Leading from the Left

Monday, February 16, 2009

On Taxes

I've been hearing quite a bit from citizens about county taxes. In recent months people who normally are willing to bear higher taxes to support community values--such as good schools and environmental protection--are expressing genuine concern at the county's high tax rate. These folks have been clear that they don't want taxes to increase for the time being.

One constituent sent this op-ed to me. It was thought-provoking and worthy of sharing with you all here on my blog. While I don't agree with all of this writer's positions, he makes a very strong case for pausing and reevaluating where we are. And while his arguments focus on the county tax rate, the same points could be made about municipal tax rates which have also risen exponentially.

As I've stated before in this space, I believe the county commissioners should not raise taxes this year. Indeed, we should adopt a revenue neutral rate--that is, lower the tax rate to reflect the increased values people are seeing since the revaluation.

Labels: ,