With a few exceptions, there’s no sales tax in New Hampshire, so states like Massachusetts pretend for a weekend to try and recover some of the commerce lost to the Granite State. But Vermont doesn’t have one (Maine either), and here’s why?
According to the Democrats interviewed by the Burlington Free Press, they would have to propose one, and none of them have. Why not?
“If we don’t collect taxes, then we have to cut services. It’s always difficult to give up revenue in the state.” – Sen. Ann Cummings, D-Washington.
“Any lost revenue is a cut in services for Vermonters and needs to be replaced,” – Rep. Emilie Kornheiser, D-Brattleboro.
A dip in sales tax revenue would mean less money in the education fund, Cummings said. To compensate, Vermont would have to raise property taxes.
Kornheiser added research she’s seen suggests purported benefits of sales tax holidays, such as support for local commerce, in reality aren’t particularly helpful.
A sales tax holiday “shifts spending patterns but doesn’t increase purchasing,” she recalled reading.
It does shift spending patterns – from the hands of the Democrat legislature to the people who earned the money. God Help Us!
And no one is suggesting that if they took less from Vermonters that they might invest it in products and services with more value to them than to people hoarding political power.
What interests taxpayers is secondary to the Left’s party agenda. The ridiculous obscene Heat Standard Bill is a great example of that. Vermonters didn’t want their energy to cost more or be less reliable, and neither did the governor. The legislature overrode his veto, and Vermonters got what they voted for. Democrat policy without regard to public input.
And there was public input; they just chose to ignore it.
There was one honest thing in that interview. When asked if anyone would propose a sales tax holiday, the answer was no. No,
“Given the present make-up of the Legislature, probably not,” she said, adding that she wouldn’t support creating a sales tax holiday in Vermont and her committee likely wouldn’t either.
The present make-up of the legislature is veto-proof Democrat majorities which means that if Vermonters want a break from rising taxes, any taxes, they will need to show up and vote for candidates who have at least an inkling of whose money they are spending and why they deserve to keep as much of it as possible.
