Here’s a hard truth those on the Left will never acknowledge: Anyone who pays taxes in Vermont is already paying MORE than “their fair share.” We already pay the highest property taxes in the country. Is that fair? We have the third-highest state and local tax burden at 11.53 percent. Is that fair? Only eleven states have a higher state sales tax than Vermont’s 6 percent, the highest of which is 7 percent, and two of those states have zero income tax. Is that fair?
Tax “the rich”? We already have one of the highest marginal income tax rates at 8.75 percent. Is that fair?
We are funding a state budget of over $9 billion for a population of 640,000 – up $3.2 billion over the past five years. As of 2023, only four states spent more money per capita than Vermont’s $12,167.
And it’s not like we’re seeing positive results from all this excessive taxing and spending. Our public education system is an expensive disaster despite spending more money per student than every other state but one. Our healthcare system is an expensive disaster despite our paying significantly higher insurance premiums than every other state. We pay some of the highest electric rates in the country. We have a housing affordability and accessibility crisis. Our roads and bridges aren’t in any great shape….
According to the financial website WalletHub, Vermont ranks 40th in the nation for positive ROI (return on investment) for tax dollars spent. That’s bad. All of this is to say there is plenty of bloat, inefficiency, overspending, and unnecessary spending that can be cut before another penny of taxes should be raised – on anybody. For any ostensible reason. Or, in a simple bumper sticker: NO NEW TAXES! We, the people of Vermont, are tapped out.
So, here’s my advice to VTGOP legislators when they return to the State House in January, to quote Nancy Reagan, just… say… no.
Any bill that comes up for a vote that would raise a tax, create a new tax, increase a fee, or regulation that would result in an increase in cost to consumers, vote no.
If Democrats want to raise taxes, sneak in higher fees, increase spending, pile on expensive Global Warming Solutions Act regulations on home heating, driving, or for frivolous lawsuits… they have the votes to do it. It’s on them. Don’t help them, and do not give them any political cover. Vote no.
Put this stake in the ground on day one – we will not vote for higher taxes — and stick to it. Let Vermont taxpayers know every day in no uncertain terms that you are on their side. That is the formula that won you six senate seats and nineteen house seats in 2024: voting no on the Clean Heat Standard tax on home heating fuel, voting no on the 14 percent property tax increase, voting no on the Renewable Energy Standard surcharge on electric bills, voting no on the 20 percent DMV fee increase, voting no on the new payroll tax…. You did this loudly. Voters noticed, appreciated it, and rewarded you. If you want hold onto the gains you earned last election, maybe even pick up more seats, or, dare to dream, take control of the senate, I highly recommend you dance with who brung ya.
The situation Vermont is in today is the result of decades of financial mismanagement and misplaced priorities by the party that has owned the majority (sometimes supermajority) in Montpelier since 2005. Over all that time, Vermonters have been told to just deal with the hits to our household budgets that higher and higher taxes – at rates routinely double that of inflation and more than triple that of state economic growth – regardless of what those cuts to our own budgets mean. It’s time for the big spenders in state government to take their turn making due with less. Practically every other state is able to do this — and with better results. That’s fair.
