To the Bulletin:
Think about this: If Proposition 2-1/2 had been Proposition 3 instead, overrides would never have been necessary and we wouldn't be looking at voting for one this May 1.
When Prop 2-1/2 was passed in 1980, whose brilliant idea was it to arbitrarily make the tax levy limit 2.5 percent instead of something more reasonably tied to the cost of living? Why not 3 percent, which is what inflation has averaged for the past 15 years
Instead we have this crazy system of having to make large adjustments every so often called "overrides" to correct for the stupidity of Prop 2-1/2. Because these overrides are such large numbers, everyone gets understandably all worked up about them. But in reality, these adjustments should have been spread out over many years. Who could complain about a 3 percent per year increase? But people are naturally concerned about a one-year increase that approaches 10 percent.
Adding to this problem is that we get used to times when state aid to the town is good and overrides do not occur very often. But today we are faced with two overrides in three years, because state aid to towns has dropped since 2002. According to the Finance Committee, "The difference between state aid received during the entire period from 2003 through 2007 and the amount we would have received if the 2002 amount had been adjusted for inflation is $14,907,228."
This is a Massachusetts problem, not an Amherst problem. The problem is not that Amherst is spending too much, it's that Massachusetts government has been idiotic in recent years.
While property taxes have increased, income taxes have been cut. It is no coincidence that reduced state aid occurred during the same time period that the Massachusetts state income tax rate was cut from 5.85 percent to 5.3 percent, passing along the burden to the towns. Those tax cuts went right into the pockets of the property owners, who have to pay higher property taxes. Federal income taxes were also cut. Households in the middle fifth of the income range ($56,200) saw an average tax cut of $1,180 in 2004.
Tax increases get all the attention, tax decreases don't. Surely the average property owner has seen at least as much of an income tax decrease as they have seen a property tax increases due to overrides. But those cuts are invisible because when you do your income tax return, it doesn't tell you how much you would have paid had the rates not been cut.
Proposition 2-1/2 is a terrible law, but it's a fact that makes overrides both normal and necessary.
Richard Hood
Amherst
Source: Letters, The Amherst Bulletin, April 20, 2007
