This post was written in rebuttal to views expressed by the Wakulla GOP and has also appeared, in a slightly edited version, on the Florida Progressive Coalition page.
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Gardening on the Gulf Coast: How I invest in my community...and my country.
When I think about government and the role that taxes play in governance, I think about where I want to live and how I want to live.
I would like to live in a community with good roads, safe bridges, clean water, and quality schools. I want to live in a county where emergency and law enforcement personnel have the resources and staff to respond to citizens in a timely and effective manner.
In the place where I would like to live, city and county parks would be well-maintained and safe with varied opportunities for recreation including walking paths, tennis courts, and other play areas such as soccer fields. While I am on the topic of a community where I would want to live, I would also add in a few amenities such as sidewalks and bike lanes that would further encourage residents to enjoy the natural beauty of our county.
Recent commentary written by the Wakulla “GOP” or Republican Party suggested that “Wakulla County Commissioners take the easy way out – They Tax.” After I did a few deep breathing exercises and counted to ten to give myself a little moment to calm down, I began to think about why my neighbors on the other side of the political aisle might feel this way.
The GOP writer cited recent comments from a July 28 WCTV story on taxes in Wakulla County, “Florida Tax Watch CEO Dominic Calabro says the county can do a better job making cuts.”
"They should cut their operating expenses. Get rid of perks. See who gets a car that doesn't need to have a car, cut back on some of the salaries that they're paying," says Calabro.
I’m not sure what county Calabro refers to in his statements. It is not the Wakulla where I reside and pay taxes. In Wakulla, we’ve been cutting county expenses for some time now. County employees have been furloughed.
My Republican neighbors cite recently approved and proposed taxes for the county in their indictment of the work our Commissioners are doing:
New Taxes
• Public Service Tax – Approved
• Solid Waste MSBU – Proposed
• Ambulance MSBU – Proposed
Increased Taxes
• Communication Service Tax – Approved
• Fire MSBU – Proposed
• Hotel Bed Tax – Proposed
After reading and researching a little more about this issue, I began to think that maybe my Republican neighbors want one of two things in the community where they live. They either want to live off the grid without the services and amenities that are the hallmarks of a civilized modern society OR they want others (maybe the governance elves, whoever they may be?) to pay for such things.
In the article “Wakulla County Commissioners take the easy way out”, posted online August 1st at http://wakullagop.org/?p=59 the writer refers to playing the “blame game” with prior administrations – on the local and national levels. Without playing the blame game, I want to challenge my neighbors to remember history.
To borrow lines from Shakespeare said by Antonio in The Tempest:
“Whereof what's past is prologue; what to come,
In yours and my discharge.”
The Tempest Act 2, scene 1, 245–254
Did the Bush tax cuts bring the nation to the current debt crisis? Did the deeds of prior administrations leave Wakulla in a poor fiscal position? Perhaps.
I am not interested in laying blame. I would prefer to study HOW leaders have solved problems in the past rather than focus on the prior mistakes. It is far more useful to consider how a problem may have been resolved than to spend additional time bemoaning the problem itself.
On a national level, my study of the debt crisis has taken me back to the 1930s to refresh my memory on such prior problem resolutions as the New Deal, the Works Project Administration, and the Social Security Act of 1935.
We are not going to cut our way out of a recession. It can’t be done on the national level. Nor can it be done on the local level.
How do we grow an economy? We invest in it. How do we nurture and sustain a vibrant community? We invest in it.
In Wakulla, we are going to have to decide what kind of community we want. I know I want to live in a county where the fire, ambulance, and police can respond to me and all my neighbors quickly and effectively with all the resources needed.
Taxes are an investment in my community. I think my Republican neighbors view government as a bloated, overweight monster that eats tax dollars with no return on the investment. I view my tax dollars as my investment in the community where I want to live.
To me, good governance is like farming. Whether the farmers tend cattle, grow food, or cultivate flowers – the agrarian endeavor needs sustaining resources. When I plant a seed in my garden, I know I have to tend it – and provide resources for that seed to grow. The reward I reap from what I sow far exceeds the initial investment.
My tax dollars are an investment in my community that I consider seeds well-sown. I thank my Wakulla County Board of County Commissioners for being visionary public stewards of the governance “garden” who will help grow us out of these lean fiscal times.
Rachel Sutz Pienta
President, Wakulla Democratic Women's Club
