You picked a fine time to raise taxes, Mayor Curry

As the Democrats in the House of Representatives in DC clapped for joy at the passing of the $1.9 trillion Covid relief bill, Mayor Curry was campaigning his way through the City Council and other people of importance about increasing the gas tax by 6 cents a gallon.

So the Dems are clapping as they give you “relief” — and Mayor Curry is going to take it away with an increase in the local gas tax.

Can we ever get a break?

Not really and not until we put leaders in political seats who care more about using tax payer dollars wisely and looking at spending vs raising taxes.

Just the other day Eye wrote about the Storm Water Tax. In 2008 (13 years ago) the First Coast Tea Party showed up at a City Council Meeting wearing t-shirts with the quote “Don’t Raise My Taxes” on it. The chambers were packed and people spoke in front of the council begging them to not raise their taxes. They could not afford it. They asked for the council to find other ways to raise revenues and cut spending. At the end of the night —

— the Council raised their taxes.

Mayor Peyton gladly signed it and there you have it – a Storm Water Fee was placed on our real estate tax bill and for 13 years that little tax has been building cash. Little fees and little taxes placed in areas people don’t look at often are a great source of revenue. Sneaky politicians know this.

In our report we uncovered that 2/3rds of those dollars gained from that tax went to administrative fees and only 1/3 went to fixing “storm water issues” and septic tank issues. Did you read that right? One third of those fees (aka taxes) went to “fixing” the problem. Shameful isn’t it?

But here we are again. Another time in history. Another Mayor. Another reason for increasing taxes — and part of the campaign for increasing taxes – septic tank issues. (Will we ever fix the septic tank issue? Not in our lifetime! Want to bet on it?)

Don’t get me wrong. Cities and countries need tax revenues to pay for services. We all understand that. What we don’t like is how those tax dollars are spent and the lack of accountability for spending them wisely. It’s got to stop.

It has to because one day — it will all stop. There is always a time for the not-so-skinny (politically correct mention here) lady to sing.

Certainly there is someone out there with leadership abilities that will see an answer to the ongoing problem of taxing, taxing, taxing.

There must be an answer that doesn’t mean spending our tax dollars to give us something we don’t want and then taxing us on what we didn’t want in the first place!

Read that sentence again!

Dear followers of Eye — we are about to get sucker punched. The Federal Government is (must) raise taxes to pay for that $1.9 Trillion they just spent that we don’t have. As Steve Forbes lays out in this video, your gas and electricity bills are about to skyrocket. NOTE: He’s smart as heck but terrible in front of the camera so ignore him reading it and listen to the information.

So there you have it — the Feds are going to raise your taxes through gas and electricity fees and our Mayor wants to increase our gas taxes locally.

The perfect storm is hitting North Florida. And who will pay for it? Grab a mirror — take a good look in it. Give yourself a break and promise to vote for fiscal conservatives in the future. Then hand off your $1,400 Federal “gubment” check to Mayor Curry as you sing “Money, Money, Money by ABBA.

That’s my opinion. I cherish yours.

Billie Tucker Volpe Founder of Eye on Jacksonville and Leadership Consultant to CEOs/Executives

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