Irresponsible.
It’s your money. But they think it is “free money”.
Theirs for the taking.
Bill Bannning, 661-4822, wants to raise an additional $35 million in taxes per year from Lexington County.
What’s worse is he’s not even sure how he wants to spend it all.
Isn’t it bad enough that we’ve got a Congress that raises our taxes by $600 billion in the middle of the night?
State spending has gone up by nearly a billion dollars a year.
And now Lexington County wants to get in on the action.
So Bill Banning, who the Free Times reported as “one of the lead speakers” at a strategic planning event, is lining up support for jacking up the sales tax.
He’s promising some of your money to everyone to buy their support.
The State newspaper quotes Pine Ridge Mayor David Busby, 755-2500, “We’ll get a piece of the pie.”
Banning promised, “There has to be a package for every community.”
It’s your hard earned money that he is throwing around!
And it’s being used like bribe money!
If we don’t stop this IMMEDIATELY, we’re going to have a long fight on our hands to keep our hard earned money in our own pocket.
That’s why we must organize NOW.
And as a first step, we need as many people as possible to sign the petition to Lexington County Council at
www.LCCW.org.
They are soft selling this new tax as a ballot proposal.
“We’ll put it before the people of the county and let them decide,” is the refrain they’ll use to deflect opposition.
But, we can’t let them get away with that.
You see, what they would like to hide is that Lexington County Council will have to vote to put this tax hike on the ballot. This is where it must be stopped . . .
. . . before it makes it to the ballot.
Once the big spenders have this new tax on the ballot, they’ll use county tax dollars to “educate” the voters about the proposed new tax.
What kind of education do you think that will be?
They will “educate” the public about all the great things they will be able to do with your money.
If this makes it to the ballot, do you think we will have the money and resources to combat the barrage of propaganda from the county and its 14 municipalities who want the tax increase to pass?
And don’t forget all the non-governmental organizations that will profit from your tax money!
They’ll throw their support behind the tax increase, too!
Our unfortunate neighbors in Richland County failed to stop a similar tax increase once it got on the 2012 ballot.
They simply didn’t have the resources to fight the big spenders who profit from your taxes. And we won’t either.
We MUST stop this NOW!
Not only is this tax increase bad for your pocket book . . .
. . . it’s bad for business.
The more folks are paying in taxes, the less they have to spend with local Lexington County small businesses.
Please sign the Lexington County Citizen’s Watch petition to stop Banning’s tax increase TODAY.
If it gets on the ballot I fear it will be too late.
We’ve gotta find as many people as possible who are opposed to this tax and work fast to defeat it before it makes it to the ballot.
So, after you
sign the petition, forward this e-mail to EVERYONE you know in Lexington and ask them to join you as a signer.
Because Banning and his cohorts don’t know what they are going to spend the money on, they are free to promise some of it to everyone.
I’m not sure what’s worse . . .
. . . Is it the fact that they are trying to figure out how to spend tax money that they don’t even have yet . . .
. . . or is it that they are trying to use our own money to bribe us into giving them more of our money?
Here is what some of the Lexington leaders are saying about the new tax:
- “There’s no shortage of things that need to get done” – Cayce Mayor Elise Partin, 361-8280.
- “It’s an investment in our future” – Lexington Mayor Randy Halfacre, 359-6113.
- “It’s got to be something for everybody for it to have enough support” – County Councilman Jim Kinard, 600-6175.
- “We’ll get a piece of the pie” – Pine Ridge Mayor David Busby, 755-2500.
- “There’s always people out there who will say, no, no, no.” – Lexington County Councilman Johnny Jeffcoat, 509-3089
Sign the petition to stop them NOW.
You see, Banning and many of his fellow big spending partners forget that it is your money they are promising.
It’s time to remind them!
They will promise the world to every community in the county to buy their support.
It must be stopped!
“We are going to have to prove that we are going to do something for them!” Banning told the 100 or so municipal and county representatives, chamber of commerce and non-profit leaders at the meeting where they were mapping out the strategy for getting more of your money.
Pelion Mayor Charles Haggard, 894-3535, said it’s a question of, “if they can come up with enough benefit for these [rural] areas.”
We MUST stop this NOW!
If it gets on the ballot I fear it will be too late.
NOW is the time to organize against this tax increase.
Our first step is to find as many people as possible who oppose this new tax.
The Lexington County Citizen’s Watch petition is the way to find people who are opposed to the tax. Then we’ll have a ready army to defeat this sales tax hike.
So, sign it, and share the link to the petition with everyone you know in Lexington County! It’s at
www.LCCW.org.
Then call your mayor and your county councilman and let them know where you stand.
You can find your county councilman by clicking here.
Be polite, but be firm.
Let them know that you won’t be bribed with other people’s tax money and that you won’t let your money be used to bribe others.
As news develops, I’ll let you and every petition signer know immediately so we can put a halt to Banning’s tax increase.
Thanks for your support and for all you do!
