Since winning his election for city council in Page, Arizona on May 21, 2013, Libertarian Levi Tappan is moving fast to promote economic growth by cutting government spending and taxes.
Tappan played a key role in eliminating the town’s Water Development Fee, which all homeowners must pay when they sign up for new water service, saving them each $200 - $1,500 dollars.
“There was serious debate on the city council. A couple of members wanted to keep the fee. I eventually helped convince them to get rid of it,” he said.
Tappan aims to stop the constantly-rising cost of city government and to “make sure it’s decreasing, not increasing.” While the population of Page has been stagnant over the last 10 years, the city’s budget ballooned from $15 million to almost $28 million, but had been brought back down to $20 million.
Last year, his predecessors on the council crafted a further $2 million reduction in the budget that Tappan voted for just after his election, bringing it down to $17.9 million. He wants to cut it even more.
“We’ll be looking for places to cut each department individually,” Levi Tappan said.
He credits the outgoing city manager for helping to cut the budget, and is busy looking for a replacement who will be as fiscally prudent.
City bonds now cost taxpayers $1.2 million per year to service. After they’re paid off, Tappan aims to reduce spending and taxes rather than leave those funds in city coffers. The city’s 10.75% sales tax is one target, 3% of which is levied by the city.
“When we’re done paying off bonds, I aim to cut either the sales tax or other fees to reduce government spending.”
Tappan notes fire and police retirement benefits are “a huge cost to taxpayers.”
State law currently requires cities to participate in and pay for the Arizona Retirement System, which is controlled by state lawmakers. Tappan says he will, “push for our city attorney to work with other town and city attorneys in the state to enact legislation that allows local control of government employee retirements.”
If successful, he aims to move government retirees to a 457(b) plan, similar to a 401K, and bring government pensions in line with the private sector.
Tappan said that privatizing some money-losing facilities like the municipal golf course and a city-owned sports complex as well as reining in routinely excessive police overtime requests are obvious ways to cut spending. He is currently working with the local schools to share responsibility and cost of the recreation department.
He also wants to remove unneeded city ordinances and fight to prevent others on the council from adding a local levy to the property tax already collected by the county.
Levi Tappan won the highest vote total among six candidates competing for three open city council seats. During the March 12 primary, he finished second in a field of 10 candidates, which included prominent local businessmen and members of the community.
“I hope my victory brings more youth to pay attention to the policies that affect all of us,” Tappan wrote on his Facebook campaign page. “I see more Libertarians coming out every day.”
Tappan credits his campaigning door to door throughout the city for his election.
Tappan, a Marine who works as a sonographer at the local hospital, believes that his decisive victory on Election Day represents a mandate from Page voters.
"From my numbers, it sounds like the citizens liked my ideas for cutting costs, so that's what I'm going to go with," he said.
themostsearched
themostsearched is a new libertarian paradigm which integrates politics, economics, ethics, and spirituality:
Black Hole: Taxation is armed robbery that feeds the black hole of political corruption; it's the perfect index of corruption and tyranny. Only evil governments tax citizens and companies.
Constitution: The only purpose of a constitution is to protect citizens from government abuse. Reform treaties of a confederation, such as the Lisbon Treaty of EU, not voted by the citizens are null and void.
Corruption: Political corruption is proportional to the square of the size of the government.
Democracy: Every democracy is eventually hijacked by rabblerousers, pullpeddlers, clans of kleptocrats, bumptious bugaboos, busybodies, butterbabies, nabobs of nepotism, cranks of cronyism, pusillanimous pussyfooters, riffraffs of rascals, socialist sophists, and Machiavellian mafiosi. Democracy tends to kleptocracy. Anarchy should replace democracy.
Depression: Only governments can cause economic depressions and funny money. Lower tax rates, a reduction in the burden of government, and elimination of kleptocracy and VAT are the only way to boost growth.
Education: There is no direct relationship between education and schooling. You might be schooled but uneducated, and you might be educated but unschooled. Schools are concentration camps for the drones of society. Unschooling is much better than schooling. Internet is the best source of knowledge and information, replacing schools, libraries, media, parliaments, and postoffice.
Environment: The best way to save the environment is vasectomy. Deadly viruses are Gaia's antibiotics against the cancer of overpopulation.
Equality: Death is the only equalizer. Egalitarianism brings death to society, transforming citizens to zombies.
Evolution: The ultimate phase of human evolution is the complete domination of soul.
Faith: Faith is retarded thinking that keeps you away from God. You have to become faithless, in order to start your journey to God! You have to discover God your own way without intermediaries. God's truth should replace faith. You might discover that God is the universe!
Government: The only purpose of government is to protect citizens from criminals. Public services, central banks, and fiat money should be abolished.
Heroism: Entrepreneurs, innovators, anarchists, and heretics are the real heroes.
Insurance: Citizens with proper individual retirement accounts and health savings accounts should be allowed to opt out of State Insurance.
Intervention: Any government intervention deteriorates an existing trend. Laissez-faire is the only progressive policy.
Laws: All laws that citizens are required to know should not exceed 300 pages of type size 12. When a new law is born, another law must die.
Legislature: Parliaments should be abolished, because they continuously create laws that enslave citizens, constrain economic activity, loot producers, reward drones, and encourage political corruption.
Misery: Throwing money to misery brings more misery.
Money: A deluge of fiat money brings financial plague and haemorrhage of economy. Real money is tied up to precious metals and strategic metals.
Patriotism: Patriotism is addiction to local hysteria.
Privacy: Nobody, including your government, has the right to break into your home, your land, your accounts, your computer, your files, and your secrets. You have the natural right to protect your privacy from intruders. Molon Labe!
Property: Governments should not own or regulate any property, including electromagnetic waves. The first individual who improves or cultivates any unclaimed property is entitled to that property. Governments cannot own, allocate, regulate, or manipulate frequency fields and media. Eminent domain is null and void.
Religion: Religion is spiritual slavery. Church is the business of religion. Religious monopoly turns bishops to ayatollahs, and churches to Sodom and Gomorrah. Spirituality, pantheism, and metaphysics should replace religion. Most scientists are pantheists!
Selfownership: You own your body and your soul, and nobody should dictate what you take in and what you take out. Speech, education, heresy, habeas corpus, military service, mating, healthcare, food, abortion, cloning, drugs, guns, and euthanasia should be personal choices.
Style: Your soul needs to resonate with mighty words and unique acts that express your style and destiny. Your government cannot dictate your language, your words, and your culture. Resonate now and sing your song!
System: The most efficient political system is anarchy, where everything is private, there are no taxes at all, there is no government, and there is no parliament.
Taxes: Taxes destroy the economy. Raising tax rates is masochism. Smart stimulus is to cut tax rates. Stupidus stimulus is to increase spending, which stimulates the cancer of statism!
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