Dear Gazette:

My wife and I recently received a shock in our mail. Apparently Democratic Senator, Paula Hollinger, and a number of others up there in the State House believe we owe $30 per year for Bay Restoration (Senate Bill 320) simply because we own a house and use a septic system. We'd like to know the reasoning behind such an intrusion into our finances, yet again. How is it that we are able to drink the water from the well in our yard and not be poisoned by the septic in our yard or our neighbors' and yet the Chesapeake, apparently, is getting poisoned by those same septic systems?

Isn't it enough that we are taxed for everything else and the price of gas is through the roof? Was anybody else bothered by this? $30 per year may not be a big deal to some but just remember that the income tax started at around 1% and look at what we pay now! I wish I could lay this deed at the feet of one of the two parties but even the party that claims it is for lower taxes, Republicans, voted for this new tax. Maybe we need to get Delegates like Donald Elliott and Senators like David Brinkley out of the State House and get somebody in there who actually stands for lower taxes. It is clear that Senator Hollinger needs to go with her “Share the pain” philosophy.

We need to be writing our state senators and delegates to get this additional tax off our backs. You can bet we will be talking about this in the next election.