Ms. Liz Berney’s letter concerning a property tax cap gets to the core of a fundamental issue viz to whom do the economic benefits of home ownership belong – the homeowner or the government?
The issue of taxation was the catalyst for our revolt against the British Crown, a reality some appear oblivious to.
Yet Santayana’s observation that those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it, has never been more prescient than now, with our electorate fully engaged on this issue across the nation.
Those who believe in the canard that taxation is somehow a benchmark of financial maturity and a necessary prerequisite of life in an urban environment need to acquaint themselves with demographic trends.
In 1928 New York State had 45 Electoral College votes but in 2012, we will be down to 29 and trending toward the lower twenties by mid century.
Plain and simple, this is symptomatic of long term and permanent secular decline.
When taxpayers are ignored at the ballot box, they vote for the last time with their feet.
Ironically, the states that have demonstrated the greatest economic resilience over the past two decades are those that have scrapped the property tax system and supported their schools through a broad-based consumption tax. New thinking on this very contentious matter is long, long overdue in Albany.
Unfortunately we are represented by a gang of political embarrassments, none with the stature and sagacity of Theodore Roosevelt, Al Smith, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Nelson Rockefeller or Hugh Carey.
Tom Coffey
Herricks
