Just the other day I had the opportunity to hear part of Governor Rendell's speech on PCN. I don't know who he was addressing or what the purpose of the event was but I immediately perked up when I heard the Governor suggest that we shouldn't eliminate property taxes. Governor Rendell says that he believes we should maintain a balance of taxation that should include property taxes, income taxes and sales taxes. Did he forget the phone taxes, gas taxes, tire taxes, lodging taxes, airport taxes, etc. and his newest goal to put an additional tax on our electric bills? Why would our government want to continue property taxation. For two reasons. First it keeps government in control because a property owner must rent their land from the local authorities until the day they die. And second as long as it continues to be a revenue stream our government can raise it at will. It's much easier to increase existing revenue streams while it's much harder to create new ones.
As for the smart metering being advocated by Governor Rendell and many in the legislature - we don't need meters to know that electricity is cheaper in the evening hours. As residential electricity consumers we can only control the washer, dryer and dishwasher which are the smallest consumption appliances. What we can't control is the heat, the A/C and the refrigerator which are the biggest electricity hogs. Consumers don't need yet another tax on our electric bills that will suck more money out of our wallets every time the legislature finds new creative spending program.
What we need is a government that will say loud and clear that deregulation has failed and until there is a competitive environment of electric suppliers the caps will remain in place.
What we need is a government that understands that the American dream is to own your own property and will eliminate property taxes in their entirety.
What we need is a government that will begin public financing of campaigns so that everyone that wants to serve, can serve.
What we need is a government that will eliminate the ridiculous ballot rules that prevent non-mainstream parties from appearing on the ballot.
What we need is a government that understands that they are our elected servants and that its constituents believe in a government of the people and by the people.
