Steven C. Olson: Catchpenny Scheme

To the Editor:

How do the wealthy get wealthier?  They pinch their pennies. The county sales tax proposal on the upcoming ballot appears to be an effort to protect property owners from getting assessed for flood control measures and force everyone who spends pennies in the county to help them out.  As a property owner, I will be voting against the sales tax.

If you live paycheck to paycheck, work more than one job, don’t own property, have been hit by a catastrophic event that affects you financially and if you have no hope to save pennies for your later years, vote no on the county sales tax. Pinch your own pennies.

If you are a property or business owner who has compassion for those who have less than you do, please consider voting no as well. Sales taxes are regressive—the less fortunate pay a higher percentage of their wealth than the fortunate.
Vote no if you value those folks from outside of Cass County who spend their hard-earned pennies here.

If the County has a plan, I would prefer they place it in their budget. They have the power of the purse and can fund their plan in normal ways. Is a diversion costing 1.4 billion dollars the right plan? Maybe, but we can take our time to decide.

I’m reminded of the person who hated broccoli, but he was convinced that eating it would stave off cancer. So everyday he gagged swallowing this vegetable and life was not pleasant.  He got hit by a bus and died. This sales tax proposal is unpalatable to me.

Let the powers that be formulate a modest plan and approve a method of paying for it that does not ask us to tax ourselves further or that doesn’t expect the federal government to invest huge sums at a time when the country is struggling economically.

Let’s continue exploring options of flood control while building affordable defenses.     
-Steven C. Olson
Fargo