I am sick of the rich tax wimps.

On May 13, 2009, our local paper published lists of property owners in our county who had unpaid property taxes.

The lists comprised about 60 pages (regular newspaper page size), 4 columns per page. On only 1 1/2 pages there were abou 150 property owners listed. Between just those property owners the amount of unpaid property tax was about $1,463million dollars .

Those property owners had some of the best, most valuable property in the county, many of the properties being beach front or in fancy gated golf communities.

After seeing these tax lists and especially after seeing how many of the property owners (who can only be described as rich) who had not paid their taxes, I am thoroughly disgusted. I am totally sick of hearing the rich wimp and moan about how they bear an "unfair" share of the tax burden.

Yeah, you rich folks DO owe a lot of taxes. And why not, when you can afford to buy a property valued in the million dollar range in the first place! But to not pay your property taxes is a disgrace. Just who the devil do you people think you are, anyway?

And, in effect, ALL of us are paying for these tax scofflaws to not pay their property taxes on time.

Our government runs on tax dollars. G0venments, large and small, have only taxes as their source of income. So what, you say? Who cares if the government does not get the money? Well, how about if the fire department refused to come to your fancy home when it is on fire, unless you can prove you paid your taxes (which pays the firefighters salaries). That actually happened in the "olden days", when a plaque had to be mounted on a home to prove the taxes were paid, before the fire fighters would try to put out a fire at that property. Or how about if the cops just do not respond to your complaints, large or small, or your 911 calls, because you have not paid your taxes (which pay the cops salaries). Or, how about if the government just cuts off the water to your fancy home, since you do not see fit to pay the taxes that make good, clean, potable water available to every home in the area.

And how about if the clerk at the DMV just tells you to take a hike, or the highway crew guys just tell you to fix your own road!

And why should this also bother ALL taxpayers? When the government sets its budget each year they do so with the expectation of receiving tax dollars to pay for all the services they provide. And when the taxes are not paid, in order to continue to provide those services the governments must BORROW the money to keep their physical plants operating and to pay government worker salaries. And just who do you think helps pay the interest on all that borrowed money?

US, that's who, the regular taxpayers who just pay our taxes on time and quit the griping and moaning and nit-picking about where the taxes go. Oversight is one thing, and it's good. But the constant carping about taxes is insane and selfish.

So, given the horrid state of the economy, I am sure there are many 'regular' folks who are having a hard time coming up with their taxes. (Of course, anyone with a mortgage should be having their taxes paid out of escrow), and it is very sad and those who have lost their jobs or have other hardships maybe should be getting some kind of tax break.

But for the rich, who expect everything to be their way, to just ignore paying their taxes until THEY get ready to pay them, is very selfish and not at all responsible as citizens.

Maybe what we need in this country is a tax debtor's prison. And maybe those who HAVE money but still refuse to pay their share, should be housed in the prison until they get their attitude straight!