I have seen our future – You won’t like it

As you fly into Seattle the thing that impresses one the most is the mountains, the water, and the green. Washington is quite simply one of the most beautiful places on Earth. That is . . . . . when it isn’t raining and you can see. I was born in Washington, I graduated from the University of Washington, and my mother still lives in Washington – but I could never live there. However, we might very well be living like Washingtonians very, very, soon if Barack Obama and his band of merry socialists have their way.

After you get over the beauty of Washington, the next thing that hits you is the prices. Gas is a quarter a gallon more expensive than in Virginia. Tomatoes, milk, cereal, salad dressing, and eating out are all – more expensive. This is a result of taxes plain and simple. While our economically challenged President says that 95% of the people won’t be taxed, the fact of the matter is that 100% of the people will feel the ruinous effects of taxes just as they do in Washington. Obama doesn’t get it nor does the Democrat Party – taxes are passed on directly to the consumer.

I have already written about the draconian measures that you have to go through to put your garbage and recyclables out – absurd. As with the effects of taxes, the additional cost and trouble of ridiculous environmental regulations and procedures are passed directly on to the consumer. No one wants Jiffy-Lube dumping dirty oil down the drain, but we also don’t want and don’t need the environmental Nazis governing every aspect of our lives and businesses.

On my way to the airport for my return trip I was treated to a talk radio show that lampooned the result of the requirement for new schools to all be “green buildings.” Surprise, surprise, they were ruinously more expensive to build and they used 40% more energy than comparable buildings built recently. They went on to discuss the most recent tax assault by a Democrat led government. Bad news for Washingtonians – an income tax is coming your way. They are selling it as a tax on the rich, but you know how that goes. They are also promising a 20% reduction in property taxes, yet only 21% of the current tax is levied by the State – the rest is local. The result is actually a 4% reduction.

The final insult was the return of my rental car. It hurt enough having to fill up the gas tank with regular gas at over $3.00 a gallon. The price of one week with a rental car - $183.83. However the final tally was $286.21!?! How does that happen? Taxes:

Vehicle License Recovery @ $0.31 a day - $2.17 (Levied by the rental company to recover the cost to register, license, and title a rental vehicle – a pass through tax)

Customer Facility Charge - $35.00 (Authorized by the State and imposed by the municipality as a tax to pay for common rental facilities)

Concession Recovery Fee - $21.09 (Levied by the rental company to recover the cost charged by the facility to operate at the airport – a pass through tax)

Sales Tax @ 9.5% - $19.85 (Tax)
Rental Car Tax @ 9.7% - $20.27 (Tax)

Grand Total - $98.38

I always love returning to Virginia.

Conservative Resistance – Day 538
Days until we kick the lying spendthrifts out - 190