This letter to the editor of the Fort Worth Star Telegram was copied to NE Tarrant.info. It was written in response to one of their opinion columns titled, "Cold, Hard Tax Facts".

Dear Editor,

Your recent unsigned "editorial" - Cold, hard tax facts, was truly mis-named. I believe you should have called it "Perry Bashing" or perhaps "Lets Stick It to The Seniors"! The entire premise of your editorial is that taxing authorities should have unlimited capacity to take money from property owners at whatever level or rate they think is necessary to spend whatever they want. You assume that if they don't get it from the Seniors, they will take it from the rest of us.

You have ignored the fact that property valuations are increasing at an alarming rate, which ALLOWS unscrupulous taxing authorities to play politics by "holding their rate" while actually raising taxes by 10% or more every year! Some taxing authorities add insult to injury - such as our local College District and raise taxes by 45%!

What should not be politics is the current power of taxing authorities to tax people out of their homes. Property taxes are effectively doubling every five to ten years at current valuation and rate increases. This compounding of valuation and rate increases must be stopped. Older people on fixed incomes just cannot afford this practice.

While I am not necessarily a Perry supporter, I think it takes real courage today to do anything to reduce taxation. True, changing state law does not provide the Seniors with the desired "freeze" but it does provide a vehicle to accomplish just that. Seniors do vote and the politicians do know that.

While I am not a senior (yet), I strongly support any legislation that will freeze taxes for seniors and with any legislation that will curb or limit the insatiable tax appetite of our local politicians!

Signed,

Gerald A. West