Does the government need more of your money?

Do you look forward to an annual tax refund check? Or do you want to donate your tax refund to the government? That is just what Referendum CC is asking you to do — forever.

It says “without raising taxes,” and technically there is no tax rate increase, but the government will keep more of your money, which means you will pay more in taxes and have less in your bank account to spend on things that you or your family might need.

The politicians hope that you don’t remember that when Referendum C passed in 2005, it was to go to education and highways. Funny how, now, Referendum CC is to go for basically the same things.

So where did that money go? Who knows, as the nonpartisan state staff will tell you, it is impossible to know how the money was spent. What we do know is that education and highway funding did not increase by the amount of increased revenue to the state. Why? Because politicians can change the rules by just passing a bill — and they do every budget cycle.

Do you remember the games at sporting events where they hide a ball under one of three caps and you have to try to figure out where the ball is? That was the legislative budget process with Referendum C dollars — a shell game that replaced existing spending with supposedly new dollars.

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