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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: gamesmistress who wrote (24163)	1/13/2004 9:33:05 AM
From: gamesmistress	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793890

Heh. REVIEW & OUTLOOK Escape From Vermont We've all heard of individuals and companies fleeing high-tax jurisdictions. But entire towns or cities? That is the idea du jour in the famous Vermont ski hamlet of Killington, where local leaders say they'd rather be living free in neighboring New Hampshire. They may schedule the issue of secession for discussion at their town meeting this March. "It kind of reminds us of Colonial days," said Killington Town Manager David Lewis. "The Colonies were being faced with the Stamp Act, the Tea Act, the Sugar Act. England wasn't giving them any rights. They were treating the Colonies as just a revenue source." The principal villain in this case is Vermont's hyper-activist state Supreme Court, which warmed up for its famous 1999 ruling on civil unions for homosexuals with a 1997 decision declaring Vermont's system of funding schools through local property taxes inequitable and unconstitutional. Then-Governor Howard Dean took things from there, enacting a statewide property tax that has been used to redistribute wealth away from prosperous towns like Killington. Between 1997 and 2002, state spending in Vermont grew 52% (against combined population growth and inflation of 18%) to one of the highest per-capita totals in the nation. Vermonters also pay a sales tax of 6% and top income tax rate of 9.5%. Add in room taxes and similar tourist levies, and Killington leaders say they send roughly $20 million per year to Montpelier while getting only $1 million worth of state aid in return. The bill would decline substantially in the Granite State, which has sales and income tax rates of zero. It's unlikely of course that Killington will actually secede. Its famous peak can't be moved east, unless the state Supreme Court orders it. But Vermont's tax malaise is well worth remembering the next time Mr. Dean brags about his fiscal record as its governor. Updated January 13, 2004 Wall Street Journal