Just Say No

I have a good example of why you should never vote for new taxes. If you live in Salt Lake I am sure you remember proposition 2 “Renew the Zoo.” Complete with the cutest yard campaign yard signs ever. I voted no on proposition 2 but it passed with a large majority. I have a policy of never voting for new taxes no matter what they are for but this just got to me for a couple of reasons. The first reason is the Arts & Parks tax that already goes to the zoo and paid for the awesome new entrance…just what we needed, Elephant Encounters, and Asian Highlands. Both of the animal projects really needed to be done but a majority of the money was spent on making the human experience more enjoyable and not making a huge difference to the animals.

This new tax is $0.39 per month and $4.68 per family per year, for a total of $33 Million in new funds. This money was supposed to be used for a new polar bear exhibit (badly needed), an African safari (I don’t know what that means), and an animal health care center. To date the money has been spent to add a new carousel.

My argument against this tax is place like the zoo could raise admissions to cover the costs and pass them on to families who use the zoo. I would pay an extra $1.00 or $2.00 in admissions to cover improvements and whatever else the zoo wants to do. I don’t believe in forcing the entire population to pay for these types of services.

Well this week we got the worst of both worlds. Now in addition to the new tax there are also higher admissions prices; $1.00 per person or $15.00 per annual membership. Why do you have to pay more now…to FEED the animals. This is just one example of our tax money being wasted on projects that really don’t need to be done just to spend money then when it comes down to it the poor animals still need food. Maybe the zoo could have done with out the Merry-Go-Round and actually taken care of the animals.

Sorry for another lame post but this stuff makes me crazy.