Our local utility department has recently begun a "round up contribution" campaign to aide a local charity. Without notifying me, last month they began to round up my bill to the nearest dollar. I didn't notice it then.
Today, when I opened up my statement, I thought it strange that, for 2 months in a row my utility bill ended in $xx.00. So I called them up, and they said that the City government authorized them to begin taking the "contribution" for the local charity.
What the crap?
How in the heck can I "contribute" when I have never been asked? I never authorized this. They stated that if we didn't want to "help out" we were to notify them.
So, as of today, I am no longer having this money stolen from me. Is it a lot of money? No. But if I want to "contribute" to charity (which I do to a tune of over 15% of my income yearly), I will choose the specific charity and how much to give.
Socialism in Western TN at work.
