Taxes: Hikes cost more than price of a latte

Local, county and state government are out of control. Wage growth and Social Security are stagnant, while we continue to see increases in property taxes and requests for additional funding for roads, parks, transit and mental health.

They try to minimize the amount of the increase. They talk about an increase being the cost of a latte. The Regional Transit Authority is going to ask us for $50 billion in November for mass transit. It wants a 0.5 percent increase in the sales tax (in addition to the 0.9 percent currently collected), a 0.8 percent increase in the motor vehicle excise tax (on top of the 0.3 percent it is collecting through 2028) and an increase in the property tax of 25 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation.

The RTA talks about the cost being about $200 a year per adult, not per household.

School districts are asking for bonds. They may need them, but funding them is putting an increasing burden on retirees and low-income households. Our property taxes went up 14.82 percent this year after an 8.82 percent increase last year.

We are not a bottomless pit of money. We have long since given them the cost of our lattes or whatever else they said it would cost us for one of their needs.

This story was originally published April 7, 2016 at 9:58 AM with the headline "Taxes: Hikes cost more than price of a latte."