If you drive a car, I'll tax the street,
If you try to sit, I'll tax your seat,
If you get too cold, I'll tax the heat,
If you take a walk, I'll tax your feet.
—George Harrison
You have to hand it to liberals. If human activity of any kind has escaped taxation, sooner or later they'll notice.
Your "Other Views" opinion piece discussing an added tax for second homes reflects the insular thinking of small minds. The piece begins by asserting that any second home is a "windfall." Believe it or not, some people have actually worked for their homes.
The assumption that pricey valuations are driving up the taxes for less expensive homes is simply wrong. A community's budget is "X" while the big house pays a bigger portion of that budget. The valuation of the small home goes up but its tax is lower.
The writer further states "... a community's economic vitality is weakened for lack of full time residents..."
The only thing that creates economic vitality is jobs. Several hundred in our community are employed in the real estate and the mortgage industries. There are at least eight jewelry stores and 33 art galleries in Ketchum. Would you put those people out of work and replace them with minimum-wage retail jobs? Who supports the medical professionals, the building suppliers, contractors, laborers, and landscapers? Can the 4,000 individuals who count themselves full time provide for all those jobs?
The taxes of second-home owners support the schools, which they don't use and can't vote for. They pay for roads, fire and police protection and jails. In addition, they support the hospital, YMCA, local churches and the arts.
It is indeed unfortunate that Ketchum doesn't have more full-time residents, but driving away the people who provide the jobs is hardly the answer.
Charles Carlson
Sun Valley
