The Patriot, 8/21/2008 - 2:05pm "Back in 1980 then Mayor Jim Inhofe was all over the TV touting a "temporary third penny sales tax" that would be used to fund capital improvements that the city budget could not cover. Once the capital improvements were complete we were told the tax would expire. That was 28 years ago and the tax is still with us.
Now the city is going back to the 1980 play book with a "temporary tax" on property owners that will run for either 5 or 12 years and again so the arguement goes will expire at the end of that time. Now I ask you Mr. Bates do you really think this tax will just disappear at the end of its scheduled life? Hell no.
The arguement in 1980 was hey its a temporary tax. Then the city switched the pitch and went to a hey its just an extension of a tax you are already paying so your taxes wont go up.
Mayor Taylors 2007 city budget numbers assumed continued passage of the third penny squarely moving it from a temporary tax with a time certain expiration to an ongoing tax with an open ended life of its own. . The same will happen with this new property tax 5 or 12 years down the road.
Anyone with an ounce of sense realizes that if this tax is passed it is likely to become a permanent funding source for the city long after the debt created has been retired. What we are seeing is nothing less than the creation of a new funding source for city improvements on top of a third penny sales tax that has arguably been poorly spent.
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