County Executive L. Brooks Patterson proposed in his 2015 State of the County speech that the Board of Commissioners allow Oakland County taxpayers to keep more of their own money. His proposed reduction in the future county operating tax rate reflects Patterson’s belief that the taxpayers must be allowed to make decisions on how to spend their own money.
“What you have here is a collision between philosophies of governing. I prefer the Republican approach of cutting taxes and giving the money back to the taxpayer. The Democrats, on the other hand, see a surplus and want to spend it,” Patterson said. “My approach is a gift that keeps on giving every year because it is a permanent tax reduction. The Democrats’ approach is to spend the surplus in a one- time publicity stunt.”
According to the press release, Oakland’s taxpayers, currently facing double-digit increases in their water and sewer bills are also being asked to raise billions in new taxes to repair roads under a scheme that threatens that their roads won’t be fixed unless they also raise billions in new taxes for schools, revenue sharing, and mass transit. And then next year they will be asked to again tax themselves to fund the new Regional Transit Authority, to renew a regional zoo tax, and to vote on several local millage questions. Patterson asks what’s wrong with letting taxpayers keep more of their own money in their pockets as they rise to answer government’s incessant demands for more taxes?
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