The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1916-03-16
ON Reduction of Taxes.

On Reduction of Taxes.
The question that Kenosha voters are
asking the men seeking office this year
Of grace 1916 is not how much are you
going to reduce the taxes next year, but
how far are you going to keep away
from issuing further bonds to be mile
stone about the neck Of posterity.
The man who seeks Office on the claim
that he is going to reduce taxation in
Kenosha fails to give the people credit
for ordinary common sense. Tax levies
in Kenosha are not going to be reduced
now nor for great many years and the
people can count themselves fortunate
if in the future the levies which have
prevailed in the past are not boosted.
With tax levies for the next twenty
years mortgaged to pay existing bond
issues the man who even suggests re
duction of taxes is handing out pure
bunk The politician is usually pretty
good g bunk artist. In fact the prin-
cipal stock in trade of most of them
lis bunk. There are lot of people who
will accept bunk just about this time
Of the year and then forget all about
what the fellow said just as soon as the
election is over Kenosha never had a
municipal campaign in which some fell
low did not come along and declare that
if he was elected the taxes would be re-
duced. Most Of you have been living
in the city right along and you should
by this time learn what tax reduction
bunk is. just as sure as the sun shines
in the east and continues to set in the
west Kenosha taxes are going to con-
tlnue to be just as much as they are
now until some men are named for
office who appreciate the fact that aux
illary tax leVies-call them bond issues,
if you understand it better that way
have to be paid. 1t is possible that all
bond issues are not unnecessary but if
the city tax levy is to be reduced at
any time in the future, the reduction
must come through officials putting a
stop to the issuance of bonds. Bonds
have a bad habit of coming due and
somebody has to pay them. The only
way that they can be paid is to raise
the money from taxation. Kenosha had
the highest tax levy in it's history this
year because some aldermen showed an
advanced idea of paying the city 8
debts 1t would have been possible to
have provided sinking fund out of a
fifteen mill levy had it not been that
bonds which had been issued before had
to be paid. To pay of. million dollars
in bonds without making taxes a bur-
den will take some time and if the sum
is to be increased every time the city
wants a cross walk or water tower
built it will take lot more time. The
bonds against the city are just like the
mortgage on the old expensive
propositions. We want progress, street
improvements, but it does seem that
there should some way be found to pro-
vide for some of these things out of the
regular taxes of the people. With
levy OF close to half million there
should be something for permanent in
vestment for the city. That there has
not been in the past years is one reason
why the people should look pretty care
fully at the records of men who would
remain in office. Just ask them to ex-
plain what they did with the money.
Lets have an understanding and a
pledge for the future. With a bonded
Indebtedness of close to a million dol
lars the people of the city should begin
to look to the future. Somebody must
pay every cent of this Indebtedness
VI course it may be your children or
your children s children, but somebodv
has to pay. Ism It it time to call halt
10 insist, that for a couple of years at
least, Kenosha live somewhere near
within its incomeg It's taxes are far
above many of the cities in the state
much larger and the pertinent question
arises, Are the people getting the
worth OF their money!?
1t the bunk artists talk reduction of
taxes, just put them down as being I'M
intelligent. Let them know that Won
know the condition of the city and the
cohultlohs Whlch are going to prevail
Tor the next twenty years. The fellow
that Kenosha is looking for, be it in
the ONCE OF mayor or alderman, is the
fellow who sits down with pencil and
paper and figures out how he is ooino
to pay before he spends. irresponsible
financial management has already GOT
the city into hot water. What we want
now, is men who will pull it away from
these conditions and guard against the
coming OF worse conditions in the
future.