Making Something Out of Nothing

Tazewell County is a rapidly declining coal community in Southwest Virginia. Every year, it seems, we are battling a budget crisis and a power play by our Board of Supervisors and School Board. I have already posted once about my stance on the situation, which can be found here and @rhondak beautifully summed up the meeting in her post that is linked here.

Today, I have found myself thinking about the hypocrisy being displayed by some of our citizens. Look, no one likes taxes. However, taxes have been a fundamental part of our economy since the birth of this country, and they certainly weren't invented by our founding fathers. Taxes have been around for centuries.

There are services we need and want as a community and country. Education is a right and a requirement for all of our young citizens. Most citizens desire a police presence to help tackle crime and keep everyone safe. We need firemen, EMS, a dump for our trash, a shelter for all of our unwanted animals, and a court system to back up our police officers and put criminals behind bars. It appears that some of our citizens want all of this for nothing.

Tazewell County employees from all areas mentioned above, filled the auditorium at the board meeting. All spoke in favor of their organization and why they shouldn't be cut. However, based on social media posts circulating among county residents, it appears that some of our citizens are very confused about why the teachers attended last night.

This Tazewell County resident, for example, seems to think we were there because we personally want more money. This couldn't be farther from the truth! Most of us were there because we believe in a very minimal tax increase to help fund not only our schools, but all county agencies.

Right now, we don't have any big business coming in and raising property taxes is the only way to continue providing all the services that our citizens desire. We have run out of options, folks. It's do or die.

Now, here is where it gets interesting. One of the biggest complaints here in Tazewell County is the “first of the monthers.” You know, the ones who clog the aisles at Walmart. It's really fun when the first falls on a Friday and the third checks come out on Friday, too. I am speaking here as the vast majority of people in our area speak of the low income crowd. I do try to avoid the stores on those days, but I also know we have a lot of struggling people in our area. I teach a lot of their kids, and it isn't their fault.

Several people, most likely representing this crowd, as well as retirees and older people on social security, spoke at the meeting. They truly had concerns about being able to afford these extra taxes. These were true, legitimate concerns. I feel for those people.

The remaining people speaking against a county wide tax increase were the wealthy. They despise those living in poverty. They all want something for nothing, right? I'm sure these complaints are heard throughout the nation. The wealthy don't want to help the poor because they worked hard for that money. This is true in some cases. However, a person’s fortune at birth determines their fate far too often. America is the land of opportunity, if you lived in the right part of town.

I talked to quite a few teachers who were at the meeting in their red, but were adamantly opposed to a tax increase. Most of them have spouses in high paying positions, or come from old coal money, and they don't want anyone taking their money. But wait, they want education funded. They want police protection.

I'll be a monkey’s uncle! They want something for nothing!

I think I can speak for most of the educators in attendance last night. We don't want extra pay, although it would be nice. We would like our insurance rates to stay where they are. Without this funding, a family plan would go up to over $1,000 a month. As a seventh year teacher with a master’s degree, I bring home a little under $2,000 a month as it is. This would bring my take home down to approximately $1,300. Most of us are willing to pay a bit more in taxes for our students and for our law enforcement. A lot of us would pay a little bit more than that, to help those living in poverty. I'm really unsure why the educators are being painted as the greedy villains in our current predicament.