This commentary is by David Zuckerman of Hinesburg, former Vermont lieutenant governor.
The recently signed property tax bill, H.491, kicks the can down the road and sets up the governor to easily blame the Legislature for an even bigger increase in 2026. The Vermont Legislature has failed to stand up for Vermont’s education system, failed working-class taxpayers and failed to support our rural schools.
The governor has effectively used property taxes as a weapon to propose deep cuts to the education system rather than addressing the underlying issues in his own budget and our soaring healthcare costs. Additionally, Gov. Scott has shifted rising human services costs onto the education fund for years and then successfully blamed the Legislature for tax increases.
School taxes are too high for working and middle class Vermonters. Instead of focusing on fixing this problem, the governor has used this moment to propose an education overhaul that will lead to more pain for Vermont taxpayers and will result in the closure of many community schools.
The bill that was just passed and signed by the governor uses over $100 million in one-time funds to reduce property taxes this year. This means in 2026, Vermont will have a huge increase like last year. While the governor and Legislature have delayed the pain, the bill they just passed does nothing to solve the problem.
Instead, they could have rebalanced the burden more fairly by expanding income sensitivity to adjust for inflation. This has not been done for decades. Implementing this single change would have saved working Vermonters money this year and into the future.
Additionally, they could have increased taxes on year-round second homes. There are about 51,000 “seasonal, occasional use, or vacation homes” in Vermont. Adding an average of $1,000 in additional property tax for those that are habitable year-round would have provided significant annual tax relief for working class Vermonters while funding the needs of our most vulnerable children.
Instead, with this year’s yield bill, and policy moves towards a foundation formula, the Legislature has caved in a direction that will result in the forced closing of many small rural schools, reduced funding capacity for property-poor towns and will harm Vermont’s education quality.
Given the federal funding disaster caused by President Trump, next year there will be no “surplus funds” to artificially lower taxes. The governor will use the tax pressure to continue to push his radical consolidation plan (with its fake savings that will not materialize,) and the political pressure will force the Democrats to cave. Meanwhile, taxes will still go up dramatically, and Democrats in Vermont will again underperform at the polls.
I served in the Vermont Legislature for 18 years. Unfortunately, we could never get the majority to seriously consider many proposals to reform the tax system that would reduce the burden on working and middle-class taxpayers. Under the current foundation formula idea these same Vermonters will continue to pay an even larger share of their income than their higher-income neighbors.
As costs such as health care, school building maintenance and repairs, computers, etc. inevitably rise, we will continue to struggle with these issues. A fairer tax system, based largely on ability to pay, would help us weather these challenges while we restructure our education delivery in a more thoughtful way.
Of course, the biggest solution to Vermont’s fiscal challenges is for more young people to move here. Destroying our public school system is not the way to do that. Using the one-time and other more long-term resources to truly invest in affordable housing we would provide our employers with the workers they need, populate the schools with more children and share the tax burden.
Over the next four years, as more people across the country seek places to live where the politics are less toxic, the climate is more moderate and the sense of community is thriving, many of them will choose Vermont if, and only if, we maintain and improve our high quality local schools rather than destroy them.
