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One of my
favorite song lyrics is from the song "Flip, Flop and Fly," made famous by
Big Joe Turner. It goes something like this:
"I'm like a
Mississippi bullfrog, sittin' on a hollow stump,
I got so many women, I don't know which way to jump."
Doesn't that
describe most Harford County politicians to a "T" when it comes to taxes?
This week's
shuck and jive by the Harford County Council on the local impact fee tax
certainly fits the profile.
When two council
members, Dion Guthrie and Chad Shrodes, introduced a bill earlier this fall
to repeal the four-year-old tax outright, the prospect for passage looked
good, given the recent vocal anti-tax movement that has been sweeping the
country — Harford County included. Here was an opportunity for the entire
council to take a stand against a seemingly unpopular tax, one that hits
young people trying to become homeowners for the first time especially hard
and a tax that, at $8,269 for a new single family home, is a strong buyer
disincentive in tough economic times when the county's beleaguered housing
industry could use all the help it can get.
So what happens
instead? Following a public hearing at which some people, who mostly derive
their income or pensions from tax dollars, spoke in favor of keeping the
impact fee, a majority of the council members got cold feet and ganged up on
one of the sponsors, Shrodes, and unveiled a compromise while Guthrie was
conveniently, in the words of Council President Billy Boniface, "out of
town" and unable to be contacted.
Under this plan,
the impact fee tax won't be killed completely, just rolled back about 30
percent to its original level of $6,000 for a single family house,
marginally less for a townhouse or condo. Outnumbered, Guthrie, who
"returned" for the council meeting the same evening reluctantly watched his
repeal bill killed by the six other council members, Shrodes included. Weep
not for Guthrie, however, since his bill was done with ulterior motives in
the first place, as he has long wanted to replace the impact fee with a
higher property transfer tax.
It appears the
council members, regardless of political or ideological stripe, just
couldn't bear to part with tax revenue and are willing to risk political
consequences to keep taxing. In the prevailing economic and political
climate, it makes little sense to protect a tax like this, which has
furnished far less revenue than its backers claimed it would.
But fear not,
the council has set up one of those proverbial blue ribbon committees to
study other sources of revenue — and taxes. Conveniently, the panel's work
isn't due to be completed until at least Dec. 15, 2010, a month following
the next election.
When it comes to
taxes, it's hard to say which way these folks may jump when the water gets
hot.
--Allan Vought
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