“Read My Lips” or “Piece of the Pie”
That is how the Arlington Connection framed the Arlington County Board’s March 28 budget hearing and the March 30 tax rate hearing in their April 5-11 edition. The question left unanswered, however, is what right does government have to take from Peter in order to give to Paul. The answer, of course, stems from government’s coercive power of taxation.
Under the caption “Read my Lips . . . ,” Seth Rosen of the Arlington Connection reported the call of Arlington residents for the Arlington County Board to lower the real estate tax rate. Rosen also reported on Tuesday's budget hearings where “Residents Want Piece of Pie.” Unfortunately, no Arlington County Board member was pointing out that in order to provide that “piece of the pie,” they are the ones taking from taxpayers to give to taxeaters.
In the process, the County Board risks running even more of the county’s middle-class out of Arlington. Is this what the County Board means by their vision of a world-class community?