Why It's Time to Improve the Cobb School Tax Exemption

Dear Representative Cooper,

The school tax exemption for seniors has made many people happy because it does what it was designed to do. It gives a large property tax break to seniors over the age of 62. The law's intention, which every politician quotes, is to protect widows and seniors of modest means on limited or fixed income.

Anne Melican is very happy that there is a school tax exemption for seniors over 62. She was awarded $1.36 million from the Cobb estate of the late Harvey Strother. The 79-year-old Strother was a multi-millionaire, worth around $37 million, based on his five car dealerships. Melican, 62, was his mistress. She was accused by Strother’s widow and family of “manipulating her addled lover when he was in an alcoholic daze.”

Strother was not a senior of limited means or on a fixed income. Why does Rep. Cooper defend a law that goes a long way to protect those that don’t need protecting?

The tax exemption for seniors is basically a good law. Rep. Cooper should take the initiative and fine-tune it. Did Harvey Strother need protection? Did Harvey Strother even use the exemption? The Cobb Tax Commissioners office says that it does not have the ability to see who uses the exemption and who doesn’t.

Rich, 79-year-old womanizing alcoholics have problems that school tax exemptions won’t fix. Rep. Cooper make this good law better by adding transparency and making it work better for those it was designed to help. If the school tax exemption is ever repealed, it will be because of the excesses of a few and not the needs of the many.

Contact your state representatives and encourage them to improve a good law.