THE CHAIRMAN'S CORNER

BLAME GAME: PART DEUX

Here we go again! After a crushing rebuke at the polls on June 17, the Democrat majority on the town council pushed through another backbreaking tax hike on seniors and working families in town. Again, the Democrats blamed everyone but themselves for their bloated budget. The Democrat majority, led by Scott Slifka and Tim Brennan, again blamed the state for not providing enough education cost-sharing (ECS) funds, they again blamed the state for not providing property tax reform, and again blamed existing teacher’s union contracts for forcing an increase. I guess it is encouraging that last night Mr. Slifka, in looking to the unions for concessions, all but admitted that the Democrat majority gave too much away in labor contracts last year. I am sure his admission will make us all feel better as we are bagging our leaves next Fall.

As for property tax reform, let’s not forget what Mr. Slifka and Mr. Brennan mean by that: giving up control of our schools. There has been a lot of talk about the need for “property tax” reform, but what does it really mean? Basically, under any “reform” plan, the taxpayers of West Hartford would send more of their income, or property taxes, to the state to fund education. I can’t imagine that this would result in a good deal for West Hartford’s taxpayers or for our schools. Once we lose the ability to locally fund our schools, we lose our control over keeping our kids in neighborhood schools.

Anyway, the bottom line is that we’ve been down this road before and every year seems to bring a new excuse. I wonder what Mr. Slifka will blame a record tax increase on during the next budget season? Whatever it is, it won’t be himself or the Democratic Party.

Support Neighborhood Schools. Support Low Taxes. Support the GOP.

Justin R. Clark - Chairman
West Hartford

THE CHAIRMAN'S CORNER

The Town of West Hartford roundly rejected the Democrat-approved $215.9 million budget for 2008-09 in a referendum yesterday. With an astonishingly high voter turnout of almost 30 percent, voters rejected a record tax increase on seniors and working families by a nearly 2 to 1 margin. Leon Davidoff, the GOP leader on the council, best summed up the results when he said that “[w]e may be the minority voice on the council, but we are 100 percent in sync with the majority voice in the community."

Mayor Scott Slifka, blamed everyone but the Democrats for the failed budget. "West Hartford," Slifka said, "is starting to see the tangible effects of the state's failure to address an ongoing education cost-sharing shortfall, and property tax reform as a general matter. We're seeing that, even for a maintenance budget, our residents can't do it. Something will have to give."

This blame game has, unfortunately, become standard fare for the Democrats in town. They blame the state for not providing enough education cost-sharing (ECS) funds, they blame the state for not providing property tax reform, they blame revaluation and they blame existing teacher’s union contracts for forcing an increase in taxes. The funny part? The last time I checked the Democrats controlled the state legislature that is responsible for ECS and property tax reform, the Democrats decided to phase-in revaluation and the Democrats negotiated the contracts with the teacher’s unions. Oh, and don’t forget, the Democrats are responsible for a spending increase of more than $13 million this year. In other words, the Democrats have no one to blame but themselves.

Now that West Hartford voters have joined the Republicans on the council in rejecting this year's bloated budget, maybe the Democrat majority on the council will finally stop making excuses and give the town a reasonable budget.

No more excuses.

Let us know what you think.

Justin Clark - Chairman
West Hartford

THE CHAIRMAN'S CORNER

I read a fascinating column in the Wall Street Journal http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121124460502305693.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries the other day that I wanted to share with all of you. The article is about a study done by Kurt Hauser, a San Francisco investment economist, and it takes the classical supply-side economic model of taxation and looks at it in a new light. In short, the study shows that regardless of the rate of taxation levied by government, people will only pay a certain percentage of their output in taxes. Over time, Americans, regardless of the rate at which they are taxed, will only pay, on average, 19.5% of the GDP to the government. This means that when people are taxed at too high a rate they will generally produce less and this will lead to a decrease in the tax base. This study has broad implications at the state and local levels because of the increasing mobility of tax paying families. In other words, because it is so easy to move across state, and particularly town, lines there is no incentive to stay in a high tax jurisdiction when you can enjoy the same level of income and keep more of it by moving. So, the next time policy makers think of increasing taxes by 7%, they might want to think about how many people will actually pay that rate. You can’t tax something that isn’t there, and if we keep up our current pace in West Hartford we may end up with no one left to pay the bills.

Let us know what you think.

Justin