It was originally expected to pass, no problem. But then a bunch of people showed up and… well. 6-1 for became 4-3 against.

WOONSOCKET — Faced with a heavy outpouring of opposition from property owners, the City Council last night narrowly defeated a supplemental tax bill to wipe out a School Department deficit of $3.7 million.

[snip]

The measure would have given the city authority to hike all classes of taxes — residential, business and business equipment — about 10 percent. The average homeowner would have paid roughly an extra $231 this fiscal year.

Though the hike would have been about the same on small businesses percentage-wise, they would have paid significantly more since they are already taxed at a higher rate.

(H/T: Michelle Malkin, Glenn Reynolds, and check out this Jim Geraghty piece).

It’d be nice if we all had enough money to buy all the things that we wanted. We don’t. And until we do, that means that state and local governments need to start doing what the rest of us have to do: start living within their means. That includes not taking the attitude that just because it’d be nice to do something doesn’t mean that there’s an obligation to do it, or that people in opposition to doing something that they can’t really afford aren’t just being mean or cruel about it, or that there’s any obligation for the universe to conform to anyone’s individual will.

Yes, I know. Those are all horrible things to hear. Such is life.

Moe Lane

PS: The above event, by the way, is an example what the Activist Left really fears. You see, they know full well that the Tea Party movement’s not about racism; it’s about populist activism. They’ve got a great gig going pretending to be the Voice of the People: the casual way that we’re already showing them up when it comes to that sort of thing infuriates them, when it doesn’t frighten them. They do not want the Right getting a taste for going to local meetings and raising a stink, because it’ll show up the Left’s activism for what it really is.

Which is to say, a hollow bluff.

So go continue on with the happy task of making the Left’s lives miserable, via the magic of peaceable assembly. It’s fun!

Crossposted to Moe Lane.