Skip to main content

Chester County Press

Former Franklin supervisor shouldn't be complaining about high tax rates

10/04/2013 05:07PM ● By Acl

Letter to the Editor:

For years, former Franklin Township supervisor Dick Whipple has written and distributed an electronic newsletter titled "Franklin Twp. Update." Recently, Mr. Whipple has complained and expressed outrage at the high tax rates in Franklin Township. Does Mr. Whipple think we forget that he presided over the Franklin Township Board of Supervisors for years and repeatedly voted for higher taxes and is directly responsible for the current Franklin Township tax rates?

Franklin's current real estate tax rate of 3.083 mills has been in effect since 2008 when Mr. Whipple was Chairman of the Franklin Township Board of Supervisors.

In 2005, he voted to impose a .5 percent Earned Income Tax (EIT) on residents. Although this tax was supposed to sunset at the end of 2007, he voted to continue imposing this tax on residents.

In 2011, when the Franklin Township Board of Supervisors wanted to double the current EIT, he used his newsletter to lobby aggressively in support of the tax increase.

The facts remain that it was Whipple, as Chairman of the Franklin Board of Supervisors, who voted for the current tax structure in Franklin Township. His selective amnesia about his track record of higher taxes can’t be whitewashed by his email propaganda campaign.

It is beyond hypocritical for Whipple to feign outrage at the current tax rates for which he is responsible. If he had gotten his way in the last election, tax rates would be higher than they already are.

Whipple is not an honest broker of township information and he uses his newsletter to try and fool residents in order to advance his personal agenda.

 

Jeffrey Schenk

Franklin Township