This should have run Monday night or Tuesday -- but life got in the way.
At Monday's meeting of the House Ways and Means Committee on the property tax privacy question, several people suggested that the best solution would be to go back to sending
prebate checks. That was Tax Commissioner Tom
Pelham's recommendation. Milton Town Clerk and Treasurer John
Cushing thought that might be the way to go, too.
If you pay your property taxes based on your household income, don't expect a check next year. Here's why.
Pelham noted that by the time the Legislature meets in January, the tax booklet will be printed for 2008 will be printed. It would be too late to switch gears, even if the change were the first thing lawmakers did on the first day they met and they worked as fast as they do at the end of the session. (By the way, that kind of speed doesn't happen in January. )
There's a political reason, too, which Rep. Mary Peterson, D-
Williston, hinted at without mentioning the word "election." If there were a way to revert back to the
prebate checks, she noted that taxpayers would also revert to getting much bigger property tax bills. "That would be a tough nut to swallow," Peterson said. Tough for the taxpayers who would no doubt take out their frustrations on the politicians who gave them that present just a few months before asking for support on election day. That won't happen.
So my guess is that if anything is done to create more privacy for the property tax adjustment information, it will happen in the town office. It's going to pit those who don't want anyone to have even a hint about their household income against those who believe they and the rest of the public have a right to know everything about local tax revenues and expenditures. What one person sees as privacy, another might see as secrecy.
There also were some strange political winds blowing Monday in that committee room. Rep. Rick Hube, R-South
Londonderry, has been one of the Republicans beating a drum about the privacy problem, with some emphasis on Democrats failure to address the problem. Hube and other House Republicans hoped to create a firestorm of political opposition -- but their flame never caught. Two other Republicans on the committee declared their support for the switch from
prebate check to reduced property tax bill and Committee Vice Chairman Bud
Otterman, R-
Topsham, repeatedly said one couldn't definitely arrive at household income using the tax adjustment figure and even if you could get close, what did you have? Not a taxpayer's income, which is the really sensitive information, he said.
Democrats, meanwhile, were getting mixed messages. Democratic Secretary of State Deb
Markowitz, who said she did get calls from folks concerned about the public availability of their income-related tax adjustment, went public saying there was a problem with the change and suggested town clerks and treasurers redact the information on tax bills provided to anyone other than the taxpayer. Democratic House Speaker Gaye
Symington agreed with
Markowitz that "there is a basis for concluding that the property tax
adjustment information is private and should not be disclosed." After six hours of testimony, most of the Democrats on the committee declared themselves undecided -- read that unsure politically -- about what to do.
Politically and practically blocked from going back to the old system, they found they faced a mine field of hidden implications if they
committed to some new privacy protections in town offices. Don't look for any quick answers here.
-- Nancy
Remsen
