Taxes go up, income goes down; where does it stop?

I wrote about this in a RoundFile posting, but it came up again...

It seems that the SL County Unified Police thing is underfunded by current Sales Tax, so the County is now going to charge people directly. They are calling it a fee, but in reality, you MUST pay it or get a lien on your property.

Isn't a direct tax like this illegal?

County To Charge Fees For Policing - Reported by: Cristina Flores - Thursday, Jan 7, 2010 @12:05am CST

My favorite line, when the County said it isn't a tax...

"If it looks like a turd and smells like a turd…it is a turd"