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Wealth & Money Quote by Laura Miller

"It's wasteful spending like this that not only forces tax increases and cuts in vital services... but also really make you wonder: who is City Hall looking out for?"

About this Quote

“Wasteful spending” is the political equivalent of pointing at smoke and letting voters imagine the fire. Laura Miller’s line is built to do two things at once: deliver a concrete accusation (money is being misused) and widen it into a moral suspicion (government loyalty has drifted away from the public). The ellipsis matters. It mimics the rhythm of a press gaggle or council meeting soundbite, where the speaker performs restraint while inviting the audience to fill in the worst possibilities: crony contracts, vanity projects, backroom deals.

The sentence is engineered around inevitability. “Not only forces tax increases and cuts in vital services” frames the alleged waste as a direct pipeline to household pain and civic loss. Taxes aren’t just higher; “vital services” are at risk, a phrase that cues police response times, library hours, street repairs, parks - everyday proof of whether a city works. By pairing tax hikes with service cuts, Miller sets up a double-bind: you pay more and get less. That’s the kind of grievance that travels fast because it feels like a scam.

Then she pivots to the real payload: “who is City Hall looking out for?” It’s a trust question disguised as a budget question. Miller isn’t merely contesting a line item; she’s challenging the governing coalition’s legitimacy, implying insiders benefit while residents absorb the costs. In the context of municipal politics - where opaque procurement and developer influence are perennial anxieties - the line is a compact invitation to reassign blame and, ultimately, to reassign power at the ballot box.

Quote Details

TopicJustice
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Miller, Laura. (2026, January 17). It's wasteful spending like this that not only forces tax increases and cuts in vital services... but also really make you wonder: who is City Hall looking out for? FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/its-wasteful-spending-like-this-that-not-only-79119/

Chicago Style
Miller, Laura. "It's wasteful spending like this that not only forces tax increases and cuts in vital services... but also really make you wonder: who is City Hall looking out for?" FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/its-wasteful-spending-like-this-that-not-only-79119/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"It's wasteful spending like this that not only forces tax increases and cuts in vital services... but also really make you wonder: who is City Hall looking out for?" FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/its-wasteful-spending-like-this-that-not-only-79119/. Accessed 10 Feb. 2026.

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Wasteful Spending and City Hall Priorities by Laura Miller
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About the Author

Laura Miller

Laura Miller (born November 18, 1958) is a Politician from USA.

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