Voters can go to the polls this Saturday (May 4) in Caddo parish.
It is special election --with only one issue on the ballot. The ballot is a referendum to renew a real estate millage that will expire.
The Caddo vote has received limited media attention. This is what the Caddo school board wanted—a stealth tax election. The hope is that only school board employees and sympathizers go to the polls.
Two basic questions are raised by the Saturday election.
The first concerns who should be entitled vote.
Should non real estate owners be eligible to vote? Specifically, should those citizens be empowered to impose taxes on others—taxes that do not apply to themselves?
The second issue is why have special elections on taxes?
Why not have them on the general ballot? This fall there are state-wide and local elections. The Caddo tax renewal could be on that ballot.
On a general election ballot , the costs of the election are split between the governmental entities with candidates on the ballot. With a special referendum, the Caddo school board is responsible for the costs.
Its much easier to identify basic issues concerning our democratic form of government than to solve them. And that’s not the purpose of this musing. But hopefully these thoughts will invoke a high voter turnout in Caddo this Saturday.