The Landlords, The Ministers and The Car Dealers

Well now, there are some interesting observation to be made about the letters from the landlords, the ministers, the car dealers and 17 of the commissioners, with the mayor, in a recent Readers Write section in The Courier.

These folks’ letters and Mr. Johnny Bellis’ pretty ads attempt to debate the pros and cons of the wheel tax issue, I think.

At the same time they tell the citizens to not participate in the petition drive that would lead to a much needed debate of the whole jail problem solution, not just how to pay for it. The rational seem to be that if enough of the citizens do sign the petition, they will have to arrange for the citizens to vote and somehow that would not be a good thing because we don't have the time to mess with it.

They would have us believe that if they have to take the time for the citizens to express their wishes, again, the sky is going to fall in and we are really going to be in bad shape, then. Yah, Right. I believe that is the same rhetoric that was put out the last time this issue came up.

If the citizens exercise their constitutional right to vote, the voters may will veto the wheel tax, again. That might mean a property tax increase or, even worse, it might just require a real attempt to minimize the total cost of this project to the taxpayers, by thinking outside the box to plan solutions that will meet our needs for at least the next 15 to 20 years.

In reality, it needs to be pointed out that the only real issue we are facing today is whether or not there are enough concerned citizens with enough courage to step up and sign a petition. Some folks have refused to step up because of their concern that somehow the public record of them exercising their God given right to participate, could come back to haunt them someday.

The penalty of course would surely be some sort of retaliation from the Plantation’s Overlords for us sharecroppers going against their wishes.

The question is - Do at least 750 voters want to exercise their right to vote on the actions of our County Commission in raising our taxes or should we accept their actions on the face value of truth and wisdom.

You often hear the question, "Who’s looking after the minority?" In Hardin County the question is screaming, "Who’s looking after the majority?" It sure as heck is not our elected officials, not the landlords, not the car salesmen and as bad as I hate to say it, not the preachers.

The preachers ask "the citizens to support our elected officials as they make the tough decision of leadership for which they were elected." Yah Right. How can one support someone when they make the tough decision of leadership that they WERE NOT elected to make.

The citizens of Hardin County, in a duly called and held election, under the laws of the State of Tennessee, voted by a majority, in the privacy of the voting booth, not to increase the wheel tax to fund ‘the Jail Project.’

While it is true that the County Commissioners were elected to make tough decisions, the laws of the State of Tennessee give the voters a right to veto that decision, when it applies to local tax non-property increases, if a majority of the voters think they made that tough decision, wrong. This is called checks and balances. Duh! What a concept for Hardin County go get use to.

I wonder what part of that concept the Hardin County Ministerial Association do not understand. If one has any understanding of our form of government, one would know that our elected officials do not have veto rights on the citizen's vote. Not in a democracy.

Let’s try to remember that at one time I was ‘a preacher’s kid’ and the best I remember the notion on fair taxation is - A fair tax system asks citizens to contribute to the cost of government services based on their ability to pay.

This is a venerable idea, as old as the biblical notion that a few pennies from a poor woman’s purse cost her more than many pieces of gold from a rich man’s hoard. As someone once told my dad, there are times when preachers quit preaching and start meddling.

This debate is between the citizens and their elected officials. One could make the assumption that the registered voters also represent a cross-section of the folks that make up these folks congregations. With that thought in mind, if 55% of the flock do not want the wheel tax, just who are these folks representing and speaking for?

As far as the wheel tax issue is concerned, we have been there, done that. Let’s get about doing it different. That was the vote of the majority of the voters in Hardin County and one must remember that the citizens of the county are sovereign, and our county government's legitimacy flows from them.

These folks were elected to represent the citizens, within the limits of the County Charter and the Tennessee Constitution. Even if the state left the loophole in the statutes, I don’t believe they were elected to thumb their noses at the expressed wishes of the majority of the citizens. That action defies the concept of representative democracy or the majority rules concept, but clearly represents the concept of an aristocracy, controlled by a noble or privileged class.

It’s like these folks are telling us "excuse me, you poor forks, even if you are the majority, you have to listen to us because we know what you really want to do, even if you don’t.

The Unites States of America is a Federal Republic. Federal, state and local governments choose their officials based on the popular vote. This is commonly referred to as "representative democracy," and assumes voters choose candidates who represent their views.

