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THE JACKSON HERALD
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 18, 2010
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
‘Revenue
ET READY for a new buzzword in local governments:
“Revenue Neutral.”
So what the heck is that?
With many local tax digests falling, local governments are
scrambling to find a way to make up for the lost revenue. One
way some governments plan to do that is by raising the millage
rate for what they term is a “revenue neutral” outcome.
For example, if a tax digest falls six percent, a local govern
ment will raise the millage rate so that it will get the same
amount of money from property taxes as it currently does.
Government officials call that a “neutral” outcome since they
are not technically collecting more money overall.
But that’s a very misleading concept and is just a back door
way of bleeding taxpayers. Here’s why:
First, tax digest changes are not all equal. While the overall
decline might be six percent, that’s just the average. Some
taxpayers will see their property values decline three percent,
others nine percent and some won’t see any drop in value. The
person who has a nine percent decline would pay less taxes
under this scheme, but the person who only lost three percent
in value would pay more in taxes.
In addition, the digest’s decline is also affected by geography.
Some areas saw a larger decline than others. Although Jackson
County officials haven’t talked about raising the millage rate
(at least in public,) it makes for a good example: In Hoschton,
property values went down over nine percent on average while
in Jefferson, the overall drop was just over two percent. Thus,
if county leaders decided to raise the millage rate six percent,
Hoschton citizens would pay less in tax while Jefferson citizens
would pay more (on average.)
On top of that, small businesses might take an even larger hit.
Much of the decline in local property values revolves around
housing. That tends to put much of the equity decline in resi-
neutral?’
dential properties as opposed to commercial and business
properties. For many businesses, any hike in the millage rates
could hit harder than for most residential properties.
Not exactly a good time to raise taxes on businesses when
many are just barely hanging on.
But there’s even a more fundamental problem with the idea
of “revenue neutral” — fairness.
Property taxes were created in the time when land for agri
culture was the standard measure of wealth. It has evolved over
the years, but it’s still rooted in taxing people according to their
wealth. A larger house reflects greater wealth thus it is taxed
more than a smaller house.
So it should stand to reason that when values fall, there is
less wealth (certainly less equity) and therefore taxes should
fall. But if local governments raise the millage rate under the
scheme of “revenue neutral,” that means homeowners will be
paying more taxes on less equity. No matter what anyone says,
that is a tax hike.
And it is a gross perversion of how the property tax system
is supposed to work. Most local governments didn’t lower the
millage rate when property values were rising during the boom
— they collected a tax windfall. Now that values are falling, it’s
unthinkable that millage rates should rise just so governments
themselves don’t have to make more cutbacks.
Such a scheme just further distorts an already fouled-up prop
erty tax system. There are too many exemptions in place for
special interest groups that already make it a mess.
To raise the millage rate under the theory of “revenue neutral”
is just another example of government double-speak.
It sure as heck isn’t “revenue neutral” for the poor homeown
er who saw his equity collapse, but still has to pay as much as
ever to vampire governments that want a share of his financial
blood.
Islamic center
a monument to
America, not Islam
1 AM of two minds about the building of a
controversial Islamic center near Ground
Zero in New York. It is a dichotomy of
thought that probably afflicts many who think
about our nation and its values.
Some of my own ancestors likely came to
America to escape
religious persecu
tion, having been
part of the Quaker
settlements in
early Pennsylvania.
Seeking the
freedom to prac
tice their faith,
thousands of
people fled to this
nation in its early
decades. We teach
that with the story
of the Pilgrims
each November.
So it is a deep part
of the American legal, social and political cul
ture that we respect the right of others to prac
tice their faith as they see fit without govern
ment intrusion. It was that ideal that George
Washington addressed in a letter to a Jewish
congregation in Rhode Island in 1787:
“It is now no more that toleration is spoken
of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class
of people that another enjoyed the exercise
of their inherent natural rights. For happily
the Government of the United States, which
gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution
no assistance, requires only that they who
live under its protection, should demean them
selves as good citizens. ”
mike
buffington
"...Oh, it's horrible! I must warn the voters that you're nothing
but a shattered mass of wounds after that bloody primary!"
WHEN voters in the Republican runoff elec
tion were given the opportunity to choose the
Sarah Palin-endorsed candidate Karen Handel
for governor, they responded: “Thanks, but no
thanks.”
By the slim margin of 2,438 votes, Republicans
have selected former congressman Nathan Deal
of Gainesville to carry the party banner into the
governor’s race this fall against Democratic
nominee and former governor Roy Barnes.
It was a somewhat surprising development,
especially after Palin showed up in Atlanta the
day before the election to appear at a campaign
rally with Handel. The event was packed with
Palin fans who were so giddy about being in
the vicinity of the former Alaska governor that
some of them even dressed up to impersonate
her.
As it turned out, Palin was not Handel’s mes-
siah and could not stop the late movement
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
Ben Munro Sports Editor
Kerri Testement Reporter
Sharon Hogan Reporter
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Email: mike@mainstreetnews.com
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tom
crawford
Now we’ve got a race
among GOP voters into Deal’s column. Georgia
Republicans have now punctured the myth that
Palin was some kind of invincible mama griz
zly whose magic touch
would bring political
victory to any candidate
she blessed with her
endorsement.
