Recently I got an interesting lesson on how privileged Vermonters will use our state’s protective tax laws to shield themselves from needed changes. This lesson was delivered by, what I assume to be, a member of our state’s well-to-do class, on Primary afternoon.
I was walking toward the Montpelier City Hall polling site holding a sign for gubernatorial candidate Amanda Janoo. Suddenly a sharp voice stopped me.
“Why are you bothering?” the voice said. “Even if that woman gets elected, she is so clueless on her health insurance plan, that it will never work.” She continued, without introducing herself: “This whole idea of taxing second homes more to pay for the idea is stupid! If you have a home here and live in another state it’s easy to get around this.”
“Really?” I said. “How so?”
“That stupid proposal to tax second homes of out-of-staters at a much higher rate can’t be enforced. All my husband and I have to do is register our home in Florida as his primary residence and our home here as mine. Presto! We are protected from this stupid tax and you can’t do anything about it! “ she exclaimed.
I protested, “But the whole idea is to give all Vermonter’s primary health care and lower all our health insurance costs. What is so wrong with that? Why shouldn’t those with greater wealth help pay their fair share?”
“That is full of crap!” she snapped and pointed over her shoulder. “I used to own that drug store, so I know a bunch about health care. Most people you are talking about are on Medicaid and just game the system to get more extra care. They use the system to get cheap drugs. We don’t need anymore of these health care scams!”
With that she marched off, leaving me wondering how we are going to manage in an increasingly threatening future. It seems that at least one person who can support houses in Florida and Vermont finds a proposal to provide for the larger social good as an imposition to be gamed away. Our governmental and tax systems have been supporting such privileged selfishness for too long.
Rather than protecting us Vermonters from the threats of deteriorating “affordability,” Governor Scott has perfected his role as Protector of the Privileged. He has fought and bullied our fearful legislators over any attempt to tax higher incomes and luxury and investment houses of the rich out of staters. Scott’s claim is that such fair taxes would drive the well-to-do away and hurt the prospects of the income and property taxes as we now collect.
Now I don’t know about you, but as I watch the South become insufferably hot and the West burn up, the moderate climate of Vermont looks more and more attractive. I’m pretty sure that, even with increased taxes, our well-to-do property owners won’t be going anywhere as the larger climate collapses.
Without deep changes to tax laws, and political will to support the public good, it will be impossible to create such reasonable innovations as universal basic health care. Instead, Vermont’s citizens would have to anticipate ever higher taxes and insurance costs just to keep things in place.
To make real change we need a governor and a legislature capable of imagination and adjustments from recent norms. We all know Phil Scott is not a reformer. He likes things the way they are and would rather race gas-guzzling muscle cars than oversee the policy and tax shifts required to keep regular people alive and healthy in our little state.
I am no tax expert, but it is clear that there are a number of loopholes for evading taxes, such as the example above from the woman at the polls. We could tighten the tax laws so current protections, which now allow different marriage partners owning different properties to trick tax authorities; we could authorize ways of seeing through such dodges. If one partner claims Vermont ownership, then the total income of the marriage should be subject to Vermont income taxes. Oh, and let’s make our income taxes truly progressive on incomes over $500,000 per year.
The simple fact is that privileged property owners have protections built into Vermont’s tax laws. This has to change or the rest of us can feel our futures slipping away in constant inflation, failing health care systems, and the lost prospects of future prosperity.
Our governor along with our complicit legislature has been protecting the privileged for way too long. They have allowed the sucking away of resources the rest of us need, believing Scott’s constant repetition of threats that the rich will pick up their marbles and move elsewhere. This means his protected patrons continue to take more from our state than they should be giving. It is time for the privileged to pay their fair share.
It’s time for a major change in Vermont’s leadership and in its political imagination.
Dan Jones lives and writes in Montpelier.
The material presented here represents the opinion of the author and does not reflect the opinions of The Bridge. Commentaries may be submitted to editor@montpelierbridge.com. Preference is given to submissions by those who live in central Vermont. Submissions are encouraged to be 500 to 750 words in length.
