THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 11, 1995 TAG: 9502090029
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 41 lines
I had a sense of deja vu while reading the front page article on tax reduction, ``What Virginia can learn from New Jersey'' (Jan. 31).
I moved to North Carolina from New Hampshire after retirement because of New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu's anti-tax stance. Here's what he did:
1. Ensured very high property taxes in rural communities because New Hampshire is 50th in state support for education - less than 8 percent. (Nebraska is 49th with 28 percent.)
2. Pushed state Medicaid liability to the county level where they get it from your property taxes.
3. Perpetuated an ``illiquid'' real-estate market. (Who wants to buy into such a tax structure?) Guess what happens to the property values under these circumstances?
My property tax on a modest home in New Hampshire was more than 6 percent of assessed valuation. California has a limit of 1 percent and Massachusetts of 2.5 percent. New Hampshire claims it has no income tax, but when you retire on interest and dividend income, you find out that these are the only two incomes which are taxed. In short, the state has an unbalanced tax structure which hit me when I could least afford it and forced me to ``vote with my feet.''
Want to reduce taxes? First you'd better really reduce expenditures, not just shuffle budgets or refinance bond issues. Don't place a hidden burden on future generations, such as shortchanging education to build prisons.
Smoke and mirrors don't really reduce taxes. Hard work and innovative thinking are required. The bull-in-the-china-shop approach to destroying a government which has taken 200 years to develop might get a few cheers, but it's like the reputation of Chinese food: It won't stick to your ribs.
WILLIAM BECK
Hertford, N.C., Jan. 31, 1995 by CNB