Raise Our Taxes!

Yesterday's Projo's columnist Bob Kerr certainly caught my eye. Kerr's column is always interesting. He writes about people & how various current events affect their lives. This column was certainly something special & a real eye-opener.

The House Majority Leader is Rep. Gordon Fox from E. Prov. Recently his constituents, "a well informed, well educated group ... went to see Fox. And they are serious about paying more taxes if those additional taxes would help the neediest people in the state."

But 21 people showed up to express their concerns in a way that one of them described as in the spirit of the old town meeting. Another said it was taking democracy into their own hands. And they plan to show up again.

“We wanted to get out the message — don’t balance the budget on the backs of the most vulnerable citizens,” says David Berman, who is retired. “It’s so shortsighted.”

They want to see more imagination and less knee-jerk reaction, more thoughtful discussion and less political expediency. They are not used to going to the State House. They feel perfectly at ease talking about deep down beliefs. "

This group was organized by "Deborah Siegel [who] put it together. She actually lives over the line in Pawtucket, but she put out the call through her temple, Temple Emanu-el, in Providence.

“The cuts violate our values,” says Siegel.

And that says it all.