Kevin Patrick for House of Delegates

“What is the difference between a taxidermist and a tax collector?  The taxidermist takes only your skin”
                                                                                                                                        ----Mark Twain

'Service Fee' is a sugar-coated phrase that means TAX.  Let us not forget this.  Morgantown has had several 'service fees'  dropped at its doorstep in the recent years.  One of which was for the "roads," even though it would have gone towards other expenses as well, such as insurance fees.  Although this only effected people who worked in Mon County, regardless of their residency (and ability to vote on this issue)..  Even though the roads are kept up by the tax on our gasoline purchases, which is 49.9 cents per gallon.  So, if we needed to raise more money for road upkeep, what would that lead you to believe about our funds?  Maybe that they are low, or we do not have enough.  Interestingly enough, Morgantown was more than $1 million in surplus funds and Mon County had more than $15 million in surplus.!  Yet, we have this pot-hole issue....

We had County Roads, and they were taken by the State. Unless the State is willing to abdicate those roads back to us, and cut taxes appropriately, Road "service fees" should be discarded out of hand.

The most recent Service Fee (read: Tax) that you may not know about, taxes anyone entering a business, parking lot, etc. from 10pm to 4am, Thursday through Saturday.  Who might this aimed at?  Could it be students, people who may not be registered to vote in our local elections? 

The State is big on taxing those who can be taxed, especially if they can not vote on the issue.  The vice taxes cause an overburden on certain groups.  Taxing students is a quick and easy way of raising revenue.  If we tax a group who does not vote in our elections, then it is theft!  For you to vote to tax me, and not yourself is theft.  How about Sabraton votes to take one fifth of everything Morgantown makes.  Of course it is wrong!  This very thing happened in Akron OH, where Akron levied an income tax on people living in Coventry and the Portage Lakes, with the blessing of a corrupt county official.  What difference is it then, for us to vote to take funds away from students?  I would argue there is none. 

Our City surplus will be going towards a fire station and a new City Hall.  So we have enough money for a new City Hall, but not to fix our streets?  This seems like a weak argument.

If we 'need' to raise taxes, we should do it honestly and not under the guise of "Service Fee."  Taxes should be low, we must cut down on spending, and installing new "Service Fees"  is exactly not that. Taxes should never be hidden under flowery language and secret 'fees.'

Although I do not support  the raising of taxes for this issue, and many others.