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Floyd's Opinion
Richmond Performing Arts Center?This letter was submitted on July 28, 2003. Richmond Times-Dispatch P.O. Box 85333 Richmond, VA 23293 Attn: Editor of the Editorial Page Dear Sir, Please forgive my long absence. A long vacation and other responsibilities have kept me from continuing my regular correspondence. I trust you are not too disappointed with me. I now write to address the continued inability of the governing body of Richmond to “get it”. Specifically I refer to the proposal to increase the meal tax to pay for a performing-arts center. Why am I not surprised that the only method they can come up with to pay for this is a tax-increase. Once again they hope to increase/create a tax to build something that many do not care to use. If there were such a huge need and desire for such a center would it not already be there? Here’s a novel concept, why not let those who wish to use the center help pay for it? Let those who desire such a center hold a telethon or other means of raising money voluntarily. Then after it is built (if it is built) those who did not contribute can be charged a higher fee for its use. Since when is it the governments responsibility (at any level) to determine what the citizenry needs in the way of entertainment? The free market has always done a pretty good job of that when allowed to work unencumbered. National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting System are just two of the negative examples of what happens when you have tax-money extorted for use by “the arts”. Is anyone out there willing to tell me that either of these are representative of the majority of the American public? I say let them sink or swim on their own. The same goes for a performing-arts center in Richmond. Instead of running away potential restaurant customers to the outlying areas why not let those who want such a center pay for it themselves? In closing I would ask that you, the readers, ponder two more questions. When has the government ever reduced or eliminated a tax? Do you seriously think that after the tax is levied and the center is built that the tax increase will be removed? Think about it. Sincerely, Floyd C. Bayne
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