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THE JACKSON HERALD
WEDNESDAY, JULY 26, 2017
Opinions
“Private opinion is weak, but public opinion is almost omnipotent. ”
- Henry Ward Beecher ~
Mike Buffington, editor • Email: Mike@mainstreetnews.com
Migration changing the nation
It’s difficult to believe when you look around
booming Northeast Georgia, but not everywhere
in the county is
growing.
A large swath
of the American
Midwest, from
northern Texas up
into the Dakotas,
is seeing depopula
tion as young people
leave rural commu
nities and move into
urban areas where
there are more job
opportunities. Farm
consolidations and
the mechanization
of agricultural pro
duction has taken a toll on rural Midwestern
counties.
That is just one of many trends reshaping the
nation. It’s always been this way. America has
long been noted for its dynamic shifts, starting
with the westward migrations from the East Coast
in the 1800s. The Great Plains of that era were
places of opportunity for homesteaders and the
self-reliant.
Another great movement of people came in
the mid-1900s when people moved to find work
during the Great Depression
and during World War II.
Around 44 percent of the
nation’s population was
rural in 1930; that dropped
to 36 percent by 1950 and 30
percent by 1960.
Today, the nation’s rural
population has fallen just
below 20 percent. That
population shift will have
huge ramifications for our
nation’s political cultural
fabric.
Since the end of WWII,
the U.S. has been defined by
suburbanization. That was
accelerated in the 1960s and
1970s as “white flight” from
urban cities led to massive
suburban growth. At the
time, America’s urban areas
were a wasteland of poverty,
crime, pollution and decay.
Job opportunities — both white-collar and blue-
collar — moved from cities to the suburbs.
Now, that pattern seems to be reversing as large
companies are abandoning their suburban cam
puses to move back into urban environments.
That trend is due to the demand for labor, specifi
cally high-tech labor that is found among younger
workers who would rather live in urban areas than
the suburbs.
This trend has large implications for the nation’s
political and social climate. Urban political and
cultural values are different than rural mores —
more liberal politically and socially. We saw some
of that trend in the 2016 elections as Donald
Trump dominated the rural vote while the more
liberal Hillary Clinton took most urban areas.
Jobs are one of the key reasons for this trend,
but there are other urban draws, too. Urban areas
tend to have better health care available than rural
areas and they offer more cultural and social out
lets that most rural communities. The downsides
are obvious, too. Crime, traffic congestion and
noise are all problems found in many urban com
munities.
A second trend is the impact of immigrants
and minorities in the nation. Once dismissed
as inconsequential, the growth of Asian and
Hispanic populations is having a profound impact
on the nation’s culture and economy, if not its
political system. That is one reason immigration
has become such a hot-button issue in the past
decade; these populations are reaching a critical
mass that for some threatens the status quo power
structure.
A third trend in this population shift is regional.
Manufacturing has slowly been moving from the
North to the South since 1960. The lack of aggres
sive labor unions and lower wages in the South
began that trend, but it has accelerated as the
South has improved its transportation infrastruc
ture and educational opportunities.
That movement, however, has put parts of the
North — Detroit is one example — into a down
ward spiral. Despite the growth of many urban
areas, those that have been hit with a huge loss
of manufacturing have yet to recover and benefit
from urban renewal.
One thing that has not changed very much over
the years is the cultural and political influence
found in both East and West coast cities. New
York and Washington D.C.
on the East Coast have long
dominated the nation’s
economic, media and
political atmosphere while
the West Coast cities of Los
Angeles, San Francisco,
and Seattle dominate the
nation’s entertainment, cul
tural and high-tech worlds.
But nothing about the
nation is static. What is
true today may be differ
ent tomorrow. Economic
trends, technological
changes and cultural values
all wax and wane over time.
What was true 50 years ago
is often very different today.
This dynamism is what
makes the U.S. unique and
is the source of its strength.
But it’s not without contro
versy and problems: What
should we do about the
small towns that are dying in the Midwest? How
do we help people move from areas where jobs
are being lost to areas where jobs are available?
How do we adjust psychologically as a nation
to the large cultural changes taking place in our
communities?
These are fundamental questions that in many
ways underlie the sharp political issues of our
time. Health care, immigration and tax reform
are all affected by these unsettled and changing
population trends.
We live in an era of tremendous change from a
variety of conflicting forces.
And despite what politicians on both sides of
the aisle claim, there are no easy or quick solu
tions to the problems these changes create.
