Allen Hirons lamented in a recent letter to the editor that exempting seniors from paying the education portion of the property taxes did not seem fair to him even if these seniors paid for education for 30 to 40 years before being exempted. Let me ask you: have you ever met a "fair tax"? These two words when used together are a perfect example of an oxymoron.
In considering the writer's comments about the exemption for seniors, I had to ask myself: Is there unfairness in any of the following as it relates to my understanding of who pays or does not pay an education tax?
* Homeowners without children pay for public education.
* Non-homeowners with children in public school do not pay for public education.
* Homeowners with several children in public school pay no higher a tax rate for education than homeowners with only one child in public school.
* Homeowners who home school or who pay tuition for private education pay for public schools even though they are reducing the education cost for the county.
* Non-homeowners who are foreign nationals illegally in the U.S., have children in public school and are paid under the table in cash (does the MDJ reporting about the pay of certain construction workers at the new courthouse ring a bell?) pay no federal, state or local taxes of any kind except for sales tax.
Yeah, taxes stink and no tax is "fair" to everyone. As for me, when my work brought me to Georgia my two children had only a combined eight years remaining before both graduated from Lassiter High School but I paid education taxes for more than 20 years before being exempted. So be it; they received a fine education.
Heck, I would be happy if we just had a Board of Education that had a little more appreciation as to where all those tax dollars are coming from to finance their seemingly unending string of embarrassments.
Roger Chagnon
East Cobb
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you 'will get if you dare touch this exemption. It
will be ugly because as Seniors we know how to
fight and really stick it where the sun don't
shine. We have had lots of practice and this is
one fight that you WILL NOT WIN!!!!!!!!!
field trips, plays, sports, art, uniforms - band and concert, instruments, fund raising, school supplies, extra projects the teacher wants to do, you name it we pay. It is $10 here $100 there every month.
I agree, but i was told my reactions were "kneejerk" and I was picking on the poor and the illegals who are easy targets.
Fighting Ready-- I agree with you also. It is sad that when things get financially tough, those who want to keep the status quo for issues such as school funding, reach out to get money any way they can and yet criticize our lawmakers when they do the same.