“The tax collector must love poor people. He has created a lot of them.” -Unknown
The fight over the Taxpayer Bill of Rights in Maine reminds me of the battles during the Revolutionary War and the Battle of Yorktown. We have an entrenched government that always wants more taxes than we can afford to pay and an effort by a group of citizens who believe that our government must stop taxing us to death. Unfortunately we are taxed after death, too. What is interesting is that just like the Revolutionary War some interesting myths and quotations are already in the news.
A friend of mine from North Yarmouth, George Fogg, perhaps summed up the problem with Maine’s tax burden is that too many people are riding in the cart and not enough people are pulling it which is a nice way of stating too many citizens are freeloaders.
Another friend from Portland, Tom Zimmerman, said about the AARP and Governor Baldacci and I quote: “After 9 years ranked No. 1 with the highest tax burden in the country, I’ve yet to hear any one of them suggest a “right” solution. It took our politicians more than 15 years to dig this hole, and now we are willing to give them 15 years to dig us back out. If that’s too blunt for them, if they see it as a meat axe, they need to get new jobs. Good luck finding one in this state.”
What Tom is saying here is that the Taxpayer Bill of Rights will control the increases in the budgets at all levels in Maine which will bring us back to the middle of the pack instead of leaving us at the top of the tax burden list.
I watched part of a show on Aldephia cable about the Taxpayer Bill of Rights where a woman from Colorado stated her disapproval and pushed the so-called negative effects it had. One of her most interesting points that she now had to drive her child to sports activities on Saturday. This must be a liberal’s viewpoint that all of us must pay for her child’s wants, not needs. You all probably already know my response to that statement. You want something Sweetie, you pay for it.
The excuse of “it’s for the children” is about the sickest reply I can think of and yet it will be used time after time by the liberal spenders and money grabbers in this state as an outright lie to influence the uninformed.
One the myths being spread by the Maine Education Association defines the Taxpayer Bill of Rights as a poorly designed tax and spending cap which will result in many school districts to lose funding and, of course, their long lies about teachers losing their jobs and education of the children will be diminished. There is no language about capping spending and taxes. That is a simply a ploy into making citizens believe that the Palesky Tax Cap has been resurrected.
There is no call for a reduction in budgets at any level. If a town should lose population or experience a large devaluation in its property what would happen is that the town would have to flat fund its budget. There would be no decrease at all. If a school district were to lose many students, then that school district would flat fund its budget which would, in fact, mean that more money is being spent on fewer students.
Here are some other myths being spread around the state of Maine. According to the Commissioner of Education, the Taxpayer Bill of Rights will cause mold to grow in our school buildings. That’s funny because moisture causes mold.
The AARP has stated that seniors will lose their prescription drug benefits. Really? The AARP has also stated the spending limitations are too complicated. First, the limitations are limited to the increase in budgets. The increases are determined by addition, subtraction and percentage. We should be able to find some citizens that can do that math.
Another myth being spread by the Maine Center for Economic Policy is that LD1 has provided tax reform and has provided tax relief. LD1 actually increased spending by the state of Maine for education and that money had to come from us. It’s the old game of robbing Peter to pay Paul because Paul loves it.
The Windham Tax Assessor has already said that people living on the water will see a significant increase in property taxes. He also said that because LD1 has an increase in property tax relief, it will cost us more. Windham officials have publicly stated that this year’s budget will not cause a tax increase for us. We will see the truth soon.
Let’s make sure that the Taxpayer Bill of Rights referendum passes this coming November. That will be our Battle of Yorktown.
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