Bankruptcy Is The Only Soluton

Dear representative Jon Brien and Sen. Mark Cote,                                          

I am writing to you to express my feelings and desires for the upcoming “supplemental property tax “about to be imposed on the taxpayer's of Woonsocket.

I joined the list of speakers at a recent City Council hearing and spoke before
the audience. I said I was in favor of bankruptcy for the city of Woonsocket, that the City Council and governing body was incapable of performing their duty. An accepted theory of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

I have spoken at the budget hearings for the past three years and offered
possible solutions that have fallen on deaf ears;

• Three years ago I suggested a residence tax or a renter's tax so that the zero liability tax voter could participate in giving city a strong financial base. That year nothing happened.
• Last year when I spoke at the City Council hearing, I directed my comment to Mr. Ward and asked him if there was a mechanism in place that was preventing the City Council from taking action on my suggestion to bring the zero liability tax voter into the game, and he replied we cannot enact such a tax because all new taxes have to come out of the General Assembly. I then wrote to Rep. Jon Brien, my representative in the General Assembly and requested he takes some action on the subject. I received no response.
• On March 26, I and many of the other speakers were suggesting the same thing. We have 10,000 taxpayers in Woonsocket supporting 32,000 zero tax liability voters. They have “no skin in the game.” 

Over the past 45 years, I have made the proper choices and worked when I didn't want to, finished school when I didn't want to, and only had the children I could afford to raise without the financial assistance of the city, state or federal government. I do not believe in socialism but in individualism and self-responsibility to do the right thing, and right now the right thing is for all residents of this city to put some skin in the game to support the programs they want and to help correct the shortfalls.

In closing, let me say we need a residency tax in Woonsocket, and I do believe bankruptcy is the only solution. Judging from many of the comments made at the ouncil meeting, a large portion of the people who shoulder this burden on the city support this. Almost all speakers brought up the subject, as well as their dissatisfaction in the zero tax liability voters and their lack of participation in our tax system.

Harold Ryan