After the early fanfare for Challenges for Change, the government reform plan proposed last session, legislators quickly discovered that the devil, indeed, was lurking in the details. The premise of Challenges was something everyone could support: government services delivered more effectively and at less cost. Read more

Forbes Magazine has a new interactive map on its website that has been getting a certain amount of attention. The map shows all of the counties in the United States, and it’s linked to IRS migration data. Every year, the IRS tracks where people file their tax returns. Read more

Despite professions of heart-felt concern for Vermont property taxpayers, the Legislature raised property taxes this year on a lot of middle-income Vermonters—resident homeowners with incomes less than $90,000. Lawmakers had solid information from the Tax Department showing that Vermonters with incomes over $1 million pay about 0.5 percent of their income to support public schools, while those with incomes of $60,000 pay almost 3 percent. Read more

Cracks in the Public Structures

Vermont is a great place to live and work and an attractive place to do business because of the investments we’ve made over the years in our public structures like parks, courts, schools, and environmental protections. Read more

According to the latest report from the Vermont Ski Areas Association, everybody in Vermont spent nearly a week on the slopes last winter. Or at least that’s how the information would have been cast if the subject had been taxes instead of skier visits.

Now that the governor is in the middle of another stand-off with the Legislature over the budget, his press office has pounced on the latest story that purports to show that Vermont’s taxes are too high. The article appears this week in Vermont Business Magazine. Read more

The Vermont Legislature gets kudos this week for voting to postpone the increase in the domestic production deduction, an obscure federal business tax break that passes through to Vermont corporations.  Vermont’s tax structure is tied to the federal system, which is boosting this tax break by 50 percent this year.  Read more

If Legislative leaders and the administration believe in Challenges for Change, the government reform plan that promises better services for less money, they should be willing to guarantee that promise with the state’s reserve funds. Many legislators are leery of Challenges because they fear the administration is more interested in cutting the budget than improving services. Read more

Vermont property taxpayers will be taking it on the chin this year. Given the rhetoric they’ve been hearing all year from Montpelier, they have reason to be upset.

First, the governor repeated his (erroneous) claim that education spending was out of control, and proposed a plan he said would reduce property taxes. Read more

The version of the fiscal 2011 budget approved by the Vermont House late last month sets aside $62 million in a reserve fund, which might be used to help close part of the budget gap projected for fiscal 2012. But legislators might want to check with federal officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to make sure their plan complies with the law. Read more