New Haven Independent

The Yale Book of Quotations has named its most memorable quotes of 2007. The winner is “Don’t Tase me, bro” — the plea that University of Florida student Andrew Meyer made in September as police attempted to remove him from the audience after he asked a question at an event featuring Senator John Kerry.

For me, every time taxes go up, I feel as though I myself am being Tased—given yet another jolt that weakens my knees and brings me closer to the ground.

What a relief it is to see Connecticut State Representative Patricia Dillon (D-New Haven) propose property tax relief legislation for the citizens of our State. Property taxes are out of control. Homeowners are tapped out, and all we ever hear from politicians is how taxes should be lowered, but no one does anything about it.

When I read the New Haven city budget, and I review the expenses and debt associated with running the city, on the surface it appears as though we need this money to maintain, improve, and ultimately move forward to help our citizens.

Read between the lines, however. What is not so apparent is the amount of waste that is contained within the line items. We are in dire need of serious fiscal management, and we desperately need a system of checks and balances for city appropriations. We need to find out whether we are paying too much for some items. We need to find out how much fat is hidden in each agency’s request for funding. We need to find out whether our tax dollars are actually being spent the way they are designated.

I am sure that every property owner in Connecticut feels as though his or her individual property taxes are too high. New Haven, however, is tops among that list. If something is not done to quash the rise in our property taxes, this city will lose a significant part of its residential tax base, and businesses will be driven away. It is a fact that we need a mix of residential and commercial properties to keep our city viable.

Representative Dillon’s proposal is a step in the right direction, but our property owners need immediate relief. The first step is for local politicians to end favoritism and the quid pro quo approach to government rule—everyone who requests and receives money from our budget should be accountable to the penny. Let us begin right here and now in New Haven.

Many of our economic bubbles have burst in the last few decades—stocks, real estate, dot-coms, and more recently, mortgages. I fear that the next bubble to burst will be our cities and towns. Taxing and spending, while raising taxes each time, can lead to the collapse of municipalities’ ability to collect revenue. People will simply not take it any more, and if losing their homes to the tax collector is the result, then cities and towns should be prepared to become their own largest real estate owners.

Politicians should also take note. If they think that the mortgage debacle has had a significant impact on home ownership, they haven’t seen anything yet. Let us resolve to be pro-active in 2008—contact your State representatives and urge them to help our cities and towns. The last things we all need are streets of abandoned homes.

Ben Franklin said, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes”

So, I say to anyone who has the power to stop this tax madness: “Don’t Tase me, bro’ and don’t tax me to death either.

Contact Andy Ross here.

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