Government guidelines are simple in Tompkins County: “Shut up, pay your taxes, and do what you’re told.” — and there’s nothing you can do to change any of it. Even if you talk; they never listen – they know that you have no power; no one can “upset their applecart.” The tax breaks all go the big corporations that run the county. And new laws and regulations are constantly being passed to repress the rural community and drive out the ones who haven’t already been forced out by high taxes. You can still hunt deer to help feed you family: but you can’t hunt up the cash they demand to support their luxury school system. Tax assessors are the only County outreach most rural people ever see.