Letter: To tax or not to tax

Talk about it

This is the first letter we can remember writing to encourage a ‘YES’ vote on a tax issue. We normally take a hard line stand against raising taxes, because government takes enough money from the taxpayers and too much is spent on foolish giveaway programs to scratch somebody’s back.

This tax is a local tax, which means that the money will stay here to benefit our community. It is not sent to St. Paul or Washington, D.C., where the mischief makers can get hold of it for either their personal gain or the gain of their friends.

We both have lived in Worthington all of our adult lives. We know this town and because of our involvement in the Chamber and other community affairs, we feel that we are also aware of the needs of the community. In making calls on behalf of the Chamber, one of the more pressing needs that has been expressed is the need of an Event Center. Many times a business or professional person will tell us that they have an event that they would like to bring to town — but there is absolutely no place large enough to host them. Many smaller groups are having a problem finding a meeting place. Families have expressed frustration because they have no place for larger gatherings and are forced to look elsewhere.

What we have observed, as most of you have, is that just about every little town has a Community Center where people can gather for events. It is sad for a town of our size to be handicapped for meeting locations. We can fix that with a yes vote.

If we are to have an Event Center, we must pay for it ourselves. It will not come from St. Paul or Washington D.C. An added bonus for voting yes is the funding of the Memorial Auditorium. This has been such a wonderful asset to our community. We need to see that this building continues to be upgraded and preserved.

Please vote yes for the half- cent sales tax referendum.

Tags: opinion, half-cent, salestax, worthington, eventscenter, communitycenter, memorialauditorium