Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Nothing gets accomplished in Harrisburg

Interesting letter originally published in the Reading Eagle about the most expensive state Legislature in the country:

Nothing gets accomplished

Editor:

In 2005 when our state legislators voted themselves a pay raise, many of them were voted out of office by a public that felt they did nothing to deserve a raise. But here we are again with a state government where nothing major is ever accomplished.

Time and again the property-tax issue emerges and then disappears. Sen. Michael A. O'Pake formulated an excellent alternative to eliminate property taxes, but it, too, joined the list of missing legislation. Perhaps it will turn up on a milk carton.

Most officials who hold our welfare in their hands are out of touch with reality, such as our school boards that raise our taxes and perhaps think that the taxpayers simply can wave a magic wand and pull the money out of a hat.

Sure, our teachers deserve to be well paid with full benefits, but if the taxes no longer are affordable what can be expected of the taxpayer?

The land of opportunity is no longer the industrial giant it once was. We live in a smoke-and-mirror global economy, in debt for $500 billion.

Ronald D. Primavera
Wyomissing