![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
In the what are they thinking department...
This year in Maine one of the big issues for the election is the tax cap referendum. The referendum was modeled on the California referendum from years past. It caps local real estate taxes at 1% of assessed value. But it also rolls back that assessed value to 1996. It has additional clauses to reduce the amount further if it exceeds a certain proportion of taxable income.
I heard one of the representatives of the pro tax cap camp today say, "this is a way to force the legislature to make changes in how the state operates." This affects local jurisdictions only, not the state government. The state government doesn't levy property tax!
You see, people in Maine are fed up with high taxes. But what they don't want to do is make the difficult decisions required to have lower taxes. Each year there are bond issues on the state ballot. Each year the voters vote to approve the bond issues, regardless of what they are or whether they want to be taxed to pay for them. I am amazed by the rubber stamp that the voters give to every expenditure. Then they complain the tax burden is too high. They want premium quality K-12 education with low class headcounts in a rural state, but they complain when the tax burden is too high. They dream with socialist ideals and want a minimalist bill.
Am I voting for the tax cap? No. If the people of Maine want tax relief they should A) stop voting for the bonds, B) contact their legislators and vote the ones out who don't have their interests in mind. There is no magic bullet, just real choices that have to be made.
I heard one of the representatives of the pro tax cap camp today say, "this is a way to force the legislature to make changes in how the state operates." This affects local jurisdictions only, not the state government. The state government doesn't levy property tax!
You see, people in Maine are fed up with high taxes. But what they don't want to do is make the difficult decisions required to have lower taxes. Each year there are bond issues on the state ballot. Each year the voters vote to approve the bond issues, regardless of what they are or whether they want to be taxed to pay for them. I am amazed by the rubber stamp that the voters give to every expenditure. Then they complain the tax burden is too high. They want premium quality K-12 education with low class headcounts in a rural state, but they complain when the tax burden is too high. They dream with socialist ideals and want a minimalist bill.
Am I voting for the tax cap? No. If the people of Maine want tax relief they should A) stop voting for the bonds, B) contact their legislators and vote the ones out who don't have their interests in mind. There is no magic bullet, just real choices that have to be made.