An article such as “Rising fuel costs squeeze schools” should make anyone think twice about voting for the Taxpayer Bill of Rights.

According to that article, rising costs in fuel mean tighter school budgets, fewer teachers and worse education for our children.

Superintendent Quenten Clark made the case when he described why our taxes are increasing: it’s not because state government is wasting money; it’s because states are receiving less from the federal government and fuel prices are rising out of control.

TABOR, which places a Band-Aid solution over rising taxes in our state, does nothing to solve any problems. It actually makes things worse by placing arbitrary formulas for people such as Superintendent Clark, who need to make the best decisions on how money is allocated in school budgets. If TABOR passes, we can forget about any flexibility in state and local budgets to account for rising fuel costs.

For people who want their taxes lowered, the bottom line is this: TABOR doesn’t lower taxes. TABOR puts budgets in handcuffs. That’s it.

I am all for addressing Maine’s tax burden by looking at the big picture and finding a solution that works. TABOR will only make things worse.

Ben Chin, Lewiston

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