Why Do They Need More?

Politicians in Denver, Colorado, are pushing 10; count 'em, 10 new taxes, supposedly to pay for the "infrastructure costs" that they should have enough money in the bank to pay for. They constantly poor-mouth" us while hiding references to all the money they have in the bank fro the 14; count 'em, 14 tax increases we've already suffered under Mayor Hickenlooper. "For the 14th time in four years, Denver taxpayers are being asked to foot the bill for yet more taxes. The question: Should we say yes? 'Staying true to his always colorful and lively campaign antics, Mayor John Hickenlooper and his friends at City Hall are trying to get our attention -- desperately pleading with us to approve nine tax-and-bond increases at a total cost of more than a half-billion dollars. And in doing so, they want to raise our property taxes -- forever. Hickenlooper says ballot questions 'A through I' are all about 'catching up' and 'maintaining' the city. But if the numbers show us anything, it's that Denver has squandered the money it already has, and doesn't deserve to come back for more. Consider the following: Denver's population has risen just 2 percent in the last five years. Over this same period, the city's total budget has swelled by 13 percent [What did they do with that money? -RT]. Even if voters deny each new proposal, next year will mark Denver's first-ever billion-dollar budget." Why should Denver need a half-million dollars in NEW taxes to "catch up" and "maintain" the infrastructure? Why didn't they spend the money they've ALREADY overtaxed us for that instead of the "vote-buying giveaway" programs? Do they think we are that stupid as to continue to give them more and more money after we've already given them more than we can afford? I've always liked "Hick" until now. But he's proven that he is a typical "tax-and-spend" liberal and should be gotten rid of. (Independence Institute, 10/14/07)