Vermont Democrats’ and Progressives’ first priority is to pass a mandatory, government-run paid family leave program that will require a new payroll tax. This proposal demonstrates exactly why Vermont is an unaffordable, unfriendly place to live and do business.
So, millennials, it may seem nice that Senator Balint is putting her arm around you sympathetically and lamenting your plight. But, you might want to consider that she is the source of your pain.
Here two takes on a carbon tax from two very different Vermonters. It’s hard to argue with either of these guys.
One onerous statistic is that in 2019 America’s population will be made up of more 60-plus-year-olds than under-18-year-olds. And according to Marc Freedman, an expert on aging and founder of Encore.org, it only gets worse in 2035.
If the objective is to eliminate a lot of the mid-level bureaucracy at the supervisory union level while — and this is key — devolving decision-making power back to local principals and local volunteer school boards, this would be great.
It’s transparently clear that the driving theme of the commission’s recommendations will be state regulation of as much land-related activity as can be swept under Act 250, to assure that our march to become the Perfect Little Climate Conscious State continues unabated.
“Two employees of SunCommon, the VPIRG for-profit spin-off that feeds on renewable energy subsidies, plus the wife of the company’s president now serve in the Vermont House.”
Vermont, with the second-smallest population, is the greenest state. Even if you accept the most dire claims of the climate alarmists, a carbon tax imposed on Vermont would not have any significant or even measurable impact on our climate. It would be symbolic.
The reasons why people move into and out of Vermont are extremely telling. For people moving into Vermont, 34 percent are moving in for a job. But 86 percent of people moving out of Vermont are moving out for a job.
None of the 10 ideas listed would seize money from Vermonters for redistribution. All are designed to create consumer choice, jobs and tax revenue and significantly reduce emissions.
With “vilest hypocrisy,” to borrow Friedrich Engels’ words, the elites vanquish Vermont’s working men and women, and then create elaborate welfare traps in the name of self-virtue and compassion or charity.
It shouldn’t be a surprise that the avowed “democratic socialist” went with the predictable “tax the rich” formula in order to pay for a massive government program to combat climate change. But it would hardly be good news for most Americans if Ocasio-Cortez got her way.