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Show m h wi mini in Arguments Against j. Initiative A forces cuts In police, fire protection, and road f) repair! Your property taxes pay for local services you need: police, 4 paramedics, firefighters, roads, libraries, garbage collection, J sewer, and water. By eliminating $184 million from the money ' available for these essential services, Initiative A forces drastic cuts in 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 funding! 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 Limitation Limita-tion Act, which limited property taxes to 1 of the property's value. They knew it would have led to unacceptable cuts in local f services and education. Initiative A cuts even more deeply residential property taxes would be limited to 34 of 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 pay for basic, ongoing services. As any consumer knows, using borrowing money for everyday expenses is bad business! 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 A passes, 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 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 property taxes are used will be taken from government that is closest to the people. Initiative A takes power away from you! And further an unelected Department of Employment Security, instead of your elected officials, will determine the size of local government budgets. - The choice is clear we want a quality future for Utah. To do that we must continue providing a high quality of local i services and education for ourselves and our children. VOTE AGAINST INITIATIVE A! I Representative Franklin W. Knowlton Chairman, Appropriations Committee Box 426 ! Layton, Utah 84041 |