Hate higher taxes? Then please read this column
Yael T. AbouhalkahUnified Government mayoral candidate Mark Holland has responsible, strong-minded reasons that defend his vote for higher property taxes in 2011 in Wyandotte County.
As a county commissioner, Holland knew the government’s reserves were almost gone, workers’ wages already had been frozen, employee furloughs had been taken, and layoffs of up to 120 county workers — including some in public safety — could occur without more tax revenue.
So he and a majority of commissioners voted for the higher tax.
“It was the right thing to do,” Holland said Wednesday, especially “because it’s about leadership” for the county.
Holland’s vote appropriately protected community policing, firefighters’ jobs and other public services. That vote shows just one of the reasons he’s the best-qualified candidate to make it through Tuesday’s mayoral primary and make it to the April 2 general election.
Of course, it’s common for local elected officials and candidates to badmouth tax rates.
Ann Murguia, one of Holland’s opponents, constantly tells people she voted against the higher Wyandotte County property tax, without acknowledging how damaging that could have been to services many residents need.
But then along comes a few days like we’re seeing this week in the Kansas City area. And all of a sudden, having a little bit of tax revenue is awfully important.
On Thursday, if the weather forecasters are correct, hundreds of employees in cities around the region will be out in the bitter cold, pushing deep snow off the roads, trying to keep traffic moving. If the workers do their jobs well, motorists will have an easier time getting around, more stores will be open and fewer people will be involved in costly car accidents caused by snow-packed roads.
On Tuesday night, dozens of Kansas City firefighters, emergency medical personnel and police officers responded to the huge natural gas explosion and fire that destroyed a restaurant, killed at least one and injured more than a dozen people. The accident showed the value of having an effective public safety force that can be deployed in large emergencies.
No one wants to overpay for public services, even when it comes to plowing snow or fighting fires.
That’s why it’s good to see that Kansas City officials have upgraded their technological capabilities to track where snow plows have been, so the city knows which streets should be clear and which ones still need attention.
It’s also appropriate that the city has slimmed down the Fire Department in recent years.
In Kansas City, Mayor Sly James has been at the center of tax and spend issues since taking office.
Notably, James during his 2011 campaign did not take a solid pro or con stand on whether he was going to raise taxes.
But last August, he pushed for voters to endorse a half-cent sales tax increase for better streets and parks, and to get rid of the vehicle license fee and a few small property taxes. Voters eventually endorsed the changes.
Last week, in his budget message to the City Council, James extolled that decision: “Together, we made the case to our residents that business as usual was no longer good business…. Together they said, ‘this is a priority and we are willing to pay for it.’”
He highlighted the positive fact that the city will allocate $19 million in the next year for road maintenance, far more than the current $3 million.
“I do not believe any city in the country can say they were able to do the same thing in a single budget cycle,” he said.
Campaigning against taxes is easy. Running a city or county without sufficient public revenues is hard.
It takes skilled and properly motivated elected officials to know when it’s time to try to raise taxes — and when they should be left alone.
To reach Yael T. Abouhalkah, call 816-234-4887 or email abouhalkah@kcstar.com. He blogs at voices.kansascity.com and appears on “Ruckus” at 7 p.m. Thursday on KCPT. Twitter: @YaelTAbouhalkah.
Matt Henry
3 months, 4 weeks agoWhat YTA describes in this post, I know of not one conservative who has a problem with spending their tax money on this stuff. They have a HUGE problem with bloated taxpayer funded salaries, retirement benefits and health care packages that greatly outpace the free market, but that’s another story.
No, what people who “hate” taxes generally hate is the gross misuse and waste of taxes. You know, like in a school system that can’t keep accreditation and produce anything other than a high percentage of illiterates, and yet the answer is more money and less accountability. Or a city janitor making 6 figures and retiring at 48. You know, the kind of stuff that has Detroit concerned about $15b in unfunded liabilities and staring at a state takeover. Yep, we hate that stuff.
Matt Henry
3 months, 4 weeks agoI’m going to go one step further. Does this author really think that anyone who actually pays taxes has a problem at all with spending money to plow roads, fight fires, fund cops, or fix potholes? Really? Is that his big ideological triumph? “Ha ha, what do you anti-tax people think now with the snow coming, hmmmmmmm?” Yeah, we hate spending our tax money on that stuff. But give us a good methodone clinic any day of the week!
My guess he knows good and well, but when a Solyndra happens or we hear stories about public employees playing bridge in the breakroom for $2000 a week plus the occasionally-needed taxpayer-covered sex change operation, he doesn’t write columns about all of us who “hate” taxes. Nope, then he hides. Shocker.
