Tax dollars to some politicians are like a narcotic to a drug addict.  The longer they are hooked, the more they need. 

So it is with the liberal spending politician, Michael Cadigan, the 8-year city council incumbent from the West Side and candidate for re-election.  Like most addicts, Mr. Cadigan has managed to hide his addiction well, and has come up with some nicely camouflaged reasons to describe it, hoping that the truth of his problem stays just beneath the surface while satisfying his habit at everyone else’s expense. 

“Homebuilder Fees” is just one example of a hidden tax that he has been peddling to taxpayers as something that is good for us.  What Mr. Cadigan does not tell us is that “homebuilder fees” are not paid by “home builders.”  They are paid by “home buyers,” and are nothing more than an extra tax, currently tagged at about $10,000, on anyone buying a new home. 

An even more vivid example of Mr. Cadigan’s addiction can be found in that most disguised of all local taxes—“impact fees.”  Mr. Cadigan loves impact fees.  He blames everything from public safety issues to global warming on anyone who wants to start a business.  He calls them all “big, out of state developers” and tries to get us hating them into paying so-called “impact fees.” 

What Mr. Cadigan won’t tell us is that most of these “developers” are little guys: Local mom and pop enterprises trying to start a small business, employ a few people, and make a living.  But when “impact fee” increase the cost of starting a business, the business owner passes those costs on to us, and the price of everything goes up, while hidden taxation rises. 

Right now, most local government officials are recognizing that “impact fees” are having a very negative impact on our local economy.   The Bernalillo County Commission has voted to suspend 75% of its impact fees to spur business and job growth, and the Albuquerque City Council will soon take up the issue of suspending City impact fees to give our local economy the boost it now needs.   

Incredibly, Mr. Cadigan is screaming “Don’t touch the impact fees!”  So hooked is he to the rush and revenue of impact fees that he claims he has found a study that confirms that “impact fees” are internally absorbed by a business and none of it is paid by the consumer!  Not sure what planet that study was conducted on, but the truth is—we all pay. 

It is time for Mr. Cadigan to have the “intervention” most addicts desperately need to save themselves and those they hurt through their bad habits.  Mr. Cadigan’s bad habit is being addicted to our tax dollars, trying to hide such taxes under innocent labels, and striving to convince us that it is good for us to give him more of them. 

The people who have long paid for Mr. Cadigan’s bad habit have a chance at a successful “intervention” in just a few months; October 6 is election day.