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Towards a just & healthy democracy in the Commonwealth... and beyond!
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Tue Nov 09, 2010 at 18:19:19 PM EST
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(interesting local take on a statewide problem. - promoted by eli_beckerman)
The town of Lenox has quickly learned that the lodging tax that it imposed last year and the meals tax it is proposing to add next year are not enough. My fellow residents are being asked to fill out a survey by December 6 to tell the Selectmen "which services are the highest priority." The town "faces the prospect of either needing to reduce services to keep in line with the financial resources available to us OR seeking voter approval for a Proposition 2-1/2 override in order to increase our property tax revenues to pay for the services you want."
As I witnessed on the campaign trail, the long-term effects of regressive taxation are regressive service cuts. Translation: lower and middle income residents are asked to shoulder more of the tax burden, as a percentage of their income and assets, while the services they most depend upon are disproportionately cut.
The legislature does not provide towns with many tools to deal with the problem. Local aid has been cut by over 45% in the last decade. The lodging tax and meals tax are simply band-aids that don't change the underlying trends. Even regionalization of services, often described as 'transformational' is simply a more difficult band-aid to administer. I'm not against regionalization where it makes sense, but it is not transformational. There will be a one or two year blip to slow the trends somewhat, but the benefits will not be sustainable. These band-aids have no effect on slowing down health care costs or of reversing the regressive burden of taxation.
Many towns in the area are further down the regressive tax and benefits spiral than Lenox is, but the legislature's inaction is pulling many communities further down the drain every year, especially in the western part of the Commonwealth.
My answers to the three survey questions follow. |
| scott_laugenour :: Services Regression |
1)How satisfied are you with the municipal services provided by the Town of Lenox? The choices are 'Very Satisfied,' 'Satisfied,' and 'Not Satisfied.' My answer: SATISFIED
2)If services have to be cut would you: a) make the same percentage cut to all departments - have all share equally in cuts; or b) review services and make cuts to only certain departments based on priority needs; if you choose 'b' please mark below which town functions you would target for service reductions. My Answer: A. (For those residents who chose B the list of departments to make disproportional cuts to was:
a.Administrative Services
b.Education
c.Elder Services
d.Library Services
e.Public Health & Construction Inspection
f.Public Safety
g.Road Maintenance and Repaving
h.Snow Removal
i.Youth Programs
j.Zoning, Planning, Permitting
3)To avoid service cuts would you be willing to increase property taxes more than 2-1/2% (A % 2-1/2 increase equals about $100 for the average home owner.) My answer: NO. Additional comments on question 3: PROPERTY TAXES ARE REGRESSIVE WE ALREADY SUFFER ENOUGH FROM REGRESSIVE TAXATION. LOCAL AID NEEDS TO BE RESTORED BY INSISTING THAT THE LEGISLATURE INTRODUCE PROGRESSIVE INCOME TAXES AND CHANGE ITS BUDGET PRIORITIES.
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Final thoughts -
It is painful and polarizing for residents to pit one municipal department against another. We must expect that town departments manage themselves responsibly, but I will not rank favorites. So I answered A to question 2. If the legislature continues to be callous, then it will force us to make cuts, which should be administered evenly.
There are other ways out, but the solutions are above the town level.
A progressive income tax from 0% to 8.2% can be established to raise an additional $1.5 billion per year. With such a system the tax burden would be lowered for anyone making less than $90,000. This can be achieved by establishing an individual exemption from taxes on the first $36,000 per year, and taxing income beyond that at 8.3%.
Progressive taxation is an American invention that most other democracies have adopted, with which they have built strong public infrastructure that local economies thrive upon. It's time for us to recapture that spirit and make a radical change in budget priorities. The tools are there to do it now. |
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"Now, is this the deal I would have preferred? No. I believe that we could have made the tough choices required - on entitlement reform and tax reform - right now, rather than through a special congressional committee process. But this compromise does make a serious down payment on the deficit reduction we need and gives each party a strong incentive to get a balanced plan done before the end of the year. Most importantly, it will allow us to avoid default and end the crisis that Washington imposed on the rest of America."
--President Barack Obama on the debt ceiling "deal"
"Despite Democratic control over the White House, despite Democratic control over the Senate, despite overwhelming opposition from the American people, a small minority of the members of the Republican-controlled House have successfully pushed an extreme right-wing agenda onto the American political landscape. It is an ideology which believes that despite the fact that the rich are getting richer, the middle class is shrinking, and poverty is increasing, all - all of the burden for deficit reduction should rest on working people."
--Independent Senator Bernie Sanders on the debt ceiling "deal"
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Then and Now
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Then...
"Last year Evergreen, a Massachusetts company, agreed to establish their first-ever United States based manufacturing facility here in Massachusetts. They did so, or are doing so, at Devens. They have now agreed and chosen to triple their size at Devens. Their next phase of expansion, right here in Massachusetts, a signature company in a signature sector, and we congratulate all of the folks at Evergreen and look forward to continuing to work with you...
We made a personal commitment to Evergreen for the sake of Evergreen, but also because we wanted to show that there are ways in which state government, in working together with private industry and with the utility companies, could begin to create a different kind of environment, a different kind of business climate here, to grow that sector, and it is happening. It's happening. Evergreen is one of the most prominent examples, but there are a whole host of examples."
--Governor Deval Patrick, April 7, 2008, boasting about state investment in Evergreen.
and Now...
"Evergreen Solar Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday, completing a stunning reversal of fortune for a high-flying alternative-energy company that once seemed to herald a new era for the Massachusetts economy... At its peak, Evergreen employed roughly 900 people locally and attracted more than $50 million in state support, as its stock price soared above $100 a share.
Yesterday, Evergreen's stock closed at 18 cents. The company shuttered its manufacturing plant in Devens earlier this year and now has only 85 employees left. Massachusetts is one of its top creditors, owed $1.5 million in rent."
--Erin Ailworth, Boston Globe, August 16, 2011
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