Sr Tax Relief 12/18
I got to the meeting a bit late tonight, but was there for much of it. And keep in mind as you read this... the members of the committee had numbers in front of themselves... while I didn't. And based on my experience, it can be tough to follow conversations about numbers when I don't have the numbers in front of me.
It doesn't sound as though the committee is going in the direction of recommending a tax freeze, but that could change. (One resident seemed to make the case for a widespread tax freeze.) Rather, it seemed as though they were thinking of continuing to focus on credits... with a change in requirements.
One idea seemed to be to simply offer credits for a percentage of your tax burden. That is, if your tax bill is $4,000; and you make $10,000; then you get a 75% credit (maximum % allowable by state law) and you pay $1,000. Then at... say... $20,000 in income, you receive a credit less than 75% of your $4,000 tax bill and you pay something greater than $1,000.
If this is the concept, I generally agree with it. I think helping the neediest is important.
The conversation also got into a number of other issues that could be used for qualifying, such as "assets" and "residency." My concern with these other issues would be in both:
1) how we measure and
2) how we enforce.
As I've mentioned before, is an engagement ring an asset? And how long have I lived in Cheshire? I'm 33. So have I been a resident for 33 yrs? There was a suggestion that you are a resident for as long as you pay taxes? But what if you don't pay taxes? What if you rent? What if you lived in Cheshire until you were 21, then you graduated college and moved to Boston. Then at age 65, you moved back to Cheshire? Have you already "lived in Cheshire" for 21 years? Or perhaps these questions are irrelevant?
Anyway... rules need to be enforceable. If you can't enforce the rules, then what's the point? Getting into those tests just seems tricky to me... although I think the town already has some sort of residency test.
And one last thing... it appears as though the committee is going to go past the Council imposed deadline of... I believe... Jan 9. I'm not sure of the state laws that come into play here. But for me, I feel that the committee is having a real discussion and making real progress on their recommendations. So if they go past the deadline, by a few weeks, I'm not particularly concerned... I'd rather have a complete discussion, rather than having an incomplete discussion simply because of an artificial Council-imposed deadline.
Tim White
Town Council, 4th District
1 comment:
The Senior Citizen Study Group is a joke, assembled by Matt Hall with his friends. In all cases except for Derf Kliest and maybe Ed Hines they are all friends of Matt Hall. Wayne Winres is his personal attorney, the headof the group is Matt's personal CPA, the youngest women resnets the fact she is even on the study group and has voiced comments in public she cannot support any of this, the older woman has stated there are too many numbers to deal with and this requires a large amount of her time. Furthermore she has told memebrs of the garden club she is being seriously imposed upon on Monday nights to participate on this task. She also just bought a $460k condo. The bottom line there is not anyone on the study group who has concerns or is on the current the senior tax relief program.
To make matters worse it is clear to anyone who attend these session that the Town Manager is pushing his personal agenda on the subject. All he wants is to limit the tax credits to less than 500k. Instead of putting together a program with actual costs and figuring out how to pay for it it is easier to create some bogus number attached to credits that will do nothing for the affected seniors. There will be an uproar on this issue in public. The seniors will not fold up like a cheap tent. Any Town Council member who votes for the suggested plan of a tax credit over the next 3 years will be voted out of office in November, that is a promise, not a threat.
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