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Show i U. NordE Sands trom y tat ..-y 1. r nronKTsap.A-'v- i st Rebuttd to Arguments Against Initiative A forces cuts in police, fire protection, and road repair! Your property taxes pay for local services you need police, paramedics, firefighters, roads, libraries, garbage collection, sewer, and water By eliminating $184 million from the money available for these essential services, Initiative A forces drastic cuts m these essential services You will feel those cuts' Initiative A cripples education! Besides the essential services already mentioned, over half of the money raised by the property tax is used for education If you cut the property tax, as Initiative A would, you cut the money that goes to education. Utahns believe in good education, but Initiative A makes deep cuts in education funding1 If Initiative A passes, school districts will have to eliminate some classroom teachers It will increase classroom size and school fees It could reduce the length of the school year and funding for kindergarten and busing If Initiative A passes, Utah's children will suffer! Utah voters have already rejected a similar proposal! In 1980, Utah voters rejected Initiative B, the Tax Limita tion Act, which limited property taxes to 1 of the propertys value They knew it would have led to unacceptable cuts in local services and education Initiative A cuts even more deeply of residential property taxes would be limited to 34 1' Initiative A will actually encourage debt! By excluding debt from the tax limitation, Initiative A encourages borrowing' Schools and local governments will lose money if Initiative A passes They may have to borrow money to pav for basic, ongoing services As any consumer knows, using borrowing money for everyday expenses is bad business1 Initiative A will lead to higher bills for you' Because it limits taxes, Initiative A forces schools and local governments to use fees to pay for basic services You now pay fees in the form of school fees, and water, sewer, and garbage bills If Initiative Apasses, fees will increase The increase could actually cost you more than taxes You would certainly have to pay more for water, sewer, libraries, and garbage service Parks, fishing, and hunting would undoubtedly cost more, too Initiative A will reduce your control of property taxes and Arguments Agauiit Ix.Uatice 4 The scare tactics used by opponents are the same ones used in numerous states where tax limitation has been adopted The ridiculous claims of cuts in essential services and the overused exclamation marks insult the intelligence of Utah voters Opponents make absurd claims instead of proposing to cut administration, consolidate services, eliminate duplication, and privatize government agencies This initiative does not encourage debt, voters must approve future debt Bonding will not be used for daytodav operations, this is unconstitutional It does not give Employment Security budgetary powers, they merely provide the economic figures to activate the spending limitation Initiative A is only a statutory change, it is not a change to the constitution If horror stories happen, the Legislature can amend the limitation by a simple majority vote at any time. 13 cut California property taxes by 5b4 Proposition and cuts total Utah's initiative cuts property taxes only 11 state and local spending only 1 5 The ideas in this initiative have been supported by reasonable people for years, including Nobel laureate Milton Friedman and noted economist Arthur Laffer Even Governor Matheson proposed a property tax limitation Most of the wording of this initiative was actually enacted by the Utah Legislature ten years ago but was never activated Opponents say high taxes are for our own good These are the people who got us into our present economic and tax mess Why should we trust them to get us out of it VOTE FOR YOUR FUTURE VOTE FOR INITIATIVE A Jack A Olson Utah Taxpayers Association 1578 West 1700 South Salt Lake City, Utah 84104 government! The power to tax is the power to govern The property tax system responds to local concerns because it is a local tax Initiative A does not say which programs school districts and local governments must cut So, the state will have to settle local conflicts over how cuts should be made If that happens, the decision of how taxes are used will be taken from property A takes government that is closest to the people Initiative an unelected Department power away from you! And further will of Employment Security, instead of your elected officials, determine the size of local government budgets. we want a quality future for Utah. The choice is clear To do that we must continue providing a high quality of local services and education for ourselves and our children. VOTE AGAINST INITIATIVE A' W Knowlton Representative Franklin Chairman, Appropriations Committee Box 426 Layton, Utah 84041 '.'r.zf Page |