

Tags: opinion, letters