Editor:
If the school bonds pass, where will the tax money come from? Well, it comes from property tax assessments, and do you know, a full two-thirds of the property in the county is exempted? The tax burden is left to the rest of us.
This exemption is even increasing yearly. The federal government, via the BLM, Forest Service and national parks, hold, and are regularly buying up more private holdings to expand the federal tax-exempted holdings. The BLM is currently the worst local offender, buying up large acreages of private lands here in Montezuma County. The Park Service is a close second, with thousands of acres on Mesa Verde you are not even allowed to set foot on. The Forest Service has set aside $40.6 million to buy more private lands in 15 states this year. Over $2 million of that is scheduled locally to buy 17,000 acres next to James Peak wilderness, and also they are buying the Ophir Valley, just up the hill from here. They use our tax money to buy our private lands and take the tax base away. Then they shut out our access and use of the lands.
What makes this so bad is that it is 100 percent against the Constitution of the Untied States and the State of Colorado, making it an illegal action. Nobody says anything or does anything; we just keep accepting the proverbial royal shaft and pay the price for it. This has got to stop!
Our right and opportunity to own private property is slowly being eroded away by just such means. Without ownership, our liberty is gone. How are we going to fund our schools when our tax based is gone? I suspect that too many of us have the attitude, Ive got mine, so I dont care. Well, you wont have yours for long if this isnt stopped.
Stop the federal takeovers of land and waters all of them!
Dexter Gill
Lewis
