Everyone's paying this tax

You did not vote for it and you did not authorize it, but you are being taxed by California without your vote one more time.

Very soon all forest products — lumber, plywood, oriented strand board — will be taxed by the state Board of Equalization. One more end run around you, the voter, hitting you square in the wallet. No two-thirds vote of the people here, just plain fraud by our state government. Technically it is being called an "assessment."

Guess who it affects? Everyone! Not the just the 1 percent or the rich but everyone. It has a side effect of creating havoc for retail stores, software providers and you at the store.

Our state will continue to push illegal taxes on us until we all go broke or bankruptcy takes away our Legislature's and governor's right to give away your money.

Had enough yet? Call Sacramento today!

KEITH WATERSON

Hilmar

Editor's note: The 1 percent tax on lumber is effective Jan. 1. It was part of AB 1492, which passed by a two-thirds vote in the Legislature last summer. The tax revenue will pay for government oversight of the timber industry. The industry supported it; lumber retailers generally opposed it.