By Bob Plain in RIFuture.org
Regardless of where
you sit on the political spectrum, most agree that Rhode Island’s biggest
concern should be the failing finances of our urban communities. GoLocal
reports which local communities have
the highest tax rates: “Some of the most dramatic increases are in urban communities
facing financial distress. They also happen to be the places where taxpayers
can at least afford the hikes.”
This point, as well as those making it in the
GoLocal piece, should be very familiar to our
readers.
When Don Carcieri and
the General Assembly cut income taxes for the affluent and state aid to cities
and towns, it was like pouring gasoline on the smoldering fire that is Rhode
Island’s regressive reliance on property taxes to fund public services. Gov
Chafee and the 2013 legislature would do very well to address this.
That is, if Chafee doesn’t take a job in the Obama administration, as I’m hoping happens. Chafee would be a great Obama appointment and it would give him a classy exit from his unpopular reign as governor … it would also give Rhode Island a progressive governor in Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts. This good idea came courtesy of Dee DeQuattro’s blog, which always has interesting stuff like this in it.
Is Gina Raimondo less
confident in pension cuts prevailing in
court than she once was? Seems like it…
Today’s hero: Nick Gibbs catches a 58-pound stripped bass from a Narragansett Bay beach and donates the giant catch to the Amos House in Providence “where it was made into fish chowder to feed hundreds of people in need.” I’m sure we’d all love to know where he caught it but the article doesn’t say…
Former PC hoops star God Shammgod deserves the award too!
Wow … what a great
passage in this ProJo editorial about theinsurance lobby, climate change and how hurricanes affect the affluent coastal land owners the most: “Contrary
to the clichés about ‘welfare queens’ and so on, federal programs skew heavily
in favor of middle- and upper-income people.”
So long Tea Party, don’t let the door hit you on your way out!!
Thanks to Dan McGowan
for recognizing the RI future crystal ball … but we supported plenty of people who
didn’t win, most notably Abel Collins.
On November 9 in 1862,
General Ambrose Burnside, a Rhode Islander for whom the downtown Providence
park is named, took command of the Union Army.
Bob Plain is the editor/publisher of Rhode Island's Future. Previously, he's
worked as a reporter for several different news organizations both in Rhode
Island and across the country.