If you look at last
week’s runoff as a proxy
for the 2012 presidential
race, then Palin and Mitt
Romney were both los
ers. On the other side,
Newt Gingrich and Mike
Huckabee experienced
the thrill of victory after
endorsing Deal.
Gingrich’s endorse
ment and Huckabee’s campaign visit to Georgia
were more effective for Deal than Romney’s
endorsement and Palin’s visit were for Handel.
“Getting Huckabee down to Gainesville on
Sunday really, really solidified our campaign,”
said Brian Robinson, the spokesman for the
Deal campaign. “He did such a great job for
us.”
Huckabee agreed with that assessment, tell
ing a reporter in an email:
“Check the poll numbers before I went and
compare them to the election. You can draw
your own conclusions.”
Deal is proof that in politics, persistence pays
off. There were several occasions over the past
15 months when it appeared that some external
event or internal gaffe would knock him out of
the race for governor, but Deal never gave up.
Throughout the campaign, the political
experts thought Deal was spending money too
quickly to keep his campaign going, but he got
around that problem by lending his campaign
$250,000 in personal funds.
There was a newspaper expose of the attempts
by Deal’s congressional staffers and Lt. Gov.
Casey Cagle to preserve a lucrative business
arrangement that brought large amounts of
state dollars to a vehicle salvage firm that Deal
co-owns in Gainesville.
There was the resulting ethics complaint and
investigation into that business arrangement,
with the Office of Congressional Ethics issuing
a report that said Deal may have exceeded the
allowable limits on outside income and used
his staff to maintain the profitable business deal
with the state.
There was Deal’s politically incorrect refer
ence to “ghetto grandmothers” in a speech
about citizenship verification (he later apolo
gized for the remark).
There was Deal’s connection to the kooks who
claim, despite documentary evidence showing
otherwise, that President Barack Obama was
born in Kenya and isn’t qualified to be president
(Deal sent a letter to the president telling him to
produce a copy of his birth certificate).
There were the media reports, published
about two weeks before the runoff election,
that state Revenue Commissioner Bart Graham
had received a federal subpoena to turn over
documents about a meeting he had with the
congressman’s aides to discuss that business
deal involving the vehicle salvage firm.
That prompted this remark by Handel’s press
spokesman: “What would truly destroy the
party would be to nominate someone like Deal
who is under a federal grand jury investiga
tion and could be indicted or, heaven forbid,
arrested at any moment.”
Those are all the kinds of incidents that nor
mally would blow up a political campaign, but
Deal kept plugging away in the face of adver
sity. He also emphasized two issues that stir up
strong feelings among some voters: bashing
Handel for her moderate stance on gay issues
and vowing to run every undocumented immi
grant in Georgia back to the border.
In the end, Deal won the nomination and will
now take on his former Georgia Senate col
league and fellow lawyer, Barnes, in the general
election. I don’t think we will see Sarah Palin
return to the state for this campaign.
Tom Crawford is the editor of The Georgia
Report, an Internet news service at gareport.
com. He can be reached at tcrawford@sare-
port.com.
There is no question in a legal sense that
those behind the Islamic center in New York
have the right to construct their building. Even
critics of the center have acknowledged that
the government has no authority to use its
power to thwart constmction on the site based
on religious objections.
Yet for many who follow these matters,
allowing a shrine to Islam so close to the hal
lowed ground where 3,000 died on 9-11 in
the name of Islam is repugnant. Many see the
effort as little more than an “in your face” act
by those who practice Islam to salute their
“victory.”
What is especially galling about this Islamic
center is that the major purveyors of Islam in
the Middle East would never allow a Christian
church or Jewish synagogue to be built near
their own hallowed grounds. Can you imagine
a synagogue in Mecca?
While Americans might be tolerant of Islam,
it doesn’t mean we have to like it or agree with
it.
Islam is not just another religion within a
larger secular society; it is a social, cultural,
legal and political system all wrapped into
one that flies under the protective banner of
“religion.”
But it is a distorted culture, one that thrives
on seeing itself as a victim and has a deep
hatred of the West. The result:
-A culture where many Islamic nations lack
the most basic human freedoms found in the
West.
-A culture where women are systematically
abused in ways that is inherently wrong; the
denial of education; mandatory dress; low
legal status; toleration of “honor killings;” con
stricted travel; toleration of family violence.
-A culture that celebrates the use of suicide
bombings to kill civilians in the name of Islam.
-A culture that largely condones the use of
violence to silence those critical of Islam.
The truth is, many of the values of the West
are in direct conflict with the values found in
much of the Islamic culture. That the West,
especially America, has tolerated this clash
without itself resorting to domestic religious
violence is the real story here. (Imagine the
reaction if Jews had crashed an airplane
into Mecca. Would the Islamic nations of the
Middle East have been as tolerant?)
In the end, the New York Islamic building
won’t be a monument to the values of Islam;
it will be a monument to the West and to how
this nation values liberty, tolerance and free
dom.
So let them build their Islamic center near
Ground Zero.
What an ironic contrast that will make: An
Islamic center on one side of the street that
reminds the world of the strength and good
ness of American values; on the other side
of the street where the Twin Towers stood,
a reminder of what Islamic values stand for:
Bigotry, violence, hatred and death.
Mike Buffington is editor of The Jackson
Herald. He can be reached at mike@main-
streetnews.com.