Editor’s note: This commentary is by Rep. Paul Dame, a Republican who represents Essex Junction in the Vermont House of Representatives.
[R]ecently one of my fellow representatives, Tom Stevens of Waterbury, wrote a lengthy op-ed, “Protecting the Middle Class,” in order to attempt to defend Democrats as looking out for “the little guy” while Republicans “evangelize for more tax breaks for those who don’t need them and for cutting services to Vermonters in need.”
One of the creative liberties granted to those who write op-eds is that they can be penned completely apart from voting records. During the House budget and tax bills, I proposed to keep incomes taxes level for Vermont households making less than about $60,000 per year and many of my Republican colleagues joined me. Rep. Stevens opposed this. He argued that Republicans like me are fighting for tax cuts for people that don’t need them. Even if he’s going to say that families making under $60,000 don’t need tax cuts, then I and my Republican colleagues are guilty only of trying to keep them flat.
I look forward to Rep. Stevens joining me in what I hope will be a bi-partisan fight against this new tax when the next session starts.
It’s also worth pointing out that when one member sought to restore funding to LIHEAP to avoid “cutting services for Vermonters in need,” Rep. Stevens voted against that funding. Meanwhile those who supported reprioritizing spending in order to restore it were primary us “evil” Republicans. From those two issues on the budget, Rep. Stevens has his voting record and his accusations exactly backwards.
But the more disturbing trend that Rep. Stevens identifies is the fact that “80 percent of Vermonters are working and middle class.” Other data shows us that a household with two school teachers, each making about $55,000 per year are in the richest 10 percent. Our economy is so weak that a pair of school teachers are in the top income decile. Does anyone else find that alarming? We need to do better for the people of Vermont. We need to have a Legislature that makes its primary concern building our economy and making it easier to create jobs. None of the initiatives Rep. Stevens used to puff up the accomplishments of the Democratic Party helped give us a better job-creating environment.
I don’t think the current proposal to add a hefty gas tax, which could potentially get as high as 88 cents per gallon, is going in the right direction either. I look forward to Rep. Stevens joining me in what I hope will be a bi-partisan fight against this new tax when the next session starts. He and I both know that the “little guy” can’t afford to pay more for gas, and that this regressive tax hurts poor rural Vermonters the hardest.
