December 17, 2009
And Then the Other Side
From AP writer Ray Henry's ">report, it looks like RI Senate Majority Leader Daniel Connors drew the short straw:
"I think we need to look at all of our taxes and determine, you know, those that could be changed to provide sufficient revenue for the state to provide its services," Connors said during a Statehouse interview.
You know, we'll just find a way to take "sufficient revenue" from the people of the state. That's all. Easy.
Of course, Senate President Teresa Paiva-Weed stands right with Connors and is apparently in need of a civics lesson from the people's perspective:
"Essentially, the proposal the governor is making is we're going to cut taxes with the left hand ..., income taxes, and we're going to increase property taxes," Paiva-Weed said.
Note that Paiva-Weed makes no distinction between the scope of her tier of government and more local tiers. The Democrats are trying to protect their public-sector union pals at the municipal level by shifting the narrative to insist that municipal leaders have no choice. They do, and so do their local constituencies.
"shifting the narrative to insist that municipal leaders have no choice. They do, "
They certainly do.
And the General Assembly is in an excellent position to broaden their choices by lifting those undefensible, unfunded mandates. These should not have existed to begin with; worse, their cost goes up each year that the state reduces aid to education/cities and towns.