Democrat Candidates Pushing Unrealistic Tax Increases
Vermont is looking at a potential $430 million revenue shortfall for the FY2021 budget year. Dealing with it will require some hard choices that will hopefully lead to a leaner, more efficient, less intrusive state government in the future. Unfortunately, the first debates and public statements by Democrats running for Governor and Lieutenant Governor reflect a general desire to maintain the status quo ante COVID, relying on the old Leftist fall back: Tax the Rich!
First of all, there just aren’t that many. According to the state income tax statistics for 2018, the last reported year, there are only about 13,000 tax returns reporting income over $200,000. (The state doesn’t break down the statistics at $250,000, so the number these candidates wants to tax is going to be much lower than 13,000. Just 5777 returns were for $300,000 and over). To force such a small segment of the population to shoulder this burden on its own is both unfair and unrealistic.
The Same Old Story Told Over and Over Again !
I have asked the question so many times . . . “How can the legislators, time and time again, refuse to act in the same prudent manner that every family and every business is expected to act ?”
Families and businesses must live within their means, they calculate the money they have coming in and decide how to spend (and invest) that money to care for their needs and obligations.
The Vermont Legislators, repeatedly, look at everything they spent the State’s money on in the past year and then add on as many of their dream projects as they figure they can get away with – order to “balance the books” the look for every way they can juggle and “cook the books” and then cry that they have looked everywhere for unnecessary projects and expenditures to cut and have been unable to find anything that is not essential in their opinion.
It is at this point that they exclaim that “we must ask the rich to pay more of their ‘fair share’ to get us out of our financial troubles !”
It is the “swansong” we have heard so many times we have come to view the claimed impending doom to be disingenuous at best and a down right lie at worst.
When a brave maverick in the Legislature suggests “trimming the fat” they a are excoriated as heartless and demands to produce detailed lists of exactly which of their vital and necessary programs should be subjected to the executioner’s axe.
The current state budget is more than $6B, that’s nearly $10,000 for every man, woman and child in the state – surely there is a substantial number of expenditures that could be trimmed or delayed instead of taxing folks to the point they need to flee the state, leaving the rest of us to pick-up the “slack !”
Wealthy individuals the most mobile citizens and beating them over the head, time and time again is the best way “to send them packing !” (In fact many have already moved their “tax home” to friendlier venues and merely “vacation” here – making sure to not overstay the 180 days that would obligate them to tax residency.)
I hope the taxes on the seniors with fixed incomes don’t go up much. We can’t afford these taxes every year. You are driving people tight out of town.
Seth Barrows June 4, 2020 at 1:17 am
Don’t forget that a very large majority of those 13,000 returns over $200k are “married filing jointly” returns. So those married filers could be a small business owner and an electrician, a teacher and small town dentist, an active duty military member and a nurse, etc. You see my point. These are not your evil rich people. They are the backbone of our state.
Did an exercise in simple division. If I am correct, if one divides the $450,000,000 by the 13,000 filers making $200,000, you get roughly $35,000 per filer. If so, what’s a measly $35,000 to these “rich” folks????? They must understand that living in Vermont is a PRIVILEGE for which one must pay. The Democrats have been a johnny one note from day one, SPEND AND TAX, folks be damned!!!
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