Letters: What taxes pay for

Re “Streets paved with frustration,” July 29

William Fleischman’s comment that he and his fellow Holmby Hills residents pay “millions of dollars to Los Angeles in property taxes, and we’re getting back thousands of dollars in services” must be in jest. Perhaps he forgot about the police, fire, justice, permitting, planning, parks, recreation, street lighting and multiple other services the city of Los Angeles provides.

Our infrastructure, at all governmental levels, is in disrepair, as we have been falsely led to believe we don’t have to pay for it. What we do pay is not adequate for the level of infrastructure Fleischman demands.

Would Fleischman and the Holmby Hills Homeowners Assn. support raising the gasoline tax an extra nickel per gallon to help pay for better roads? That would be a start to raising the quality level of our roads and highways.

Scott Plante

Los Angeles

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