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Hernando Today

Attack On The Middle Class Continues

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By FRANCES EARL, Call to Patriots

Hernando Today

Published: August 21, 2008

The Republican agenda to destroy the middle class goes on! Public school funding remains under constant attack and finding out where the lotto money (supposed to go toward funding education?) is really going is an illusive task indeed. No candidates I spoke to were able to find the answer to this question! Florida's Republican Legislature and our illustrious Gov. Charlie Crist are appealing the removal of Amendment 5 from the November ballot (third removal to date) to the Florida Supreme Court.
Amendment 5 is a "tax swap" that will take away only some of the school taxes (about 25 percent) that are now part of your yearly tax bill and substitute a sales tax increase to cover education costs. A 1 percent sales tax increase will only raise $4 billion, with $9 to $11 billion the actual amount lost and would only "guarantee" replacement of lost education revenue for one year, 2010-11. With Florida already at the bottom of the heap in education funding out of all 50 states, what jobs do you think we will attract in Florida? This is a "bait and switch" proposal of the worst kind, appealing especially to many of our seniors who do not have children in our schools and, further, will allow for the granting of vouchers, giving yet more of our public education funds to private schools for but a few of our students.
Don't be taken in by what, in times of great economic stress, appeals to many of our citizens who are struggling to pay their bills. This amendment will eliminate the 3 percent cap that exists on your current property tax bills and substitute a totally unregulated sales tax increase in its place. For the few dollars you lower your tax bills you may find yourself unable to buy food and other basic necessities if the sales tax goes through the roof. They are not including a "cap" of any kind on the sales tax increase.
Former Republican Senate President John McKay, a Bradenton real estate developer, has led the charge and seen it rejected by the courts three times. McKay claims that since student enrollment changes annually, a "rigid funding formula is not prudent." He claims that "special interest tax breaks" would be eliminated. Surely he cannot mean that funding public school education is a "special interest" and this is what would be immediately eliminated. The special interest here is mostly the developers – in other words, McKay. And Gov. Crist, still stupidly believing he has a shot as McCain's VP pick, is willing to trash our education system to prove he is a big enough destroyer of the middle class to achieve his personal goals.
The big question is how high does the sales tax go and will you be able to afford food and basic necessities with an unlimited, out of control sales tax increase on all you buy? This Constitutional Amendment is Jeb Bush's dream child for vouchers and the ultimate end of public education for all the middle class. Have you not had enough Bush economic policies to have learned how close to bankruptcy our country is already? And the Bush boys dreams of privatization of Social Security and Medicare is really their means of eliminating both.
Don't buy into the lie that your payroll taxes for Social Security are taking 12 percent from each of your checks. You are being taxed 6 percent and the remaining 6 percent is paid by your employer. If your bread winner is disabled, Social Security funds are available to you. If you are widowed, there is some help for you and your children through Social Security. It is not only a retirement fund, although how many of us who have paid into the system could survive without the money we receive as we retire? The answer is to stop the theft and non-repayment of the so-called Social Security surplus. The question to ask is how much has the Bush regime taken from these funds with no payback in sight. In my neighborhood, this is called theft. Do these guys get charged and pay a price for stealing from these funds or not?
Privatization is supposed to improve the management of public funds, but does just the opposite and money is being siphoned off left and right. Privatization does not cost less, it costs more, as the companies given this largesse are profit-making companies. Every one of the legislators for Amendment 5 and for further privatization should be voted out of office. Our children are our most precious possessions, and the future of our state and our country. Vote "no" on Amendment 5 and let them know that you are on to them and that time for a change has arrived.

Frances Earl, former vice-chairwoman of the Hernando County Democratic Executive Committee, can be contacted at fearl@tampabay.rr.com.

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