Mike Buffington is co-publisher of Mainstreet
Newspapers. He can be reached at mike@main-
streetnews. com.
This
dynamism is
what makes
the US.
unique and
is the
source of
its strength.
state report
It’s time to show some common
sense on tax breaks
BY TOM CRAWFORD
Is Georgia doling out too many tax breaks?
You could certainly make that argument.
In this year’s General Assembly session, lawmakers passed 10 bills
granting various forms of tax breaks and exemptions that totaled nearly
half a billion dollars: $483 million over the next five years, by one esti
mate. Gov. Nathan Deal signed them all into law.
The people receiving the tax breaks are primarily Georgia’s wealthi
est citizens. One of the bills passed this year, for example, grants a
sales tax exemption for repairs or renovations of luxury yachts that cost
at least $500,000.
There’s also a tax break for the Woodruff Arts Center in Atlanta, tax
credits for financiers who invest in rural businesses, and a reduction in
the corporate net worth tax.
Who’s not getting these tax breaks? People like you and me. We’re
the ones who will be expected to make up the $483 million in lost
revenues that result from all the tax breaks the Legislature handed out.
In the same session where they okayed a tax exemption for luxury
yachts, legislators passed another bill that increased the fees you pay
for boat registrations. In other words, a tax break for yacht owners, but
a higher registration fee for people who take their outboards to Lake
Lanier.
Legislators declined to renew another tax break that for years pro
vided benefits to millions of middle-income Georgians: the sales tax
holiday during the summer for buying personal computers and back-
to-school supplies. That tax break was taken away.
That’s typically the philosophy of the General Assembly: tax breaks
for the favored few, but not for the many.
There are some legislators from both sides of the partisan aisle who
criticize these tax giveaways, but most are only too happy to keep grant
ing them.
“My experience has been that most folks are opposed to all of them,
except for the one they’re for,” observed Sen. Jack Hill (R-Reidsville).
But finally, there is at least one study committee that is taking a look
at the matter.
The Special Tax Exemption Senate Study Committee held the first of
several hearings last week, and some of the committee members actu
ally suggested that it may be time to start reining in these tax breaks.
Sen. John Albers (R-Roswell), who chairs the committee, said the
panel might very well look at “those (tax breaks) that are actually not
providing the value they were originally intended to. We want to look
at those and see if it makes sense in the future to sunset those to make
sure we’re spending each and every tax dollar as wisely as we can.”
“I am more interested in lowering everyone’s income taxes and
not having credits be so prevalent in Georgia,” said Sen. Hunter Hill
(R-Atlanta), who’s mnning for governor next year.
Albers also wants the study committee to develop a process for evalu
ating the potential payback of proposed tax breaks before lawmakers
take the final vote on them, so that the unproductive ones aren’t passed
in the first place.
That would be a first for Georgia, where tax breaks have long been
enacted with no followup evaluation to determine whether they actu
ally accomplish their purpose.
Chaaron Pearson of Pew Charitable Trusts, which studies the impact
of tax breaks nationwide, told the study committee that tax incentives
for economic development purposes cost state and local governments
$40 billion a year in foregone revenues.
Georgia is one of 23 states “that lacks a well-designed evaluation
plan” for these tax breaks, Pearson said.
In other words, legislators pass tax breaks but the revenue depart
ment doesn’t try to determine whether these exemptions are really
creating jobs or generating economic development. Lawmakers are
just flying blind.
It could be that some of the tax breaks passed in recent years have
really been productive. An oft-cited example is the tax legislation that is
credited with luring TV and movie production companies to the state.
Under the current system, however, there’s little way of knowing
whether tax breaks really work or not.
I wish the study committee all the luck in the world as it undertakes
this Herculean task. It would be great to see lawmakers demonstrate
some common sense on the issue of tax breaks - but don’t hold your
breath.
Tom Crawford is editor of The Georgia Report, an internet news
service at gareport.com that reports on state government and politics.
He can be reached at tcrawford@sareDort. com.
The Jackson Herald
Founded 1875
Merged with The Commerce News 2017
The Official Legal Organ of Jackson County, Ga.
Herman Buffington, Publisher 1965-2005
Mike Buffington Co-Publisher & Editor
Scott Buffington Co-Publisher & Advertising Manager
Angela Gary Associate Editor Features
Alex Pace Braselton News Editor
Ron Bridgeman Reporter
Ben Munro Sports Editor
Charles Phelps Sports Reporter
Wesleigh Sagon Photographer/Features
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