Dear Editor:
Osage County’s “public servants” have an insatiable appetite for our money.
I attended last night’s county commission hearing on exceeding revenue neutral tax rate. It was poorly run and the outcome was predictable. The commissioners want credit for not raising taxes as much as they could have. They want thanks for “only slightly” exceeding the revenue-neutral rate instead of the much higher figure they first floated.
Our tax base has shrunk: fewer taxpayers, an aging population on fixed incomes, young working families leaving, businesses closing or departing, and thousands of delinquent tax bills. Those who remain carry a much heavier load than before. Holding revenue steady – or nudging it a few percentage points higher – is not a favor. It is still way too high.
The commissioners appear more concerned with job security, health insurance, and retirement for 100-plus county employees than with the people who pay the bills. They resist scrutiny by pointing to the state, the appraiser, schools, libraries, townships, and every other taxing body. The problem is at every level, and it is massive. That does not excuse Osage County from correcting its own waste, fraud, and bloated budget. They forget who they work for and who’s money they are spending.
They treat taxpayers as an inexhaustible resource. Households and businesses cannot raise income whenever we wish or spend money we don’t have without severe consequences. Inflation already raises our cost of living; exorbitant property taxes piled on top are breaking many of us. Some of us have worked and invested 40 plus years to keep homes, businesses, and savings. Extracting that wealth year after year is not stewardship, it’s theft. It is high time-preference thinking that ignores and sacrifices our collective futures.
The parasite has grown larger than the host. We cannot support it any longer.
A concerned citizen,
Josh Day
Quenemo, Kan.
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