Abusive taxes, government housing and broadband | Eastern North Carolina Now

I believe I am becoming a cranky old man.  There are many, many things that get under my skin.  Being as old as I am gives me a perspective of truth that none of the people less than 50 years old have.  Not that I am any smarter than those youngsters.  Those who were born after the 1980’s  have not lived in two worlds, two realities, two sets of moral values, two levels of Christianity, two very different education standards.

Those worlds are as different as any two of the primary colors. Drugs, the internet and diminished religious commitments allow most moderns to do whatever makes them feel good, whatever they can get away with, whatever they can do and not get caught. Education standards have become nonexistent from kindergarten to that PhD degree.   The broad-based education system now baby sits, indoctrinates and tells students they are much more qualified and educated than they actually are.

Keep the two worlds in mind as you read about the corruption of abusive taxes, government housing and broadband. 

Property taxes are abusive in Beaufort County.  During the past several years we have spent eight to ten million dollars more each year without raising taxes.  This works because of inflation and money printing.  The Federal Government sees to it that everyone is fully funded, if not by working, they are given handouts.  Beaufort County Government tax money increases every year because of new and more expensive construction, grossly increased values when real estate is sold and increased sales taxes.  Inflation caused by excessive printing and spending of money is the cause.

Beaufort County receives several million dollars in taxes each year because of the presence of phosphate mining operations.  This is a huge blessing because there are virtually no services to be supplied because of the presence of Nutrien.  The phosphate mines are a curse because our commissioners do not appreciate this windfall and waste most of it.

A little more than ten years ago, there was a push to increase sales taxes.  The reasoning was because the welfare rolls were growing and those “takers” paid very little tax.  They had either government paid or subsidized housing, food stamps and essentially free medical care.  With a sales tax, they would have to pay something.  We (I was one of them) thought we could lower property taxes as sales taxes increased making the tax system fairer.  As sales tax revenue has increased, Beaufort County Commissioners (and other counties) have refused to lower property taxes.

Money keeps piling up.  All “good” politicians must have places to spend it.  Commissioners placed 5.6 million dollars in a Special Budget Ordinance this year.  They wanted to get the money out of our savings account (now about 30 million dollars) so the public would not demand a tax reduction.  Commissioners have never publicly stated how they plan to spend that money.

The Gang of Four plus Randy Walker claim we need it for emergencies.  What is the 30 million dollars for, if not emergencies? 

Along comes Commissioner John Rebholz, who is swindled into believing that the School Superintendent cannot hire teachers because they have no place to live.  Rebholz along with the Gang of Four plus Randy Walker votes to investigate how the Government (Beaufort County) can get “affordable housing for working people”.  Randy Walker and John Rebholz now co-chair a committee to figure out how Beaufort County can lower housing costs.  When these financial geniuses’ figure that out, Beaufort County can control the world.

Neither of these wizards seem to be aware that the United States is a free market society.  Market forces determine housing costs.  I went to one of their meetings last week. There were about 30 people present.  All with their hand out.  All looking for the government to provide them with some money to lower housing costs.  Most of those people were there because inflation has driven housing costs so high, average people cannot afford to buy a house.  Contractors have fewer and fewer customers. Basically, these people believe that if enough government money is handed to them, they can lower housing costs.  Are Commissioners Rebholz and Walker planning to spend the money in the County savings account?

Money that is not needed to run any county government on an annual budget basis should be returned to the taxpayers.  It is thievery for the County to keep it.

Another of my irritants is the farce of “broadband”.  The word “broadband” is used to conceal the true meaning of an effort to get the internet into every household in the nation.   It started with the Obama administration.  Its purpose is to provide a spy and communication link to the government, or anyone else, to use in every home in the United States.  During the Covid scare, every home in a province in Australia had to report to the government daily.  Facial recognition software was used to be sure everyone was at home or where they were supposed to be.  A computer in a home provides the opportunity for secret listening, secret photographs that you are emailing and the content of your online searches.  Once enough homes have computers this will be the ultimate surveillance tool for dictatorial governments.  We have huge worldwide problems with computers and the internet.  Snowden and others had to leave the United States because they made public the extent of illegal spying on innocent citizens.

The Beaufort County government has appropriated more than 4 million dollars to get the internet in every home.  That is Beaufort County citizens money. The Federal Government is subsidizing monthly fees. The Gang of Four plus Randy Walker do everything they can to make us believe “life is not possible without the internet.”  These guys are Obama lackeys.

Taxpayers should be given an eight-million-dollar tax reduction. The only way this will happen is to vote enough commissioners out of office to get a conservative board that understands our form of government and the Bill of Rights in the US Constitution.