This article would be more properly entitled, "Creative Taxation" or better "Double/Triple Taxation" as those costs have long been covered by property taxes and ever-increasing monthly billing charges. If that were not so, then I wouldn't be able to call Rocky Mtn. Power and have them replace the burned out street light on the pole in my front yard, as I just did for the first time in many years -- a pole, by the way, which bears its own license plate that DOESN'T say "Salt Lake City Council" for good reason. The annual budget for the entire "State of Utah" (an alter ego of the LDS Church), didn't reach a billion dollars until the days of Gov. Scott Matheson, yet now the SLC Council seeks to propose a "fee" for the "Street Light Enterprise Fund" estimated to raise 3.6 times that amount? That sounds more like the operation of a "criminal enterprise" that might be alleged under the federal racketeering statute as "a pattern of unlawful activity," since lawyers charge "fees" and governments impose taxes; not vice-versa. Sounds like time to contract with a pest-control company and have them exterminate a few greedy pests on the Salt Lake City Council -- for a legitimate fee, of course. If "the power to tax is the power to destroy," that statement pales in comparison to the power to impose taxes under the guise of "fees." And speaking of property taxes, didn't Mayor Corroon just propose to hike them in Salt Lake County? And didn't LDS Senator John Valentine just propose to nearly triple the state sales tax on food? And didn't an anonymous "state panel" just propose a 36.5% raise in Gov. Herbert's salary, along with other state officials? -- which seems remarkable considering that social security recipients will only receive a 1.7% COLA next year after a literal dearth for the two previous years. So dividing that uber-raise by a factor of 3 equates to just 0.56%/year on average over that same period. And then what about . . . damn, I just ran out of space!

$3.73 is a lot less to pay than a trip to the emergency room would cost. Street lights keep us safe.