MuD & PHuD

This article starts out sounding absolutely great (if, like me, you happen to be a small government type):

Gov. M. Jodi Rell wants to eliminate municipal car taxes and cut the state's public utility taxes by 25 percent, two moves she says will save Connecticut residents millions of dollars a year.

I mean, jeeze. I only pay a few hundred dollars a year between car and utility taxes so I'm expecting a serious check.

All right, so maybe I only entertain myself. Anyway...here's where the hand waving comes in:

Under Rell's car tax plan, kept as a secret until moments before her address to a joint session of the legislature, the state would reimburse cities and towns for the money they would have received from residential car tax bills.

Just so we're clear. The state is going to force towns to stop collecting car tax...and then reimburse them for the loss of tax revenue. And that reimbursement will come from the money tree at the capitol. Or, my state taxes. Whichever turns out to be real. Boy, I feel better already.

Here's a telling quote from the Gov:

"Starting this July, you will no longer have to write a check for your car taxes. It will be a thing of the past," she said, receiving especially loud cheers from R[INO]epublican legislators.

I guarantee that is the most honest thing you'll hear from a politician this year. The point of this move is not to decrease the tax burden on CT residents. Rather, it is a move designed to make Gov. Rell (formerly second fiddle to former Gov. Rowland, now a convicted felon) look good in an election year. And you know, it'll probably work. One of the ways our government (state and federal) has managed to consolidate so much power is by instituting invisible taxes. How many people out there know how much they gross in a year? I bet 90% of our country's taxpayers have absolutely no concept of how much money the government skims off the top.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: If every adult American had to sit down each spring and write a check to the state and federal governments for the exact number of dollars s/he is currently paying there would be armed revolution. There'd be no messing around with waiting until the next election year. There wouldn't be any recall votes. Nope, just straight up rioting. This car tax -cough-reform-cough- is nothing more than another BS, slimy, dirty slight of hand by a politician who wants to get reelected.

Now for the last little zinger:

The $497 million car tax plan, touted by the administration as the highlight of Rell's budget, would be paid for with casino revenues and by eliminating the property tax credit, the $350 deduction homeowners can take on their state income tax returns. Some Democrats groaned when Rell said the popular credit would be scrapped.

Genuario said he believes many more taxpayers will be able to benefit from the car tax elimination than the property tax credit. Renters are not eligible for the credit, and not everyone who owns a home receives the full $350 credit because it is based upon income levels.

Well, I'm with the Democrats on this groan. I've got no problem with tax cuts, generally anywhere they can be had (as long as they're real, of course). The question here is what we're really going to accomplish with the elimination of the property tax credit. As things stand, homeowners really do receive a benefit on their taxes and everyone pays car tax. Now, our esteemed Republican(?) Gov is proposing that we 'repeal' the car tax (without actually decreasing the tax burden due to the state reimbursement of municipalities) while pulling the proverbial landscaping out from under homeowners foundations by eliminating a true tax break.

Is it just me or some something seriously stink?

One final note. It seems that the only real tax reduction in Rell's proposal is with respect to the public utility tax (by 25%), the estate tax (which would be a good thing) and the corporate surcharge (which currently stands at an outrageous 25% on top of corporate income tax). I hope these measures make it into law, but this car tax trick sticks in my craw. Unless I'm seriously missing something, my opinion of Jody Rell just took a plunge. Of course, tax breaks are worth no more than the slime-spattered legislative letterhead they’re printed on (which, come to think of it is probably pretty expensive) unless they are combined with spending restraint. Somehow I doubt spending cuts are on the table. We'll see.
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