All In?

None of the choices we made in our budget were easy but we crafted a responsible compromise. Some Vermonters will share in the responsibility by seeing fewer services. A few of the wealthiest Vermonters will pay more in taxes. But we are all in this together.
    Speaker of the House, Shap Smith, in the Freeps

Between now and June 2nd, when the legislature reconvenes in special session, we will be hearing a lot about fairness and shared sacrifice and how the legislators have struggled with their responsibilities.  Political boilerplate, in other words.  One will have to concentrate to keep in mind certain facts.  As, for instance, the fact that the educational establishment is not being asked to give up much of anything.  Nor is the housing and land trust empire; the cuts in its budget being largely illusory.  What the legislature took away with one hand, it gave back with another.  Income sensitivity still insures that some people living in million dollar homes can get a break on their property taxes.  People who ride Amtrak will continue to be subsidized at the rate of $71 per ticket.  And so on.

Should the Speaker's version of the budget become the foundation of the debate, it will mean that Vermont is ignoring reality in favor of a kind of fantasy world where it is still, say, 2006 and we can keep delaying the inevitable.  We got a gift from the federal treasury and soon we will have spent it all. 

Then, the legislature – and all the rest of us – will be faced with choices that are truly difficult. 

If not impossible.

Comments

[GreggB]

'But we are all in this together.'
Nope. Some have left, many others are working on it.

[Brattleboro_conservative]

I love Geoff's symbolism of a lifeboat to describe Vermont's condition. I would personally love to poke a hole in that boat and watch certain individuals drown.

I can dream can't I?

[Tom Licata]

It is here, Hamlet: Hamlet, thou art slain;
No medicine in the world can do thee good;
In thee there is not half an hour of life;
The treacherous instrument is in thy hand,
Unbated and envenom'd: the foul practise
Hath turn'd itself on me lo, here I lie,
Never to rise again: thy mother's poison'd:
I can no more: the king, the king's to blame.

[Indrek Oruoja]

If there is any positive aspect to the assigned fate of Vermont it is that the legislature is affirming the fiscal future of the state which will allow those of us who understand the ramifications to plan our contingencies now. The WSJ article linked to today about moving hits the spot and applies to my entire family. There are many who deny this reality that a significant element of the actual tax paying public would actually fold up their tents and move out of state, but based on their track record it will in fact be very interesting to see their reaction and plan of action to make up for the loses this state will incur when the exodus begins.