To the editor:

Did you know that the political peers of your great-great-grandfather and grandmother enacted a tax law 108 years ago that required all of you who have land-line telephones to help finance the Spanish-American War? That is, until last August (Journal-World, Dec. 26). We have all paid federal excise taxes on long-distance phone calls that were enacted in 1898 (the war also ended in 1898), and it has taken 108 years to get it repealed.

When a truly needed tax is enacted, it can fund great things. I am not against reasonable taxes that parallel cost-of-living percentage increases. That tax control can encourage responsible spending with good cost-to-benefit ratios. But our property taxes have grown at exponential rates well in excess of government cost-of-living figures. That easy tax money can lead to unnecessary and reckless spending. Look at your tax statements for the past several years. Do the math and see for yourself just how high the tax increases have been and realize that more uncontrolled tax growth is ahead.

So, the next time you hear of a new tax promotion, let us demand that it is really for just cause and not funding other unrelated extravagant things as has happened before. Remember, once enacted, taxes will never ever go away. They will grow exponentially unless you demand otherwise. Taxes never sunset; unless perhaps your great-great-grandchild gets elected and finally decides that enough is enough.

Robert Vaughan,

Lawrence