The Jail Tax
As many of you heard, the Hamilton county commissioners passed a raise in the sales tax to build a new jail and to start social programs to keep people from preventing crimes. In November, the voters soundly rejected a similar, yet cheaper tax increase. Now the county commission wants to raise the sales tax without a vote of the people. Why do I have the feeling that this will end out being another government programs that will not do its job and it will be nothing but a burden on the taxpayers?
The jail expansion barely adds more jail space. $777 million is expected to be spent in this program. Of the $777 million, only $190 million actually goes to build a jail. And it will only add 400 new beds! This will either barely make a dent in jail overcrowding, or perhaps there is not that much of a problem with overcrowding. If the sheriff need 400 more beds, there are certainly cheaper ways of doing it.
Also, this plan will simply throw money at a broken problem. The remaining $587 million will be spent on new programs aimed at keeping people from turning to a life of crime. The County Commission even hired an outside consulting firm to study their programs and see what need improving. The consultants concluded that the problem was not a lack of funds or resources, but rather a lack of accountability. People were not doing their job! So the solution is to give them more money?
It will also fund continuously running programs. Even though the tax is to be retired in 15 years, the expenses will not. Despite what the county commission is promising, common sense shows that this tax will be at least partially permanent.
This jail plan will not solve any problems. It is more expensive, rewards mediocrity, and is downright stupid. The voters spoke up once and said they did not want this tax. I am sure most Libertarians don’t either. The only way to keep this foolish tax from going into effect is to help in the petition drive. Visit http://www.WeDemandAVote.com or contact me directly if you can help collect signatures or if you need to sign a petition.
http://www.hamiltoncountyohio.gov/administrator/bsi/jail.asp to read the Voorhis report.
Send an e-mail to SWRegion@LPO.org to collect signatures or to sign a petition.
The jail expansion barely adds more jail space. $777 million is expected to be spent in this program. Of the $777 million, only $190 million actually goes to build a jail. And it will only add 400 new beds! This will either barely make a dent in jail overcrowding, or perhaps there is not that much of a problem with overcrowding. If the sheriff need 400 more beds, there are certainly cheaper ways of doing it.
Also, this plan will simply throw money at a broken problem. The remaining $587 million will be spent on new programs aimed at keeping people from turning to a life of crime. The County Commission even hired an outside consulting firm to study their programs and see what need improving. The consultants concluded that the problem was not a lack of funds or resources, but rather a lack of accountability. People were not doing their job! So the solution is to give them more money?
It will also fund continuously running programs. Even though the tax is to be retired in 15 years, the expenses will not. Despite what the county commission is promising, common sense shows that this tax will be at least partially permanent.
This jail plan will not solve any problems. It is more expensive, rewards mediocrity, and is downright stupid. The voters spoke up once and said they did not want this tax. I am sure most Libertarians don’t either. The only way to keep this foolish tax from going into effect is to help in the petition drive. Visit http://www.WeDemandAVote.com or contact me directly if you can help collect signatures or if you need to sign a petition.
http://www.hamiltoncountyohio.gov/administrator/bsi/jail.asp to read the Voorhis report.
Send an e-mail to SWRegion@LPO.org to collect signatures or to sign a petition.
posted by CincinnatiLibertarian at 6:02 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home