My position on taxes

InstantNewsWestU.com asked all candidates to respond to the following question.


 “If elected as mayor or a city council member, do you support a reduction in the property tax rate?  If so, what steps will you take to make it happen?  And if not, why not?”

My answer has 3 parts.

1. I don’t have enough facts to make a common sense judgment about reducing property taxes. If the facts support a reduction, I will vote to reduce taxes. If the opposite is true, I will vote to increase property taxes. I promise to use common sense and good judgment.
2. This question is charged with ideology. I was raised in a very Republican home. My dad had a picture of President Eisenhower on the wall. He would tell his friends that he couldn’t wait until January 1^st so he could be the first one to pay his income tax. He believed that it is a privilege to pay taxes in a country as great as ours’ and he wanted to be first. I share my dad’s belief that taxes benefit the common good.
3. Full disclosure. As a Vietnam veteran, I may have been exposed to agent orange. In 2009 I was diagnosed with prostate cancer, the Veterans Administration told me that I would be eligible for veterans’ benefits associated with agent orange exposure. I received several benefits including an exemption from paying property taxes beginning in 2010.