I know many of you heard about this at Town Meeting, but the event is important enough for all of us that I take the liberty of saying it again here in a letter.
A 10-word change in the rules that govern how the House of Representatives conducts itself will for the first time that I know of put in place a structural requirement at the state level for the vetting by a money committee of the House of all legislation that will affect the property tax.
To date only legislation affecting state taxes was required to be reviewed. Now that same requirement will apply to local revenues as well.
This change came about through the efforts of Rep. John Moran, of Wardsboro, the late Rep. Rick Hube, of Londonderry, and myself. We met for breakfast in Wardsboro a year ago to talk about how to ease the burden of property taxes. As a result, we formed a group of three Democrats, three Republicans, one Progressive, and one Independent. From that group came draft legislation that ultimately ended up with this rule change.
I would like to especially commend Representative Moran as the legislator who made sure that this effort did not languish or fall between the cracks of the legislative process. He deserves a great deal of credit for its success.
The job now for all of us who care about the burden of the property tax is to use this tool wisely to keep shining the bright light on efforts to further burden the property tax, wherever they might originate. No more should we tolerate political promises of no new taxes when they do not also mean the property tax.
Sincerely,
Rep. Ann Manwaring
Wilmington
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