The cookie jar

Perhaps the most appalling thing that I read came from Mozell Booker who made the claim that the tax increase amounts to a mere 14 dollars a month and anyone could easily get that with the change in their own “cookie jar.” First, whatever spare dollars anyone has left at the end of the month does not exist for the purpose of being given to a government official to decide how to best spend it. This idea is far too common today. But that “cookie jar” sentiment seems to work itself into the narrative of every tax/spending increase. The problem is that countless “cookie jar” increases have been piled high over many years and are continuing to do so. It’s not just 14 dollars a month; it’s another 14 dollars on top of the last 14 dollars a month, which was just a drop in the bucket over the 14 dollars a month prior to that. You get the point. It’s also another 14 dollars a month on top of higher costs at the pump and the grocery store, and another 14 dollars on top of the inconceivable debt already on the shoulders of our posterity, whose burden we have put in a perpetual state of increase. Continuing to view the money that is left in people’s pockets at the end of each month, in the manner that Ms. Booker does, illustrates an incredible arrogance and sense of entitlement.
Maybe this tax increase is necessary. Maybe, because of the increase in taxes new residents and businesses will flock to our county as a result. Maybe at the end of the next fiscal year we will find that all the children of Fluvanna will be 11 percent smarter. The problem here may not be this one, but how easy this way of thinking sets the stage for the next one. I would like to thank Mr. (Don) Weaver and Mr. (Bob) Ullenbruch for not viewing the citizens of Fluvanna County as a cookie jar full of spare change.