This is the December 15th column -- and follow-up to the column presented in the previous posting. Again, these issues deal with Maine Tax Issues...
“Always be positive, even when you’re negative.” It might seem a paradoxical statement but it has an inherent internal logic. Reality demands we always work from facts and not what the law calls a “preponderance of evidence standard”. Evidence is often assertion or assumption we may believe has meaning; it is presented, and an attempt is made to place it in a broader context of the idea we are promoting.
False evidence, regardless of the amount, or strength of conviction in presentation, remains false. Facts can be, and should be tested. When a “preponderance” standard is invoked, we admit that we do not have, nor do we intend to test, actual facts.
Ours is a perfectly imperfect universe in which truth is stability and complexity leads feeds chaos. In that context, facts represent truth and order – with them we approach stability. If facts point in a negative direction, they remain facts and an expression of logical outcome remains positive – we know what will happen!
Some people are negative, even when asserting they are being positive – we call them “defeatists” – they argue there is nothing that can be done, just give up, “abandon all hope”. “I don’t know, I don’t care, I yield to the ignorance of others and give them power over my life” – the mantra of their lives.
Seven hundred years ago, a Franciscan friar, William of Occam, posited “Occam’s Razor” – “No more things should be presumed to exist than are absolutely necessary.” To be positive, do not invent negatives. What is “absolutely necessary”? That the method achieves the goal – believe it will.
Modern science, and thinkers, rephrased “Occam’s Razor” into a “Principle of Simplicity” – “the simplest theory that fits the facts of a problem is the one that should be selected.”. Most people know the common acronym “KISS” (Keep It Simple Stupid!). And that little lecture brings us to several columns I’ve written on the property tax proposals.
In previous columns I suggested the problem was simple, pay for education while cutting property taxes. The solution was equally simple, Augusta pays for books, materials, salaries and training of teachers as required for continued certification. With that done, the education component would vanish from property taxes – cutting them in half. Simple problem, simple solution.
How do we pay for this solution? The governor wants to pay for his proposals through debt – he want to issue of bonds, rather than change taxes – in really he is placing a tax on the future, and it is locking a deficit into the budgetary process in a way that, in the long term, is very unhealthy for Maine’s economy.
How do we pay? Add one point to the sales tax. The common objection is that it is regressive – it isn’t. The average property tax is $1,700; cut that by $850 and home owners would need to be spending $85,000 a year on taxable items before they would lose money. For the poor, most of what they purchase is already tax exempt – or exempted at the register via EBT card use.
Who really pays sales tax? We’re a tourist state, and so export sales taxes to non-residents. Some poor – non-homeowners – might feel the raise, if not for the Rent Refund Program; the cost of which would be bolstered by the fall in cost associated with the Maine Residents Property Tax Refund Program. As a secondary benefit, neither of these programs would require modifications to either income ceiling, or bureaucracy – as proposed by the governor.
By advocating a raise in sales taxes, I am not talking “new taxes” – rather I am reallocating a cost and it’s associated revenue while generating a surplus. The lower property taxes will allow more people to view Maine as a retirement, or vacation residence, locale – bringing assets or revenues.
Occam’s Razor and Principle of Simplicity are the antithesis of bureaucracy. KISS ... KISS
