What Can You Do?

A Call to Do Something

January 21, 2010

John Gorra, Scott County Republicans Finance Driector

You want to reduce high Taxes.  Remember your home’s real estate tax bill and think about the school assessment, the city and the county.   Renters are involved also as ~15% of the rent goes to paying the realty tax..¹   The tax is up over the last few years and the government spent it.  The realty tax is obvious, think about all the other tax increases that you pay: 

• sales (6.5% up to 6.85% last year) ²,  
• fees (up 19% from 2003)³, 
• gas tax (20 cents to 28 cents per gallon by a veto override)⁴,
• estate (at 40-50% as we just one of five states not to follow the Federal example),
• Medical Tax of 2% paid by practitioners not itemized in your bill, I’ll bet you did not know that one
• Lodging tax, Car rental Fees, Airport tax, Surcharges, Wheelage Tax, Met council SAC charges (5% increase)⁵, etc.. 

Do you suspect these government revenues has gone up disproportionately compared to the level of your government services?   Every dollar taken by government is one spent less efficiently than in the private sector.    Taxes are up because government absorbs money like a sponge. 

This is YOUR money.  You want some say in how much is collected and how it is spent?  How are you, a lone voice, going to influence taxation and spending:  a call, an email, a meeting, a letter, a prayer? 

How do you best use your influence?  You start close to yourself.  You know you have the most influence on your family, your friends and your neighbors.  As we move further away from close personal relationship your influence diminishes.  It works the same way dealing with local, state and federal government.  We can best influence local politics.  It then takes a local group of individuals to have more of an effect.  This influence then spreads up to and into the State and Federal Government.  The bottom up philosophy works.

Scott County Republicans (SD35) are organized and want to help you do these things.  On our local scale we can make a difference.  This will spread but first we must do it here.  Scott and Carver Counties rejected a .25% sales tax increase while five counties voted for it⁶.  Our activism, beliefs  and local elected leaders prevented  this sales tax increase .

What is your role in SD35?  We need your vote, your money and volunteer time.  We should absolutely have your vote.  It may be easier to give money than your time.  Local giving equals local results. 

Go and get your checkbook and give us your support in $1. to $100.00 and we will give you hope to achieve things, your things, here.   Contact any of us, our phone numbers are on the web site, we stand together.  Scott County Republicans, P.O Box 181, Shakopee, MN 55379,  http://www.scottcountygop.com/executive-committee.html

Resource cites:

1 http://www.taxes.state.mn.us/prop_refund/refund_information/content/renters_refund.shtml

2 http://www.taxes.state.mn.us/taxes/sales/tax_information/content/general_rate_increase.shtml

3 http://www.mn2020.org/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC=%7B6B71F27B-CEB2-4216-B069-DDB326CFAD42%7D

4 http://www.taxes.state.mn.us/taxes/sales/tax_information/content/general_rate_increase.shtml

5 http://www.metrocouncil.org/environment/ratesbilling/RatesCharges.htm#SAC

6 http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/03/25/countytransit/