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IN OUR OPINION... Seriously, folks... The Massachusetts legislature let a bill prohibiting insurance companies from using credit scores as a reason to deny coverage expire a couple of months back. That set the insurance industry free to tell people with less than perfect credit that they could not purchase market-rate insurance. That sent homeowners, for example, scurrying to the Massachusetts Fair plan, an insurance co-op of last resort. That organization charges more than double what private companies can collect for homeowners insurance. The legislature is considering re-imposing the ban on using credit scores as a reason to deny coverage. If the Senators and Representatives want to do some good for their constituents, they should move this item to the top of the legislative agenda and get this bill passed. Now. Almost Got it Right The Commonwealth almost got it right a couple of months ago when the Department of Revenue ran a tax amnesty moment so that people couple pay up their back taxes. They reduced the fees and penalties for delinquency. The only problem was that the time allowed to raise the money and make the payment was too short to let many people take advantage of the program. And payment in full was required. No budget plans. Penalty fees and interest charges are a common punishment for failing to pay on time. But paying such fees produces no benefit to the customer. They just make it harder to catch up. The Commonwealth and its communities are considering higher fees and penalties to help make up for other revenue shortfalls. Bad idea. Why not try the opposite approach and reduce or waive fees and charges to make it easier for taxpayers to meet their obligations? Punishing people for falling behind only exacerbates the problem. Why not try a more intelligent approach in these difficult times? A Different Approach In recent years, budget makers in cities and town across Massachusetts have taken the simple approach. They look at how much money is available from the local tax levy, add in state aid and that's how much they spend during the year. Budgets never seem to shrink. Schools always claim the children need the services, the programs and the transportation. Now that state aid is crashing along with tax revenues, cities and towns are in a panic to hike fees and charges to replace the missing revenue. They argue they need the money to preserve necessary services. Bad idea. Every dollar taken by fees and charges comes from homes and businesses that are struggling to stay afloat. Fees are an uneven collection system, where taxes, in theory, can be designed with equity in mind. The "If you've got it, spend it" approach of past decades isn't going to work this time. Communities may actually have to step back to the old notion of Zero-based Budgeting and start over -- by justifying every position and every expenditure. They may have to look at debt service and demand lower rate restructuring from their bankers. And yes, perhaps fewer teacher aides, hall monitors, fewer costly special programs and, heaven forbid, slightly larger class sizes. The ultimate funding source - the public - is finally run dry. At the end of the day, we can probably do nicely with fewer police guarding construction ditches, fewer assistants and assistant commissioners, fewer cushy SUV police cruisers and a great deal more care spending the public's dollars. Gasoline Pump Adjustment When gasoline prices went through the roof, we stopped driving. Gasoline prices returned to $2 per gallon. It seems like one of the few places where the old-fashioned notion of supply and demand really do control price. So why wait? The price of gasoline just went up 20 cents a gallon. No big deal, maybe, but if everyone reacted now by driving just a little bit less or shared a ride or combined a trip to the hardware store with a trip to the grocery store, we might create a smaller shock in the supply chain that would create a smaller downward pressure on prices. Try it Tuesday. Walling in the Monoculture It is difficult to say just when the change occurred but the technology investment must have been huge. It required interlinked systems for checking credit, measuring behaviors and predicting risk. All that took decades, but it it done. The result? First, a generation of young adults imbued with the certainty that permission is requisite to any new venture. That, of course, begs the question of where exactly to go get permission for something that hasn't been tried before or, even, who will give it. Next, a standard to sameness for acceptance, i.e. A good credit check is now required before homeowners insurance will issue from the private insurance companies. Certain animals on the premises? Denied. German Shepherd dogs are listed as dangerous, unacceptable. Denied (even if they are trained as helpers for the disabled. Farm animals? Denied. Living on Cape Cod? Too dangerous. Denied. A Century old maple tree on the property? Denied. It might fall on the house. Oddly, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is complicit. The state created an insurance pool of last resort, to help those rejected as too risky. Now all the homes in Plymouth County are in that pool as are all the bad credit reports and many of the folks with a cow or a horse or a goat out back. And the premium costs are more than double private rates. That leaves the private sector with lowered risk and better customers in