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Your Full Name Your Email Address Your Address (Optional) Email Subject Please do not make Hillsborough County the highest sales tax county in Florida. This tax increase will have harmful economic consequences which include: • Taking more money away from struggling families especially the 151,000 citizens who live at or below the poverty level. • Removing another One Percent in consumer spending from local businesses thereby exacerbating our already high 12.1 percent unemployment rate. • Giving Hillsborough County the highest sales tax of all Florida counties. Our rate will be 8% compared to the 6.83% average of all other Florida counties. Families in Hillsborough County cannot afford to have more of their household income spent on taxes. Our county economy and high unemployment rate cannot afford to have hundreds of millions of dollars taken away from consumer spending to primarily fund a mass transit system. Our county also cannot afford to standout out as being the county with the highest sales tax rate in Florida. It is illogical to pass the largest sales tax increase in county history to primarily fund a new project like mass transit given our dire economy. Ridership on Tri-Rail in South Florida after 20 years is less than half a percent. At that rate of ridership cost per rider will be in excess of $ 500,000 per rider over the life of the tax. Half a percent reduction in traffic is not worth taxing us more or paying $500k per rider. Please do not approve a sales tax referendum for mass transit. Thank you.