We have seen many, many spouts complaining about public employees and their pensions, rising taxes, wasteful municipal spending, etc. Some of these spouts are "sour grapes" but some are valid. Before we complain too much about rising taxes, let's look at the cost of doing business. Are food prices any lower? How about cars? It seems like gasoline is the only thing that has gone down in price recently. If we want government services, federal, state or local, somebody has to pay for them. Yes, there is some waste and mismanagement, but that's not the root cause of rising taxes. Inflation is.