their portfolios. Should a hurricane slam the Cape, well, the state fund will take care of it. And once more the message that differences are dangerous and will not be tolerated is reinforced. In a Word, "NO" Headlines in the local newspapers (remember them?) recently have announced Worcester's plans to raise an extra $500,000 by increasing fees and fines. Even better, the state legislature is about ready to start debating a $900 million in new revenues. The folks who labor in government are pretty sure their work is important. They make rules, they enforce the rules and they impose fees -- and penalties for not paying those fees. Important work. Along the way they seem to have spent our money while forgetting to fix our roads, keep our bridges in top shape and maintaining our school buildings and so on. So tax revenues are falling. Why? Because people who cannot find jobs don't eat out so much or shop in malls so much or drive so far or buy new cars. Gee. It does seem as if the legislature has no stomach for Gov. Patrick's plan to hike our gasoline tax by 18 cents a gallon to pay for stuff that should already be paying for itself like the Mass Pike and the big dig. That's a good thing. If that were to go through, someone might suggest a Boston Harbor Gasoline Tax Party. Perish that thought. Oh, there are plenty of folks who have deluded themselves into thinking that paying higher gasoline prices is a good thing because it encourages conservation. And adding on to the bottle law because now people get water in bottles, not just soda. Smokers are already taking it in the neck from new taxes and can't fight back because smoking is not good for you. But here's the real point. Government, like the people it is supposed to serve, should be figuring our how to charge less, provide what services are needed and generally tax less. That $900 million from a bump in the sales tax would do a whole lot more good if left in the pockets of the people who worked for it and earned it. Let your elected representatives know that if you want. They are, after all, elected. And most of them want to keep their jobs. IN OUR OPINION... The System Is Broken - 1 "We are sorry for the delay but all of our representatives are helping other customers. Please stay on the line and someone will be with you shortly." How many times have you heard that and waited 20 or more minutes to get a simple question answered? Are call volumes "unusually high" or do these companies simply not have enough folks answering the phones? Here's an idea -- hire a few more call center representatives. Answer more calls in less time. Give a few folks badly needed jobs. The System Is Broken - 2 In Massachusetts we have annual automobile inspections. If your car is Rejected, its gets a RED sticker. That means do not drive it until the problem is repaired. Here's the question then. If the problem is, say a cracked windshield and the inspection station doesn't replace windshields it is against the law to drive the car to a place that does replace windshields. The right way would be to have the vehicle towed. Hey buddy, can you spare a hundred bucks? 2-14- 09 -- GOVERNOR Deval Patrick is absolutely wrong to consider hiking the state gasoline tax to help pay for the Big Dig and straighten out the Mass Pike's fiscal mess. No doubt those are grave problems closer to Boston, but the governor is making a mistake of gigantic proportion if he means to have the rest of Massachusetts taxpayers foot those bills. Ask someone from the L.S. Starrett Co. who just got his or her hours cut if they can afford a 10-plus percent hike in the cost of gasoline. Ask anyone working at Wal-Mart or Home Depot for $10 an hour. Ask anyone whose 401K has evaporated if they can afford to pay the bill for a toll road they do not use. Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia said, "A toll road, (also known as a tollway, turnpike, pike, or toll highway, especially if it is constructed to freeway standards), is a road for which a driver pays a toll (that is, a fee) for use. Structures for which tolls are charged include toll bridges and toll tunnels." That's pretty simple. Use it -- pay for it. Don't use it. Don't pay. Yes, other highway projects are funded by fuel or other taxes. But in this case, in these times and in this economy, asking all the state's taxpayers to shoulder added tax burden is worse that counterintuitive. It would be a hardship. We ask State Sen. Brewer and Reps. Anne Gobi and Chris Donelan to stand hard and fast against any gasoline tax increase. In this case, we'd prefer to pay for government services we use. 2-16-09 -- If anyone can find a hint of common sense or political strategy in the Republicans' near total rejection of the economic bailout plan, would you please let us know? No Republican in the House of Representatives voted to support the plan. Only three Republicans in the Senate stepped up. In four years, are these people going to be saying, "Well, THAT didn't work and we didn't vote for it. Vote for us."? John McCain is sounding like a manic banshee of negativism. The Democrats may not have all the right stuff, but from here, it looks like homeowners need help and the jobless need help and the banks need help and the automakers need help and small business needs help. The list grows daily. This is no time to take the ball and glove and leave the field like spoiled children. In four years, we could have just one political party left and it won't start with R.
