Taxation With Representation?

To the Editor:

The town is once again embroiled in what seems to be our annual rite of passage — the budget. It appears that the Board of Education and the Legislative Council have no qualms asking for increases in spending that far exceed the rate of inflation. Since the year 2000, the rate of inflation has averaged 2.77 percent, and we are continuously being asked to pay 6-plus percent in tax increases.

Councilman David Brown (The Bee, April 6) stated, “It’s our job to lead, not reflect what is out there.” The last I knew, we still had a representative form of government, and our leaders are supposed to represent the wishes of the people. Mr Brown further stated, “We have educated people putting this budget together, and we have more educated people on the Board of Finance refining the numbers down.” Does he imply that a No vote means that we are uneducated? That be the case, I would rather see people running this town that have a little less education and a little more common sense. Remember, it was educated people in Hartford that deregulated the electric utilities under the guise of lower electric rates. It is educated people in Hartford that are sitting on a $875 million surplus that want to raise income taxes and increase spending by ten percent.

Councilman Keith Jacobs (The Bee, May 11) states, “I’m not convinced a No vote was a directive to cut the budget.” He further states (The Bee, May 25), “There are one or two individuals responsible for us sitting here tonight.” What part of “No” doesn’t he understand? One or two individuals were not responsible for him sitting there another night. It was 2,624 individuals responsible for him sitting there. Possibly it was 12 councilmen that wanted to “lead rather than reflect what is out there,” that were responsible for him sitting there another night.

When this country was born, the cry was, “Taxation without representation is Tyranny.” I think the current cry should be, “Taxation with our representation is insanity.”

Gary W. Liljengren

15 Split Rock Road, Newtown                                         May 29, 2007