The regents plan to present their wants to Gov. Brian Schweitzer so he can wrap it into the budget he proposes to the 2009 Legislature. The Department of Public Health and Human Services, the agency managing such things as welfare, housing and Medicaid, will surely present a list. The Office of Public Instruction will. The clamor will grow. The Departments of Justice and Corrections will make their wants known. As the aroma of excess revenues wafts from state coffers, agencies salivate like loggers at chow time.
The governor should hear from taxpayers early. Requests for tax relief should have a favored place in the discussion. Think of the boon to the economy if the $965 million that was over-collected, and largely spent, in the 2007 Legislative session was left in the private sector! The money would have boosted consumer spending, personal saving and investment, and private charity.
Imagine this news story: Taxpayers to share wish list with governor. Calling high taxes “penalties for success,” the Board of Taxpayers are planning to meet with the governor early in 2008 to get a hearing on what to do to streamline state government, reduce taxes, and especially to return over-collections that are starting to materialize in the state's treasury. A coalition of businesses, property owners and individual taxpayers, the board is anxious to gain the governor's attention early to advance their prosperity-boosting initiatives. Their across-the-board 38 percent reduction amounts to:
- $432 million returned to property taxpayers
- $350 million returned to income taxpayers
- $101 million returned to payers of natural resource taxes
- $80 million returned to payers of miscellaneous taxes
Big taxes would be reduced. Small taxes would be reduced. Agency spending would stay even. This proposal would not shrink state government at all, though some board members felt doing so was a good idea.
The big taxes are income and property taxes. Small taxes also have dampening effect on economic activity. The reader will be familiar with some on the following, partial, list of taxes, but some will seem arcane and picayune:
Coal Severance Tax. Oil and Gas Production Tax. Resource Indemnity Trust Tax. Campground Tax. Metalliferous Mines License Tax. Cigarette Tax. Telecommunications Excise Tax. Lodging Facility Use Tax. Inheritance/Estate Tax. Sales and Use Tax-Accommodation. Nursing Facility Bed Tax. Hospital Utilization Fee. Statewide 9-1-1 Emergency Telephone System Fee. Electrical Energy Production Tax. Tobacco Products Tax. Wholesale Energy Transaction Tax. Public Service Commission Tax. Rental Vehicles Tax. Contractor's Gross Receipts Tax. Consumer Counsel Tax. TDD Telecommunications Service Fee. Intermediate Care Facility Utilization Fee. Liquor, Beer and Wine Tax. Table Wine Tax. Micaceous Mines License Tax. Cement and Gypsum Tax. Bentonite Production Tax. Rail Car Tax. Business Equipment Tax.
Each tax would be reduced by 38 percent.
Compare state government to a wagon. The agencies are riders in the wagon, the rest of us are pullers. The more money for available for state spending, the fewer people pulling. It's time we “pullers” - taxpayers - have an equal audience in budget planning.
Tom Burnett is a candidate for the Montana House of Representatives, District 63. He lives in Bozeman.
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