Local taxes can kick people from their homes
Well the county commissioners have done it again, ever determined to tax the retired, unemployed and low-income citizens out of their homes. All this so government employees can live a little bit better, at the expense of all those who earn an honest living and must again, reduce their standard of living.
As Robert Ringer stated in his book "Taking Care of Number 1," anyone who takes home a paycheck from the public trough should be arrested for grand larceny. The city of Post Falls is one of the worst offenders of sloughing at the public trough when the city fathers decided city employees needed a nice new shiny building to "work" in. Need room for expansion" was the hue and cry. Have you been in there lately? It's mostly empty. Besides, government expansion means higher taxes ... (!)
Some time ago there was a report in the Cd'A/PF Press from some government manager who expressed concern about sagging morale of county and/or Cd'A city employees who needed a raise to lift their spirits. At first I couldn't believe any government employee would be stupid enough to make a public statement like that! But then on second thought, I realized it was VERY believable ...(!)
Sagging morale you say? Poor babies. You want low morale? Try sleeping in your car in January in Coeur d'Alene! And I don't mean as an attention-getting ploy where you are all bundled up in your eider down sleeping bag like the celebrities do. I mean in a state of desperation where you have nowhere else to go and no hope of relief. Try the soup kitchens as your only source of nourishment! All these things are on the increase as our anointed ones in county government continue to tax people out of their homes. At least these government employees with "sagging morale" HAVE a job. There are many unemployed who would gladly trade places with them at any wage level!
You never really own your home! The county government has assigned itself the power to take your home away from you at will (their will). My property tax has increased 75 percent in the last five years, and is headed toward doubling with a 20 percent increase last year and a whopping 35 percent increase this year! I wonder what nasty surprise the county commissioners have in store for us next year. At this rate of increase, I will be put out on the streets in another five years. I have a banker friend who tells me that tax foreclosures (evictions) are at an all-time high and are increasing.
The home is sacred! Government should not have the power to put families out of their homes. Do the county commissioners and the city fathers give a g*d d*mn? Not in the slightest. They figure only they and all the rodent denizens under their employ have the right to pursue the American Dream! The rest of us can go wallow in poverty and sleep on the streets.
Robert Roberts is a Coeur d'Alene resident.