Ashley Woolard is a lifelong resident of Beaufort County and a local small business owner. He is a former Beaufort County Republican Party chairman and a 2010 candidate for U.S. Congress. He is a graduate of East Carolina University and makes his home in the Old Ford community with his wife, Jessica, and three children.

Beaufort County will soon be hit by a massive tax increase if the county commissioners have their way. Intense lobbying by local government officials has permitted bureaucratic insiders to steal a march on the citizenry in advocating for increased spending at the county level.

There is no doubt our country, state and county are suffering through economic difficulties. But so are we – the people. As a small business owner with three young children, I struggle to make ends meet like everyone else. I have had to make cuts in my business as well as my household as prices rise and income decreases. Why does government believe it is exempt from these same economic realities?

The power to tax leads to arrogance. The commissioners enjoy privilege and power beyond the scope of ordinary citizens. It’s not surprising they listen to political insiders that also benefit from increased taxes and shun the pleas of citizens barely able to make ends meet during this government-facilitated economic collapse.

This must change. The citizens have rested too long as this arrogance of power has transformed our economic landscape through countless insider deals and political horse-trading. Now the political elitists attempt another tax increase to fund government spending that we cannot afford.

If the people do not rise up and make their voices heard against this economic looting then we deserve what we get. In a sense, who can blame the political elitists for ravaging what they feel is a soft target? It is easy to increase taxes when the people are asleep at the switch.

Naturally, the insiders “know” what is best for the people. Don’t they always? Oh, they will have a hundred excuses for raising taxes. Everything from “it’s about the children” to “it’s Raleigh’s fault.”

The political elitists always have an excuse to do the wrong thing. Yet, the people know that raising taxes in an economic decline is suicide. They are the ones that have to live within a budget amidst increasing costs and declining incomes. Meanwhile, each year we all grow poorer as government gets bigger.

This is not a partisan issue. Democrats hurt just as bad as Republicans when arrogance trumps common sense. This issue goes beyond politics as it involves economic survival for regular citizens who must choose between paying higher property taxes for more inefficient government versus putting food on the table.

The people must make their voices heard on this issue and demand of the county commissioners there will be no tax increase. And they must make their voices loud and swift before the new budget is voted into place. For, by then, it will be too late.

I challenge our county commissioners to be patriots. I challenge them to ignore the siren song of the political insiders that the people only hold “their money” for a few months before paying their taxes. I challenge the county commissioners to pledge they will not raise taxes on the people and to honor their word.

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