George Harris
Kansas City
3 months, 4 weeks agoMatt, you’re correct. We all, regardless of political leanings, are opposed to bloated salaries, fraud and waste. You mention Solyndra, which seems minor to me compared to the trillion dollars we spent/wasted on the Iraq war. But there are people (maybe you?) who still think the war was a good idea. I believe some mistakes (abuse?) are inevitable when large sums of money are spent, whether on disaster relief or public buildings. But what percent of the overall budget is accounted for by waste/fraud/abuse and what waste/fraud/abuse are we counting.
Matt Henry
3 months, 4 weeks agoMy point above any particular kind of “waste” is that this author, as is his manner, greatly distorts the beliefs of the “hate taxes” crowd, and I think he does it on purpose because he has proven to be an ideological charlatan. Lie and obfuscate to get what you want.
While much that taxes get spent on can be debated as to its value (military and war spending too), YTA wants to caricature those who don’t just want to turn over everything to taxes as people against firefighters, teachers and cops while being pro-pothole and bridge collapse.
He learned this from his President, who never met a taxpayer project he couldn’t demagogue. Don’t want to pay a 60% tax rate? Why do you hate teachers? Why do you want children to suffer? Why do you want bridges to collapse and soldiers to go without body armor? I’m sick to death of it, his elitist sanctimony and that of others like him, and quite frankly I’m sick of the good people in this world laying down to the likes of him….
Mark Hastert
3 months, 4 weeks ago“Don’t want to pay a 60% tax rate?”
Gee I missed this one. Who’s paying a 60% tax rate? If you’re going to complain about demagoguery you should refrain from it.
George Hunsucker
Northland
3 months, 4 weeks agoOnce more we get to educate the libs…
base tax rate 39.6% fica & medicare 6.345 CA top rate 13.3 zero care investment income surtax 3.8
Or a total marginal rate of 63.045—not even close to 60% is it Matt????
libs are a hoot…and then they wonder why the economy is going back in the crapper….
Mark Hastert
3 months, 4 weeks agoAnd just how many of you are paying CA rates in KS? That is the topic of the article GH in case you forgot. And in MO you’re not paying it either. You’re a good one for dissembling and demagoguery too.
Even you certainly must know that CA woes are the result of the Jarvis cap and their screwy proposition system that has been choking the state for decades. Jerry Brown had to do something to right the ship and the temporary measures are the price CA’s had to pay for Jarvis’s folly. I guess the memory banks aren’t what they were. Tried Sudoku?
Kent Mueller
3 months, 4 weeks agoNow, Mark, that was a Bob Beamon category leap. So, Jerry Brown saved California from what Howard Jarvis and the other 67% of California’s voters did in 1978. Brown took care of over a third of a century of problems, huh? And they were all caused by Prop 13, huh?
Thanks for the chuckle. You out leaped Bob Beamon.
Matt Henry
3 months, 4 weeks agoYou guys are collosally missing the point, and in Mark’s case I think it’s malicious. A fairly good debate tactic for the uninitiated. Change the topic when the topic kicks your butt.
Change it to 10%. Who gives a rip. The point remains unchanged. Conservatives are not anti-tax, especially when it comes to these core services. YTA wants to demagogue those who have been arguing against high taxes as being against roads, bridges, firemen, blah blah blah…. Just like The One. “FBI agents will have to close files….” Please. It is foolish and it is exposed.
Deal with that or just walk away. Go on. Shoo.
Kent Mueller
3 months, 4 weeks agoI agree with you, Matt. I have called out writers, including those that work for the Star, many times for calling conservatives anti-government. As you aptly explain, conservatives are not anti-government, nor anti-tax. However, we are opposed to taxes that pay for things the government should not be doing.
Matt Henry
3 months, 4 weeks agoHear hear.
George Hunsucker
Northland
3 months, 4 weeks agoHastert says who is paying a sixty percent rate and then changes the subject… Good little lib!!!!
George Harris
Kansas City
3 months, 4 weeks agoMatt, I’m not sure I understand your tax numbers. Shortly after the time you get to the 39% tax bracket, you no longer are paying FICA. Not that that’s such a big deal, but FICA stops at approx $110K, as I recall.
But more to your point: I don’t think all conservatives hate all government, but statements such as “shrink government until it’s small enough to drown in the bathtub” give liberals ammunition to make the accusation. There’s a lot of hyperbole on both sides.
Kent Mueller
3 months, 4 weeks agoTrue enough, George. I have no idea who said that. But, there are ridiculous things said on both sides. However, one of the original points on this thread is very true. The left describes the right as anti-government, when we are not. And when there is an expense to be cut, many on the left say that we will have to do without firemen and policemen. And that is always an interesting statement because a budget cut does not need to cut firemen and policemen. But, by saying they will be cut, the left evidently believe they are the most expendable expenses.