No one likes to pay their taxes. I’m like thousands of retired Vermonters who live off a fixed income, provided by Social Security, a modest pension, and savings accumulated during my working years.
Each month I review my expenses and budget accordingly. Vacations are carefully planned, shopping is limited, and entertainment is spaced out. Most of our income goes toward food, transportation, health care and utilities, a common scenario for most retirees and hard-working Vermonters.
But I’m not complaining. I’ve lived in Vermont for 37 years and don’t plan to leave anytime soon. My taxes paid to Vermont are high, as are the property taxes I pay on my duplex. I have learned to respond to the taxes we pay by reminding myself of the quote from the great U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., who told the nation 100 years ago, “Taxation is the price we pay for a civilized society.”
In Vermont, that’s the price we pay for community. We understand how important it is to take care of one another and we know the quality of our life depends on our ability to sustain our community. It has not always been perfect, but I’ve lived in tribal areas in the world where there is little need for taxation and I’ve lived in states where there are no taxes at all, and life in those communities has suffered.
As I’ve grown older, I’ve learned to appreciate just how important it is to pay my fair share of taxes in support of a civilized nation, state and community. I’m grateful to be living in a representative, democratic government with common laws and regulations, and in a community with good public schools, police, fire, roads, parks, transportation and other essential municipal services, all supported by tax dollars.
I’ll gladly do with less to live in a quality community, as long as I know that everyone else is also paying their fair share to help sustain our civilized society.
This is why I’m dismayed with Gov. Scott’s lament about Vermont’s high taxes and his refusal to explore other options to increase the state’s revenue. Who is he listening to and why?
Has the governor studied the Vermont Tax Structure Commission report of Feb. 8, 2021, where there are detailed recommendations to strengthen and improve our tax structure?
Has he read the report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan research group, which outlines multiple ways to raise revenue specific to our state?
And has he taken note of the work done by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, which provides research showing how current tax policies in Vermont hurt lower- and middle-class Vermonters and favor the wealthy?
What we need is a more progressive, graduated income tax with targeted tax increases on higher incomes for those above $140,000. We need to enact “tax benefit recapture,” extend the sales tax to internet downloads, restructure the homestead education tax, establish or increase a minimum tax on large S Corporations and LLCs, include foreign tax havens or all foreign countries in combined reporting, reduce the capital gains preference and tax capital gains at a higher rate than ordinary income, increase real estate transfer taxes or levy a higher rate on higher-value homes, and increase severance taxes on natural resource extraction. And of course, raising the tobacco, beer, wine and soda taxes could be in the mix as well.
I’m not an expert on tax law and code, but what’s important is that we focus on those Vermonters and corporations who can afford to pay more of their fair share. If Gov. Scott and his advisers have not considered these ideas and other informative reports, and continue to repeat the same tiresome rhetoric that hard-working Vermonters cannot afford to pay any more in taxes, then he owes those same Vermonters an explanation on why he has not considered the multiple ways to increase revenue in our state without raising their taxes.
The details on how to do that are available in the research and reports cited here. The funds are there. We need to collect them first before we talk about our state’s budget needs.
People move to Vermont because they find employment, want to experience the natural beauty of our state, and raise their family in a healthy and safe community. No doubt it’s expensive, but people come here just like I did 37 years ago, knowing that food, transportation, housing and utilities are costly.
But many more would come to our great state and stay if they knew there was a planned commitment to capture more revenue to help pay for expanded child day care, schools with no classroom trailers, libraries with extended hours, fully funded recreation activities, clean heat standards and green incentives, paid family medical leave, fully staffed fire and police departments, well-kept roads and parks, and conserved open space with clean land, air and water.
It’s time for Gov. Scott to show us the will and commitment to find more money to help pay for these programs and other essential community services and stop the incessant complaining about our high taxes. We already know that. Instead, he should be challenging those who are not paying their fair share of taxes.
