The Daily Citizen, Dalton, GA

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January 26, 2012

Sadly, little faith in state leaders

Dalton Daily Citizen

How foolish do our state leaders think we are?

Gov. Nathan Deal is proposing a $900 million increase in state spending for the next fiscal year while asking citizens to vote for the biggest tax increase in Georgia history.

State leaders are not selling us on the regional transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Taxes (SPLOSTs), they are threatening us if we do not vote for them. They want us to not just fund one year but a 10-year boondoggle for the state Department of Transportation.

Let us not forget that a mere four years ago the DOT first started slowing down what it spent on projects so it could work out several financial issues and deal with funding shortfalls. After record spending in 2007, state auditors said the DOT had been illegally spending money that was off limits, enriching contractors but violating the state Constitution. The resulting financial turmoil turned state transportation work upside down for more than a year, with projects grinding to a halt.

Do you really believe this department has changed over the last four years?

You, the citizens, will decide next year whether to approve a 1 percent sales tax to pay for transportation projects.

In metro Atlanta alone, the tax is projected to raise an estimated $7.2 billion over 10 years. In North Georgia, if approved, the tax is expected to generate some $1.2 billion over its 10-year life that would fund transportation projects across the 15-county Northwest Georgia region that includes Whitfield and Murray counties.

We do not see this as the right plan for our state. Let us hope this session of the Legislature will bring better ideas to help Georgia become more competitive and start to grow again. More taxes is not the way to go.

We have little belief state leaders will act wisely.

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