Monday, December 19, 2005
Voice of the People
This Letter to the Editor ran on nwitimes.com on Sunday, December 18, 2005 12:24 AM CST
Do we in Lake County, land of possibly the highest property taxes in the nation, want a Cabela's? Sure. Do the folks in Porter County want Bass Pro Shops? Why not? But I'll bet the folks in Porter, LaPorte, Lake, Sullivan and Tippecanoe counties don't understand why taxpayers throughout Indiana should have to pay any private enterprise to build a store.
The same goes for my and your taxes paying more than 1 million to build a new stadium for the Indianapolis Colts. I pay taxes for streets, police, courts, firefighters, schools and the like, not to bribe private enterprise with privileged breaks. Both political parties are guilty of using your tax money to promote privately owned businesses. Sure, Cabela's will create jobs and pay taxes. So do all other businesses, but they don't get privileged tax breaks. Taxpayers should be screaming about this.
John Collie Jr., Gary