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THE JACKSON HERALD
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2009
Named the best weekly editorial page in the nation for 2007, 2008
Opinions
“Private opinion is weak, but public opinion is almost omnipotent. ”
- Henry Ward Beecher ~
Mike Buffington, editor • Email: Mike@mainstreetnews.com
our views
Tax backlash
is coming
T HERE will likely be a
move in the Georgia
General Assembly this
year to cap the rise in property
taxes. That effort is being seen
across the nation as homeown
ers blast rising property taxes
at the same time their property
values are declining.
Local governments, of course,
oppose the state imposing any
restrictions on their ability to
raise taxes. In a theoretical
sense, they have an argument
that the state shouldn’t trump
local home rule with restric
tions.
But citizens don’t give a whit
about that home-rule argument.
All they care about is some
one stopping the tide of higher
taxes.
The truth is, local governments
have, for the most part, brought
this on themselves. Over the
last decade during the boom
in cycle, local governments
exploded in size. Employee sala
ries and benefits ballooned out
of proportion to similar private
sector jobs. The “professional
ization” of government pushed
up expenses by growing govern
ment.
In short, local governments
moved away from their blue-
collar roots and created a slew
of high-paying white-collar posi
tions. To pay for that, local gov
ernments began to raise taxes,
if not directly through higher
millage rates, then through an
assortment of fees and higher
property assessments.
Now, however, it’s all mov
ing in reverse. Property values
are dropping, but while govern
ments were anxious to reassess
when values were going up,
they’ve been a lot slower to react
to lower assessments.
Taxpayers are tired of that dou
ble-standard.
They’re tired of bloated local
government bureaucracies.
They’re tired of additional
local fees and fines that nick
their wallets at every turn.
So the backlash now coming
from the state over high prop
erty taxes was self-induced by
local governments who wouldn’t
listen earlier.
Maybe if the state slaps them
with some kind of taxing restric
tions, they’ll pay more attention
next time.
The Jackson Herald
Founded 1875 • The Official Legal
Organ of Jackson County, Ga.
Mike Buffington Co-Publisher & Editor
Scott Buffington Co-Publisher &
Advertising Manager
News Department
Angela Gary Associate Editor
Jana Adams Mitcham Features Editor
Brandon Reed Sports Editor
Kerri Testement Reporter
Sharon Hogan Reporter
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letters
Advice for new president
Dear Editor:
I would like to offer a little advice to the next
leader of our nation.
No matter that many said it was logistically
impossible for the illegal population to diminish
and most return home, it has happened. Since
our economy has had a slowdown most of the
“cash only” jobs which free people from the
chains of tax withholdings are gone. With that
disappearance, we have seen a drastic decrease
in possible illegal aliens.
Now the advice to go with the observation.
Since Mr. Obama wants to enact the New
Deal, Old Deal, Resurrected Deal, I hope he
revives the CCC first. The Civilian Conservation
Corps could readily build the fence needed
along our Southern border. This would provide
better security, slow down drug trafficking and
provide a means for well meaning immigrants
to come here legally.
I bet the CCC camps could build the fence bet
ter, quicker, and cheaper than any other agency
or contractor hired by the government.
We’ve got four years we might as well get the
best out of them.
Maybe we can actually channel some energy
to accomplish good and not completely bank
rupt the future for our kids.
Just a thought (some may say very little
thought.)
Sincerely,
Mike Stowers
Nicholson
Will lawmakers act like adults?
tom
crawford
ONE of the advantages of being more than
two billion dollars in the hole is that it forces
you to prioritize and focus on the things that
really matter.
So it is with our state
legislators as they gather
in Atlanta this week to
begin the latest chapter
of the General Assembly.
In recent sessions we
have seen lawmakers
fighting openly, to the
point where the House
speaker yelled at the lieu
tenant governor to “be a
man” and allow a vote
on a tax break measure.
Not to mention the time
the speaker accused the
governor of “baring his backside” on another
tax issue.
No time for that kind of petty bickering this
year. Georgia, like every other state, is in a
deep budgetary hole aggravated by the worst
economic recession in 75 years. Theoretically,
that should mean the House and Senate will set
aside their usual differences and try to work out
a way to plug a revenue hole that could eventu
ally exceed $2.5 billion.
“Challenging times have a way of bringing
people together,” said Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle.
Challenges? There are plenty of them to be
worked out this session, including:
Tax cuts. You’ll hear several lawmakers pro
pose them, but as a practical matter, any tax
cut just adds to the $2.5 billion budget deficit.
Corporate CEOs and special interests may have
to wait another year for their usual tax goodies.
Tax increases. Republicans claim they don’t
like them, but tax hikes may be unavoidable this
year if the budget is to be brought into balance
without wrecking state government.
Gov. Sonny Perdue has already floated a state
wide provider tax on hospitals to raise money
for Medicaid. Rep. Ron Stephens (R-Savannah)
wants to raises taxes on cigarettes and Rep.
Chuck Sims (R-Ambrose) would reinstate the
sales tax on groceries. Sen. Jack Murphy
(R-Cumming) even wants to tax patrons of strip
clubs (a tax that might fall disproportionately
upon legislators during the months of January,
February and March).
Homeowners tax relief. To help balance the
budget, Perdue will propose cutting $430 mil
lion in state grants to local governments that
provided a small bump in property tax exemp
tions for homeowners. To offset this loss of a
property tax break, the Legislature could well
approve a cap on yearly increases in property
assessments.
Highway improvements. After failing last year
to adopt a plan for raising funds to build new
highways, legislators will try again this year.
Their ability to get campaign contributions from
business leaders in 2010 hinges upon their suc
cess.
