We can't afford any more taxes

Dear editor:

Let's talk about whether we can afford more tax and bond proposals.

The 2007 city budget was $21.3 million. The school district wants a $37.5 million bond; the hospital wants $23.5 million. We just passed $7.5 million for the jail and $1.5 million for the library. We are told more bond proposals are coming. That's $70 million more than the 12,000 people in Mountain Home had to worry about in 2005.

This is NOT a very rich community. Look at the median household salary comparison for 2005. For the USA, it was $58,000; for Idaho $41,443; for Mountain Home $38,100. Idaho gasoline taxes are higher than most states at 25 cents per gallon, and workers in Mountain Home do a lot more driving to get to work. According to the Tax Foundation, Idaho's 2007 state + local tax burden is about 10% of income, and the national average was about 11%. But, when your family income is $20,000 less than the rest of the country, a slightly lower tax burden doesn't mean you can afford to pay more.

Most of us would like to see a nice big hospital and better school buildings. We'd like better equipped fire and police departments. We want beautiful parks and smooth roads. We would love to pay teachers more and see city and county employees getting good wages and benefits.

Now, how are we going to pay for what we want?

Jim Breslin