TO THE EDITOR:

The tax whiners are at it again. I would like to think these people are innately stupid, but what they are is deceitful when it comes to telling the truth about property taxes in Lincoln County.

Their newest tactic is to claim that property taxes for the maintenance of county government overseen by the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners has gone up 91% in the past 9 years. This 91% reflects all taxing authorities in Lincoln County for both sales and property taxes collected by the City of Lincolnton, The Development Authority, The Board of Education and the Board of Commissioners. How this document was generated is important. The Board of Commissioners has not increased your property taxes 91%. Property taxes in Lincoln County needed to run the county government, which includes the Sheriff's Department, Clerk of Superior Court, Probate & Magistrate Court, Roads, Recreation Department and Planning and Zoning has increased approximately 6.8% each year for the past 10 years. For the coming year the increase is 4.86%.

The tax bill you receive is composed of four entities seeking revenue. They are : State of Georgia; County Board of Education; County Development Authority; and The County Board of Commissioners. Each entity is separate, and bills separately, but is combined in one tax bill. What you pay is split four ways. Collectively over the past 9 years this has amounted to a 91% increase. The largest portion of our taxes goes to the Lincoln County Board of Education.

No one generally likes to pay taxes. If you whiners to The Lincoln Journal are going to complain, have the decency to be honest. One recent letter to the editor lumps all the proposed increase at the feet of the Board of Commissioners. Such ignorance is appalling.

[One local candidate] is heralding the Homestead Valuation Freeze Exemption. The Georgia Department of Revenue's web site lists 33 counties out of Georgia's 159 counties that have enacted such a plan. [The candidate] does not tell that the counties listed are either larger than or have a tax basis greater than Lincoln County. You also must look at the fact that 80% of Georgia's counties have not enacted such legislation.

Presently the tax basis of Lincoln County could not financially support such a plan. This is a cruel ploy to raise hopes of tax relief when it is not presently economically possible.

So know the truth citizens of Lincoln County. The truth will never lead you astray. Examine closely those who openly distort the truth by deceit, and reject them and their candidates on November 4th.. Remember, if what they say sounds too good to be true, then it is.

JOHN W. DUNSMORE JR.