John Kalitka of Arlington is my most persistent commentator, so let me start with a couple of his comments. <\/p>\n
John references Paul Goldman\u2019s column where he states that \u201c[t]here has been no concerted effort to educate the public, to inform the public, and demonstrate to the public why more new revenue is necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n
Geez, I heard a lot of reasons at the public hearings. The ill told of their hardships, teachers and students talked of their challenges, and one need only drive a car to know of the transportation problems. But apparently that\u2019s not enough. <\/p>\n
Now, of course, I could volley back: Prove tax cuts help the economy or that taxpayers aren\u2019t getting their money\u2019s worth. Exactly what kind of proof does John and Goldman want?<\/p>\n
In another post, John writes, “\u2026for the most part, those who receive government services should be expected to pay for them.”<\/p>\n
That may be an irreconcilable difference in philosophy between us.<\/p>\n
He also writes: <\/p>\n
To be “fair,” raising the statewide tax burden shouldn’t be seen as a cure-all for gaps in local revenue streams.<\/p>\n
If tax reform truly is necessary, shouldn’t a major component of such reform be to insure that there is some overall balance between the amount of tax revenue raised in a particular jurisdiction and what is returned to that jurisdiction?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Spoken like a true Northern Virginia. I\u2019ve made that argument, too. And I see the point. The question is where do you draw the line. If all the money raised locally were to be returned locally, Fairfax would have gold plated schools. (No, only our government center is \u201cgold plated\u201d; our supervisors have their priorities). And Amherst wouldn\u2019t have much more than Ben Cline and Vance Wilkins, and if that isn\u2019t poverty, I don\u2019t know what is.<\/p>\n
I figure it this way: If given the chance to trade places with folks in Amherst, or Danville, or Bristol \u2013 not that there are not the nicest people and I\u2019m sure very nice places to live \u2013 and I would stay put, then I don\u2019t mind sharing. Isn\u2019t that one of the rules they teach you in kindergarten?<\/p>\n
Fact is, for all we talk about property tax relief, such taxes in Fairfax aren\u2019t that bad, even with rising assessments. Consider the alternative.<\/p>\n
Denise says it<\/a> better than me, though. She\u2019s one of the few who agree with me and posts so. I guess most liberals have a life.<\/p>\n
Denise and John have an interesting discussion \u2013 flat tax, taxing wealth and income, etc. I agree with my Dad. (Yes, you can blame him for my liberal views, but go easy on him; he\u2019s not in a position to defend himself.) He used to say \u201cNobody should make more than $50,000 a year.\u201d That was 40+ years ago, so we can now raise it to, say $55,000. I guess it would be fair to tax consumption heavily. Sure, the guy who buys six mansions and five yachts is giving carpenters work, but even with all his consumption, everyday workers, carpenters included, are falling farther behind.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll leave it to John and Denise to sort out the details.<\/p>\n
John also doesn\u2019t like that I don\u2019t like the way The Washington Post quotes James Parmelee in virtually every story about taxes. Note, John, in the last story that quotes the ubiquitous Parmelee he was the only John Q. Citizen quoted, as if there are no Joe Six-Packs (or at least Charles Chardonnays) that have a different point of view.<\/p>\n
John also likes Dave Albo\u2019s preference for property taxes instead of state taxes because Fairfax doesn\u2019t get back all it puts in the state coffers. At least that what Albo says. I think he likes property taxes because he doesn\u2019t have to take the heat.<\/p>\n
For those who think the Senate\u2019s \u2013 and perhaps the entire Assembly\u2019s \u2013 decision to cap the car tax is a gold mine of \u201905 election fodder for Republicans, I say, \u201cBring it on.\u201d I\u2019d love nothing more than to see GOPers run on another No Car Tax platform.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
John Kalitka of Arlington is my most persistent commentator, so let me start with a couple of his comments. John references Paul Goldman\u2019s column where he states that \u201c[t]here has been no concerted effort to educate the public, to inform the public, and demonstrate to the public why more new revenue is necessary.\u201d Geez, I… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1369"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1369\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}