VT NEA Mosquito

Roper: A Final Plea for Property Tax Relief

In 2024, when Vermont property taxpayers were whacked with an average 14 percent year over year increase, with some communities seeing nearly 40 percent increases, nobody (or at least not enough) in the legislature asked if citizens could afford this. They just shrugged their shoulders and stuck us with the bill. Same as every year … Read more

Hartford VT Town Hall by VT Living

Warner: Property Appraisals Increase By Hundreds of Thousands

A recent post on the “What’s Happening Hartford” Facebook page asked town members if their new property appraisals increased and by how much.  As the answers came in the numbers were staggering as were many of the complaints. The original poster (OP) stated their property assessed value increase by $10,000 which led to a slew … Read more

NH State House Dome

Enemies of 91A and Enemies of Your Wallet

Rep Jeremy Slottje and various others have tweeted from Reps Hall during today’s House session while the budget was being worked on. It’s reported that 38 Rs voted to remove property tax relief from HB 2. Of the 38, Rep Kuttab and Judge Lynn come as no surprise because their disdain for Nashua taxpayers and … Read more

Red pen editing

Fixed That Petition for You…

Many of you saw a petition warrant article on the agenda at your recent town meetings.  The idea was to get towns to vote to send the petition to the legislature and the governor. It’s kind of a silly idea — if you’re going to tell your representative something, you should do that as an … Read more

Cartoon hit with taxes

Much Ado About Property Taxes

Property taxes are a problem. Towns and cities use imaginary value to charge taxes for profits you have not nor may ever realize, and the drunken sailors then spend it all and come back for more. Sometimes, they pretend to cut taxes by lowering the rates per thousand (on assessed value). Still, when calculated against … Read more

People Gettin’ Feisty About the EFA Debate.

I read what Ian Underwood writes on these pages about education Freedom Accounts (EFAs), education, funding, and learning goals. I have to say I agree, and like Ian, I like the idea of EFAs, so I hope you will tune in tomorrow for my interview with Ian and Jody. We talk about education. From money … Read more

Cartoon hit with taxes

By Housing Crisis Do You Mean Taxing People Out of Their Homes?

The words “Housing Crisis” have achieved epidemic status next to “overdose deaths,” “Bird Flu,” and if you are one for reminiscing, everything about the COVID thing. It is a topic with a polarizing quality whose solutions I have inferred might not be so good for New Hampshire. A less frequently cited problem in housing “issues” … Read more

Cartoon hit with taxes

Why Are Property Taxes Absurdly High?

Sane people are puzzled over the question of how our Vermont public school system can lose roughly twenty-five percent of its student population since Act 60 “reform” in 1997, yet now cost three times as much – and return worse results for students. But conversations in the Commission on the Future of Education in Vermont … Read more

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