Guns. Some lawmakers want to make it legal
for anyone to carry a pistol in such public
places as schools, churches, and mental hospi
tals. Cagle says he’ll try to holster that particular
idea.
Capital punishment. Frustrated by the inabil
ity to secure the death penalty for courthouse
shooter Brian Nichols, lawmakers will try to
authorize the imposition of the ultimate punish
ment through less-than-unanimous jury ver
dicts.
School vouchers. Sen. Eric Johnson
(R-Savannah), a candidate for lieutenant gover
nor, will continue his drive to expand the issu
ance of vouchers for students to attend private
schools, a step that could further weaken the
state’s public school systems.
Healthcare. Another area of failure last year
was the effort to upgrade Georgia’s woefully
inadequate network of trauma care hospitals.
Lawmakers will try again on trauma care, as well
reorganize the sprawling bureaucracy in the
Department of Human Resources. Part of the
DHR restructuring could include the privatiza
tion of mental hospitals.
Overshadowing all of those issues, of course,
is the state budget and that $2.5 billion revenue
shortfall. Major spending cuts will have to be
enacted somewhere, a painful process that
could eventually cause a breakdown of the
goodwill that legislators bring into the session.
It would have been easier if the Republican
leadership had called a special session last fall
to start dealing with the budget cuts, but the
gumption to do that just wasn’t there.
“The ill-advised decision to not hold a spe
cial session to address the budget has left
the Republican-dominated General Assembly
with little choice other than falling in line like
lemmings behind their leader,” said Senate
Minority Leader Robert Brown.
Whether you call them lemmings or legisla
tors, the pressure is now on them to make the
decisions that will somehow get the state out of
this mess.
Tom Crawford is the editor of Capitol Impact’s
Georgia Report. He can be reached at tcraw-
ford@caDitolimDact. net.
Seeing clearly in
economic storm
W E ARE living at a key moment in his
tory. While next week’s inauguration
of Barack Obama as president is a his
toric event, even larger is the circumstances under
which he takes that oath.
This economic
downturn — recession
— depression — is larger
than any one person
and will have a lasting
effect on the future of
the country. It is an
event that will echo in
history. Our children
and our children’s chil
dren will hear about it
and read about it. It will
continue to affect their
lives long after the direct
impacts have subsided.
It’s difficult today to
see clearly all that has
happened and is happening amid the dust and
rubble of the slow-moving economic collapse.
Major economic downturns are seldom framed in
a single “crash,” like a car wreck. Rather, they are
like a movie in slow motion, the effects piling upon
each other in a way that is almost imperceptible.
It takes time for economic mountains to fall upon
their own weight.
Still, it’s important for us to attempt to fan away
the smoke and to see, however incompletely, what
has happened and how it may shape us for the
future.
A few thoughts on that:
- One of the major problems of this downturn is
that there’s now little manufacturing and hence little
creation of new wealth for the nation to fall back on.
In the 1980s and 1990s, both political parties led the
way into “free trade” where American manufactur
ing was sent offshore and to other nations. That
made for cheaper goods, but it denuded our manu
facturing economy while at the same time fueling a
consumerist society. We have become a “services”
economy where a high percentage of jobs and GNP
are service-oriented. A nation cannot create wealth
with a service economy. If there is any silver lining
to the current mess, it may be that our political lead
ers reassess the willy-nilly move toward “free trade”
and bring more manufacturing back to these shores
through a combination of tax incentives and trade
barriers. (It was the ramping up of domestic manu
facturing for a war-time economy that pulled the
nation out of the Great Depression of the 1930s.)
-This economic situation will have a dramatic
impact on those entering, or about to enter, the
workforce. There are few jobs to be had. The days
of easy jobs and high starting incomes are over.
And after having been told how smart they are
by teachers and professors and how much they
“deserve” wealth and riches, today’s young people
are going to be shocked — shocked! — to discover
that it was all a lie. The psychological impact of
those high expectations being slammed by cold
economic reality will shape this generation in ways
we cannot yet see. Humility, even a work ethic, may
return. Those with grit will make it. The lazy will
sink.
-Religious institutions will get a new infusion
of interest as people turn toward spiritual matters
searching for both explanations and comfort. That
doesn’t mean we’ll see more mega-churches —
those are the creation of an era that may be ending.
-A deep distrust of both big business and govern
ment will grow from the current economic collapse.
The size of the problems, the stupidity and avarice
of government and business leaders, has been
shocking. Greed and corruption are far deeper than
anyone imagined. Average citizens have reason to
distrust all of those in power.
-Downsizing will become the new mantra.
Smaller houses — McMansions are so 1990s — will
be sought as people adjust to living with less and
paying lower taxes and lower utility bills. That will
dramatically reshape the old assumptions of real
estate developers and government planners.
-Personal debt. What is that? For the next 10
years, people will be very careful in how much debt
they accrue. Too many have been burned by high
mortgages, car payments and credit card payments.
Debt fueled the boom — it’s now out of vogue.
-Local governments, which had gotten bloated
during the building boom, will have to downsize.
Fewer employees and lower benefits will have to
happen. Any local government that attempts to
raise taxes to pay for the existing piggish benefits of
government bureaucrats will face the wrath of angry
citizens. Ditto for the army of consultants who have
been getting fat sucking off the teats of government
taxes. Every local government should now be mak
ing 20 percent spending cuts.
The economic crisis is a bad thing. It is hurting
many people, even those who did not make monu
mental personal or business mistakes.
And yet, it is also a cleansing of a system that had
gotten totally out of control. We should have seen
that it was a house of cards that couldn’t last. But we
didn’t.
Hopefully, our children will remember our folly
and won’t make the same mistakes again.
Mike Buffington is editor of The Jackson Herald.
He can be reached at mike@mainstreetnews. com.
mike
buffington