Oh dear, has she been discussing tax policy? |
By Linda Felaco
The discussion at the
January 9 Town Council meeting of the possible formation of some sort of ad
hoc committee to review the town’s tax exemption list and tax code pitted the
town councilors who belong to the elitist Charlestown Citizens Alliance against
the more populist councilors Marge Frank and Greg Avedisian. (Lisa DiBello was
not in attendance to provide the requisite third vote.)
Council President Tom Gentz and Vice-President Dan Slattery
made it quite clear that whatever limited discussion they might permit
regarding any potential revisions to the town’s tax structure or tax exemptions
would be conducted only in the proverbial smoke-filled room and that members of
the general public were not welcome to participate, as that would be “divisive.”
Their reasons included fear of the issue becoming “emotional” and fear that if
any members of the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee were permitted to
participate, it would end up being a backdoor way to somehow sneak the reviled homestead
proposal back onto the table. Not that they ever breathed the word “Democrat”
at any point in the discussion.
Indeed, the CCA council members denied even the possibility
that there might be people living in Charlestown who are not wealthy. Slattery
was at great pains to point out that at 1.8%, Charlestown’s poverty rate is
among the lowest in the state. Though if everyone’s so comfortable financially,
why
did Marge Frank feel the need to announce the Shovel Brigade? Surely
everyone can afford to pay someone to shovel their driveway; why would they
need to rely on volunteers?
The fact is, as Planning Commission Chair Ruth Platner
informed us last fall, contrary to popular belief, Charlestown
is not a wealthy town and our median income is not even in the top half of all
the cities and towns in the state. Which is technically true, although at
20th out of 39 cities and towns, we’re basically right in the
middle. Of course a median tells you nothing about the range of incomes,
although it does tell you that whatever that number is, half of the town lives
on less. And it seems pretty safe to say that if the incomes of nonresident
property owners were included, the median would be higher.
Tom Gentz keeps his total tax bill low with his untaxed classic Porsches. |
Because in politics, there are always winners and losers, and no amount of high-minded speechmaking can keep political issues from becoming divisive. Gentz and Slattery may think it's not divisive when they deny the very existence of people in town who are not like them, but it is. If Gentz is so opposed to divisiveness, perhaps he’d be happier as president of the Rotary Club rather than the Town Council.
Anyone who wishes to see the face of divisiveness in this town need only watch the minutes of the beach pavilion hearing at the April 11 Town Council meeting. Cliff Vanover’s face was a mask of hatred and divisiveness when he stepped to the podium to threaten the council with retribution for daring to suggest that providing the tens of thousands of visitors to our beaches—including ourselves—with decent toilets might be more important than gifting the Charlestown Land Trust with more “open space.”
Yes, as Slattery reminded us, Charlestown’s property tax
rate is low relative to other towns in the state. But somehow no one ever seems
to mention that part of the reason our tax rate is lower is because Charlestown
doesn’t offer many of the services other towns offer to their residents. So,
for instance, if you’re unable or unwilling to haul your trash to the transfer
station, what you don’t pay Charlestown for curbside pickup, you pay to private
haulers. And we’ve done without decent bathrooms at the beaches for decades,
and until recently kept our police and firefighters in substandard facilities,
in order to keep our tax rate low.
Councilors Frank and Avedisian, on the other hand, were
willing to entertain the possibility that there might be ways to distribute the
tax burden more fairly. They felt that the committee should be more inclusive
and wanted to allow citizens to nominate themselves to participate and have the
council choose up to five of them. But without Councilor DiBello there to play
kingmaker, neither side could get the requisite three votes and so neither
motion passed.
Tom Gentz in his quiet room at the Typ 356 Northeast Porsche Club. |
A similar discussion coincidentally took place this past week
on the campaign trail for the Republican presidential nomination. Frontrunner
Mitt Romney gave a speech in which he stated that concerns
about the distribution of wealth and power in this country are rooted in “envy”
and attacked President Barack Obama for promoting the “politics of envy.” In a
follow-up interview with Matt Lauer on NBC’s The Today Show, Romney said that discussions of inequality of
wealth distribution and tax policy should take place only in “quiet rooms.”
Which I gather is the modern-day version of the old smoke-filled room, now that
smoking is all but banned pretty much everywhere other than in the privacy of
one’s own home.
Which got me picturing the thought bubble
over Mitt’s head when he’s in his Quiet Room, away from The Masses. “Shall I
have the turkey club or the grilled salmon?” he wonders while he’s formulating
U.S. tax policy. Because of course for the 1% it’s a given that that’s how
things work. They meet in their quiet rooms and decide amongst themselves how
to divide up the pie and how to dole out the crumbs the rest of us get to fight
over.
Where are the CCA’s quiet rooms, I wonder? Judging from the number of tone-deaf remarks I've heard in the Town Council chambers, the CCA seems to think the chambers are one of their quiet rooms. Though to all
appearances, the CCA is unwilling to discuss the issue of tax justice even in a
quiet room; they don’t want the subject discussed at all. And why should they?
From where they sit, the system is working just fine. For Gentz and Slattery,
they have their social circles, their fat pensions and portfolios, and life is
good. Why stir up class warfare when you’re winning?