As Christmas approaches, I’ve been thinking about how much Americans believe in the same things. Indeed, a careful reader of the tax policy debate between Lane Hiltunen and me would see that we often agree.
Many political disagreements turn on factual assumptions, not values. I often hear right-wing conservatives claim to embrace my values, while promoting policies that undermine those same values. I know millions of voters are sincere in believing that right-wing policies advance these shared values, even if many right-wing politicians and opinion leaders know better.
Let’s take the tax debate. I agree with Lane that the Great Depression was caused by deep economic inequality and rampant speculation. I share his fear the same immoral and dangerous condition is developing again. Here, we agree on both facts and values.
Lane thought he was disagreeing with me, though, because I said that policies that limit government and favor the wealthy caused the Depression. Here’s where we diverge on the facts. To ensure equal opportunity, government must do three things: pursue labor, wage, and tax policies that distribute income fairly; invest in the public good; and regulate businesses’ excesses. When government refuses to act, we get deep economic inequality, rampant financial speculation, and another Great Depression. Lane doesn’t understand that right-wing economic policies actually produce the conditions that he admits caused the Great Depression.
Lane also says Maine relies too much on property taxes, and should consider broad-based tax reform. I agree! He believes investing in education is essential, but reform is needed to limit duplication of services and functions. I agree! He advocates merit pay and accountability. I agree!
With all this agreement, I was confused at first by Lane’s disdain for the homestead and circuit breaker programs, which reduce property taxes for those least able to afford them. Also, why is he sour on LD1, which is already bringing property taxes in line, when he knows that LD1 will be phased in over four years? (In other words, every year the state will take on more education funding responsibility and property taxes will not just stabilize, but actually start going down considerably.)
I want fairer taxes. Lane just wants lower taxes. Like many right-wingers, he imagines we can cut huge amounts from the state budget through streamlining. I too support making government more efficient, but we must be realistic about how much we can cut spending. Even if school administrative costs can be cut, we are dramatically under-investing in higher education, preschool, teacher pay, school infrastructure and other essentials.
Healthcare is another huge budget item. Medicare and Medicaid produce better results than private plans, at lower cost, with slower cost increases. Not much fat there! Right-wingers just can’t accept that good government costs money. They can’t even accept that good government is possible.
The rest of our apparent disagreement rests on rhetoric. When I criticized Lane’s outrageous suggestion that property taxes might increase 300 percent, he claimed he was just talking about assessments, but he plainly referred to taxes in his original column. Likewise, we both understand that property taxes depend both on mill rate and assessment. I made clear that in Cumberland County, the real estate market is slowing down, and the combination of that with mill rates stabilized by LD1 means property taxes are coming into line. Lane relies on Auburn for his horror scenario, but doesn’t tell you that Auburn hadn’t revalued local properties since 1990! Of course property values have increased a lot in those 15 years, but Auburn officials have stated that the mill rate will go down.
Once you clear away the rhetoric, we really agree on a lot!
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