Taxes may be too high — I believe federal taxes are too high — but there are three basic taxes that we in Oak Harbor pay, and each is very different.

Federal income, Social Security, and Medicare taxes eat up a huge portion of our paychecks while offering us little direct control on policy or priorities of spending. Washington state sales and business taxes take money from the community and reapportion it far from the influence of the ordinary person from Oak Harbor.

County property levies are a completely different situation. They are the only tax that we can directly influence and control, and they are the only tax from which we all immediately and substantially benefit. Everyone is sick of new taxes, but let’s pick our battles. The high school renovation bond is a comparatively small, flat tax that directly benefits not just our children, but also our community. Ask yourself; did you go to public school? Is it time for you to fulfill the same responsibility your parents’ generation fulfilled for you?

No one else will do this for us. Buildings get old. Construction and maintenance get more costly each year. This is a solid, sensible plan.

Please vote yes for the Oak Harbor High School renovation on March 11.

Pete Hunt

Oak Harbo