Latest Outrage - The Mayor's Budget

Leonardo posted on this last night, and it's really got my blood boiling. You might remember that this blog gave it's support to Adrian Fenty during the Democratic primary last year - due in large part to his pledge NOT to raise taxes. Well it has only taken the good Mayor a few months to break that pledge.

According to The Examiner, the Mayor's 2008 budget includes an "increase in the E-911 fee, a monthly tax paid on every phone line, from 76 cents to $1.55..." Outrageously the Examiner is apparently willing to buy the Mayor's spin that a duck isn't a duck. The Examiner's article on the Fenty budget includes this non-sequitur, "the plan doesn’t raise taxes." Well according to the Examiner's own freaking article it DOES raise taxes.

Breaking his no new taxes pledge isn't even the most egregious part of the Mayor's new budget - not by a long shot. Remember that $1.5 BILLION surplus (translation excess tax dollars) that the city has been sitting on? Well long ago this blog predicted that that surplus would simply be eaten up by politicians and bureaucrats here in the District. Surprise, surprise, thats exactly what's happening. The Mayor's pork-tacular budget eats up almost $600 million of the District's surplus!

That's right folks. The District collects a billion and a half in EXCESS tax payer dollars - above and beyond the services we receive - and what do they do with it? Return it to the tax payers from whom they extracted it? Nope, instead they decide to piss it away as part of a pork-laden budget. Unbelievable.