Call or write:
DAY - D. Tatlock To find out who your legislators are, visit the Massachusetts legislature's website at www.state.ma.us/legis . Or just look at the bottom left hand corner of the home page. Send all snail mail to: The Honorable (name of your state representative/state senator) State House, Boston, MA 02133. Your representatives all have e-mail addresses as well. Sometimes it is a good thing to live at the top of a hill.
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Wrong economics
Assume, if y9u will, that people in government truly believe that what they do for the rest of is is truly necessary work. It follows that they want to keep on collecting trash, teaching kids, fixing highways and regulating pretty much every detail of daily life. Consider, the weight of the burdens that the rest of us face paying for their services. Raising the sales tax to 6.25 cents? That will take money out of every pocket in the state. Worse, it will require effort and expense to reset all the Point of Sale systems and will require that certain stores account separately for sales in multiple locations. Taxing more for liquor? Again, money disappearing from pockets. Higher cigarette taxes? These changes assure that folks near New Hampshire will make the time and save the money. And while those shoppers are in New Hampshire, they may shop there for other things. That will increase the pressure on retailers and restaurateurs who are struggling to survive the downturn. Government at all levels needs to re-assess our needs before it continues on. Maybe it is time to reduce taxes to leave the money where it can help fix the economy -- in people's pockets. Too Much of a Good Thing Gov. Deval Patrick said the other day he is doing his part to rein in state spending. He has reduced his office staff by 4 positions. Let's see now, that brings the total down to 67 people - paid employees. Would that be one to drive the car, one to go for the coffee, one to make sure the photocopy machine is kept filled, a couple of speech writers, one to straighten the state flag, one to polish the doorknobs and... A staff of 67? How about a staff of seven instead? It's no wonder the state budget is out of control. Priming the Pumps Did you notice that gasoline prices have drifted up about 25 to 30 percent in the past few weeks? What a surprise. One might suppose there is some sort of reason for that other than another year of record shattering profits for oil companies. Did you or your neighbor get a 25 pay hike? More likely a 20 percent cut back in your hours. What are these people thinking of - themselves of course; certainly not the rest of us. Perhaps President Obama should come up with yet another rescue plan, one for real people. One that prevents speculators by taking back their bonuses. Isn't it about time for a dose of reality here? Linda Paquet of West Road Writes...
Hi Friends, Taxes Annoying you? Go North
Northfield to Pepperell -
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My wife and I were married in Petersham on Sept 22 of this year. I’ve been coming to Petersham ever since I was a boy; my Uncle had a place on Leighton Rd, and my Dad’s best friend was Windy Anderson, the Fire Chief. I’ve hunted in, fished in, and loved Petersham all my life. To me it’s the quintessential New England town. As the words of “Doc” Grisham (Burt Lancaster’s character) from the “Field of Dreams”, “Once a place touches you like this, the wind never blows so cold again”. During our wedding, we unfortunately interrupted the peace rally that was being held on the steps of the Church. We also, for the sake of photographs, took down the banner that was on the Church. Little did we know how much controversy there was regarding this banner. To folks on both side of the issue, we apologize. It wasn’t our intent to disrupt nor to disrespect. After the ceremony, most of the rest of my guests had left for the reception. We were finishing up the photos, when folks for the rally started to show up. It was obvious how much we had upset folks, and we really didn’t mean to. Now, I have to admit that my Dad, an Army man, may not have agreed, but my Mom raised me right. I did the only thing I could do; I ended up on the ladder putting the banner back up. Lucky for us, we had the photographer there to capture all the evidence! The thing I wanted to say though was this: I know that tensions may be strained due to the opinions and feelings of both sides to this issue. And I don’t want to offend either one. But I hope we can keep a couple things in mind. First off, we live in a wonderful country where even if I don’t approve of someone’s message, they have the right to say it! That is a freedom and a right that much of our world does not enjoy. And that’s one of the things that both sides of the argument are fighting for. The second thing is that peace begins at home. I’m proud to have helped folks with putting up that banner, even if I disagreed with them. And I’m glad my kids saw this event; an olive branch often takes the most unlikely form. Stealing terms from the 60’s, if Hawks and Doves here can’t get along, how can we hope to mend fences across the world? Issues that are facing our country, our world, and our children right now are very difficult. And they do tend to invoke severe reactions out of some folks. But I hope that as time goes by, folks on different sides of the fence can take a moment to notice that their neighbor on the other side isn’t so bad after all. Thanks everyone! We’ll see you at our anniversary! John S. Covey,
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