On the heels of his long-awaited Trump takedown, "Last Week Tonight" host John Oliver brought down the tempo to talk special tax districts on Sunday night's episode.
"Hello, people watching for the first time because of our Trump piece," Oliver prefaced. "And also, I presume, goodbye. Thanks for checking in."
"Special districts are small units of government with the power to take tax dollars to do one specific thing," Oliver explained. There are about 40,000 (often overlapping) special tax districts in the country, accounting for about $100 billion in spending.
"Think of a special district like a cult. It can take your money and you may not even be aware you're in one," he continued. "Although, it is worth remembering, in a special district, allowing the leader to impregnate you is not mandatory, no matter what the guy in charge of the library district says."
Perhaps most terrifying, however, is that in many cases "there is not a process for (special districts) to be eliminated."
"There's no way to break them up," Oliver added. "They're like styrofoam packing peanuts or the enduring friendship of Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake. They'll be with us until the end of time."
Watch the full segment below:
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