So far this year, our county commission has given $4,000 to the Chamber of Commerce, which has an annual budget of nearly $200,000. At the November 17 meeting, it will give $1,500 to the Southern Music Rising event, and $2,000 to the Lloyd Depot. That’s $7,500 in total so far, and we’re only about 2 months into the fiscal year.
I heard Sen. Paul speak recently, and he referenced a time when Col. David Crockett was in Congress circa 1830. The story was titled “Not Yours to Give” and dealt with Congress giving away tax dollars for various worthwhile things such as the widow of a naval officer and later victims of a fire. It’s a fairly long read. So I’m attaching it as a PDF. What Col. Crockett learned from a constituent was that while well intentioned, the money he had voted to give away was not his to give. The Constitution did not allow it. When it came time to vote on aid to the widow, Col. Crockett instead offered to donate a week’s pay- which at the time was $8/day- and challenged his fellow representatives to do so as well. He calculated that doing this would raise more than the tax money they were appropriating. Surprisingly the bill, which was expected to easily pass, instead failed.
That brings us to the money our commission is spending on private entities. Like the United States, Florida also has a Constitution. In Article 7 Section 10, it bans the use of tax dollars for nearly all private use. It says this:
Neither the state nor any county, school district, municipality, special district, or agency of any of them, shall become a joint owner with, or stockholder of, or give, lend or use its taxing power or credit to aid any corporation, association, partnership or person...
It allows tax dollars to be used for public trust funds (investments such as the Florida Retirement System), investment in obligations insured by the federal government (such as treasury bonds), revenue bonds for certain purposes such as airports, ports and not-for profit manufacturing plants, or joint operation of electrical energy generation.
With that in mind, my challenge to our commissioners is to donate a week’s pay (roughly $470 after income tax) each towards each of these endeavors, and then challenge the community to supply the rest voluntarily. This alone would raise around $7,000 and remove this unconstitutional burden from the taxpayers, who are suffering from a democrat-induced high cost of living tight now.
Paul Henry