text: Sorry Michael but they are not INDEPENDENT of jobs and it's foolish to think so. Let's see how it works. The Navy is here. The have service families living here that need local services. Local businesses hire people as employees to meet that demand for service and the goods and services provided are taxed as they are for non-military citizens living here. Additionally those local employees have to live somewhere and also generate demand for services for their own families and pay sales taxes and property taxes as well. Net result business increases more taxes get paid as a result and, supposedly, everyone benefits. Now take the military away. No need for those local employees so you get rid of them. They no longer pay sales tax,  income or property tax and if they stay in the area become a burden on the tax base instead of a benefit to it. A lot of housing goes vacant with an accompanying rise in crime like everywhere else there was a base closure. The NAVY pays more than it's share.