For some reason the new idea that our illustrious board of education has come up with to bilk the taxpayers once again does not surprise me.

It is hard enough for senior citizens who depend on Social Security alone to even keep their homes this day and time without taking away the last hope they have as they approach 70 that they will get a tax break at that age. The thing that does surprise me is those who want this will be facing this age at some point in their lives. Excuse me, I forgot these guys won’t need the tax break because they either have an inheritance or are making enough money to have a good retirement. So it won’t bother them. But what about all the older people who can only get Social Security because the job they worked at all their lives didn’t offer retirement benefits and you can only make a piddling amount to add to your benefits yearly. By the time most of them pay for the exorbitant cost of their medicines, there is barely enough, if any, to buy food, let alone pay taxes.

Many seniors who depend on that tax break when they reach 70 will lose their homes to tax sales because they will no longer be able to work to make the extra dollars to pay these taxes, and will not have enough to just get by with Social Security alone. The older school board members who have parents should realize the burden it will put on them, even with a retirement check other than Social Security.

The school tax represents about two-thirds of a property tax bill. That’s a lot of money for elders who own a farm or even a home in certain areas. Seniors are taxed to death and have been all their lives with more than 50 percent and more of incomes paid in some sort of tax, whether it be property, sales, federal, state and all the other taxes we pay. You pay tax on property you bought with the money you worked for and have already paid income tax on. You paid tax for several things at the closing when you bought the property. You pay yearly tax on that property you bought with money you made, that you already had paid income tax on — then you pay more tax when the powers that be decide they need more money to spend, and I might add waste!

We raised our children and paid our fair share and more in taxes. We have paid taxes for all our grandchildren that have not even attended Hall County schools, as our children decided to put theirs in better schools. Now we are facing paying taxes for the rest of our lives to educate everyone else’s children, plus all the people who have kids and who don’t pay property taxes or any other kind for that matter.

So people of Hall County, especially the seniors, are you going to take this lying down or are you going to take a stand and say enough is enough!

Bobby and Nancy Gravitt
Gainesville