A Letter from the Founding Fathers for Mayor Brian Curran and the Board - remember the phrase "No taxation without representation" ??

A Letter From the Founding Fathers to:
Mayor Brian Curran
Deputy Mayor William J. Hendrick
Trustee Alan C. Beach
Trustee Mike Hawhurst
Trustee Hilary Becker

but first some background

No taxation without representation
"No taxation without representation" began as a slogan in the period 1763–1776 that summarized a primary grievance of the British colonists in the Thirteen Colonies. In short, many in those colonies believed the lack of direct representation in the distant British Parliament was an illegal denial of their rights as Englishmen, and therefore laws taxing the colonists (the kind of law that affects the most individuals directly), and other laws applying only to the colonies, were unconstitutional. In recent times, it has been used by several other groups in several different countries over similar disputes.

Usage in American Revolution
The phrase "No Taxation Without Representation!" was coined by Reverend Jonathan Mayhew in a sermon in Boston in 1750. By 1765 the term "no taxation without representation" was in use in Boston, but no one is sure who first used it. Boston politician James Otis was most famously associated with the term, "taxation without representation is tyranny."[1]

Parliament had controlled colonial trade and taxed imports and exports since 1660.[2] By the 1760s the Americans came to believe they were being deprived of a historic right.[3] The English Bill of Rights 1689 had forbidden the imposition of taxes without the consent of Parliament. Since the colonists had no representation in Parliament they complained the taxes violated the guaranteed Rights of Englishmen. Parliament contended that the colonists had virtual representation.

The Americans rejected the Stamp Act 1765 (which was repealed), and in 1773 violently rejected the remaining tax on tea imports at the Boston Tea Party. The Parliament considered this an illegal act because they believed it undermined the authority of the Crown in Parliament. When the British then used the military to enforce laws the colonists believed Parliament had passed illegally, the colonists responded by forming militias and seized political control of each colony, ousting the royal governors. The complaint was never officially over the amount of taxation (the taxes were quite low, though ubiquitous), but always on the political decision-making process by which taxes were decided in London, i.e. without representation for the colonists in British Parliament. In February 1775, Britain passed the Conciliatory Resolution which ended taxation for any colony which satisfactorily provided for the imperial defense and the upkeep of imperial officers.

Patrick Henry's resolutions in the Virginia legislature implied that Americans possessed all the rights of Englishmen; that the principle of no taxation without representation was an essential part of the British Constitution; and that Virginia alone enjoyed the right to tax Virginians.[5]

------------------- now here's the letter: -------------------

April 13,1773

Dear Mayor Brian Curran

You've prepared the budget and the property tax schedule
without any input from the residents and are on the fast track
to adopt your taxation plan without any representation
from said taxpayer residents / colonists.

The one-hour sham "public hearing" that's stuck in at the
11th hour on April 13th between budget worksessions, ( no doubt
only because it's required by law ) doesn’t count ( sorry ).

Nor does a budget "worksession" held AFTER the "public hearing" ( sorry #2 )

Cut the crap

Respectfully yours,

Patrick Henry
Samuel Adams