Over the years their has been some divisive attitudes developed in Hardin County that keep the County pulled in different direction, to this day.

There is the ‘this or that side of the river’ thing, the ‘Savannah vs Hardin County’ thing and the ‘Savannah/Hardin County vs Pickwick/Counce/ Hardin County’ thing.

But, worst of all is the ever present ‘have and have nots’ attitude. Or as I like to call it, the ‘I got mine, to hell with you, Hardin County elitists attitude.’ Over the years this attitude had gone underground to the general population but it is in times like this that it is quite visible, even to folks who don’t really want to see it.

Our community leaders are constantly challenging the citizens to get involved and to participate in their schools, their community affairs and in their government, so they can trust the decisions made on the citizens behalf. Yet when one of the few opportunities under Tennessee law come along for them to do that very thing, we are told to not do it. What’s going on there?

Does that trust thing apply to an obvious breach of trust by those folks who are asking the citizens to blindly follow them, without questions or comments. Even though they are brazen enough to tell the a citizens they voted wrong.

I would submit that the citizens were not wrong in the last election when they vetoed the wheel tax, but they appear to have been wrong the election before last when they elected this group of commissioners and this mayor, if the voters had any expectation of representative democracy.

I don’t mind debating these folks in an open forum in order for the citizens to familiarize themselves with both sides of the debate. In reality, signing the petition says, ‘we want to hear the debates.’ What’s wrong with that?

Did you notice that the landlord’s think that "Hardin County currently enjoys relatively reasonable rental rates" and if the property taxes were increases they would be required to raise the rents. They make the point that ‘most people rental rates rise in increments of $5.00 per month . . . .’

Excuuuuse me. In order to justify a $60.00 annual increase in rents and attribute it to a .24 mill increase for the jail project, you would be renting a $100,000 per unit appraised market value. Yah right, they would just have to get a little more from those non-property owners.

Signing the petition does not overturn the wheel tax, it puts it on hold. The decision to overturn the tax, will be made by the voters. The Petition is the vehicle we have to use to make that happen.

Well now, it’s nice to have the super car salesmen and political giants, Mr. Jones (D) and Mr. Bellis (R), join in the debate, but as expected they arrived on the side of the plantation owners/overlords and not the sharecroppers.

The car dealers, a.k.a. - 'really good car salesmen,’ tell us that we can’t afford for someone outside the county to dictating to us about building and operating a jail for decades to come. Yah, right. Thee county commissionhas been doing such a wonderful job of doing nothing they were not forced to do over the last two decades with the jail problem, we certainly want to rely on them and their past history of building and operating the jail, don’t we?

Only a car salesman could conclude that "The wheel tax will be paid for by more individuals than a property tax." Well, duh!! According to the U.S. Census, 60% of our owner-occupied houses have two or more vehicles. Heck, eight percent have no vehicles and only thirty-two percent have only one vehicle.

Now when you couple that with their position that the wheel tax is the most efficient, broadest based and fairest tax available as an option to fund the jail, it really gets questionable.

I have no idea what data these folks reviewed to conclude "most efficient," but "broadest based and fairest tax available" can not be supported. Broadest based - while there are approximately 25,000 vehicles registered in Hardin County, there are also approximately 25,000 partials of property in Hardin County.

What they don't share is the fact that 40% of the tax bills for those partials, representing 25% of our total property tax base, are mailed out of state or out of the county to be paid. I would bet that most of these non-resident folks do not have a vehicle registered in Hardin County.

See the difference? The average Hardin County family has one partial of property valued at $70,000 and two vehicles. The increase on the vehicles would be $72.00 and would be only $42.00 on his property. With wheel tax, 40% of the property owners will get the benefit of a new facility for no contribution. What's fair about that?

The average poor and middle class citizen would have to have a $120,000 partial of property, instead of $70,000, to equal the cost of the wheel tax increase. But then again, it would be safe to bet that most, if not all, of the signators of the super car salesmen letter have substantially more real estate holding than the average citizen.

But then again, car dealers are exempt on paying wheel taxes in Hardin County on all of those cars you see parked on their lots, and one must remember these folks are basically really good ‘car salesmen’ and in this case I would highly recommend that you really need to read their warranty on their representations. Ever hear, trust me, it just needs running?

Respectfully submitted for your consideration.
Ted