Rap Tax Down Your Throat (West Bountiful)

Bountiful and Centerville special interest groups got your money, now West Bountiful hobbyists and politicians want another shot at forcing your costs to go up.

As always, voters were wrong in rejecting the tax during the last election, because they “didn’t understand the issue“:

“I don’t think the people were properly educated on the RAP tax when it was last placed on the ballot,” said [Mayor] Behunin. “If the public knows exactly what the RAP tax does and where the money is going, then I suspect it won’t be voted down next time.”

It would, at least, be expected that the interest groups convince citizens to place the issue on the ballot, but no. Mayor Behunin is employing executive fiat to save them the work and just stick the issue right on November’s ballot.

I also find it unfortunate that it really wasn’t that long ago, that we allowed service groups, such as the Lion’s Club, and the community to voluntarily complete such community projects. Now, we just ask government to dictate that all will pay for our personal pleasure. I’ve talked about this in the past.

So why would the Mayor be motivated to place another burden on families?

To the best of my knowledge, Behunin isn’t involved with a particular project like some other RAP tax-pushing Mayors who may personally benefit from the tax money. It looks like he is just for it for the sake of inflating city budgets (emphasis added):

…when someone comes to West Bountiful and spends their money somewhere in the West Bountiful Commons area, the city simply collects the sales tax, which also means nothing goes towards their recreational facilities. With future plans to upgrade the park as well as other recreational areas, Behunin stated that the RAP tax will benefit their needs should it pass…

Behunin stated that if the RAP tax passed in the city, they would have seen roughly $275,000 in funding up to now…

To begin with, the first statement is incredibly disingenuous – if no money is going to facilities, it is because the Mayor and council have failed to provide funding in the budget they approve, that is a choice. Rather than plan, save, and budget like the rest of us, he and special interests want the extra money now.

Worse, they are happy to increase taxes and the costs of goods on residents, take $275,000 of stimulus out of the local economy when there are signs that the economy is slowing, and shove that money into government programs/facilities which need to be maintained for the long term.