Agreed. One element of this Substack's success has been the biggest motivator to continue: it connects citizens from all walks of life and celebrates their disparity of opinion. Ideological uniformity kills common sense because argument is the oxygen that gives common sense life. That's why we see so much disconnect in government institutions large and small to their publics. I think the American system of governance is the most effective social construct the world has ever seen. But one of its flaws is that elected citizens—even those who go in seeking responsiveness—are no match for the professional bureaucratic class. The more my readers seek alternative points of view, the more leverage we have against the Establishment. At least, that's my theory :) Thanks for reading!
Thank you Carrie. I started out doing this as a lark and it's beginning to take over my life...in a good way. It started as a promotion for our newspaper archives. That's why the emphasis is on the context that history brings to policy. But I found that the archives are my TikTok. I get lost in them and don't come up for air for days. Just ask my husband. :)
Thank you, Tomi, for another informative article. I have a solution. If we continue our destructive growth trend in Valley County, developers should pay a proportional tax based on the costs of their long-range impacts. Residents and visitors should not be forced to subsidize developer profits, which is what is happening now, and who gladly pass the costs of their growth off to the public, who are then faced with levies and bonds to subsidize developer profits. When the numbers are crunched, we could save property taxpayers money and reduce tourist taxes. Tourists need to pay for their impact, too.
Who-pays-for-what is a rich topic that I have to bite off one little piece at a time. I haven't gotten to the subject of developers but it's on my radar. One way of looking at it is that tourists pay for their impact just by showing up and spending their money. Want to fix the workforce housing problem? Simple. Get rid of the tourists and the second homeowners! Recognizing the dependence of the local economy on tourism and selling pieces of paradise was essentially what John Edwards was trying to get at. The purpose of this Substack is to pull all those ideas of the past out of the closet. The case Edwards made was your case in reverse. Both are a bit extreme in my opinion. Just because John is now dead doesn't mean his argument is. However you or I or any of my readers come down on growth, it is still the central question we grapple with. So, I thought I'd dust John's side of it off because I haven't heard it aired in a while. If you haven't noticed, I love and curate arguments. As for what I think of the streets tax in particular...stay tuned.
Death and taxes ya know! One can't be avoided while the other live forever? LOT's the only one that interest me is for infrastructure needs in my mind, while others can easily get lost in the mud.. These small communities greatly benefit from the generation of funds and seeing's how tourism is essential to these towns, guess what, Tourists generate the most of it. I hope that Cascade stays the course on infrastructure, generally so far main St. and so called well traveled Roads get most the funds. Once the powers to be realize how much mud is left in town and how a limited sewer limits growth, things may greatly improve. Personally I'd like to see everything in this country work off sales taxes. Ya, I know, it supposedly would hurt the poor? There can be ways around that. We have so much to fix in this country and so little resources now that we've borrowed the printed money to the hilt. Good luck everyone!
I agree that local option taxes dedicated to infrastructure are the best use of this funding source. If I agree with the need, I like specialized taxes that have a very narrow focus. If they target a certain demographic, like visitors in the case of the LOTs, they should be spent on infrastructure that is worn down by tourists. BUT, the Donnelly tax and the McCall Tourist Tax, which dispense funds to civic groups, are popular. And they weren't sold with threats (as I argue McCity is doing with its Streets Tax). The voter was told where the money would go and they voted for it. I wasn't arguing against the taxes, I sought to explain where they came from and clear up confusion about what they do. Hopefully, that info gives McCall voters more confidence in the choice they are faced with in May, whatever that choice ends up being.
Thanks for taking the time to provide information. Common sense is a great attribute.
golfok
Agreed. One element of this Substack's success has been the biggest motivator to continue: it connects citizens from all walks of life and celebrates their disparity of opinion. Ideological uniformity kills common sense because argument is the oxygen that gives common sense life. That's why we see so much disconnect in government institutions large and small to their publics. I think the American system of governance is the most effective social construct the world has ever seen. But one of its flaws is that elected citizens—even those who go in seeking responsiveness—are no match for the professional bureaucratic class. The more my readers seek alternative points of view, the more leverage we have against the Establishment. At least, that's my theory :) Thanks for reading!
Reading your thoughtful (and entertaining!) work has become the best part of my Sunday mornings. Love learning history and policy from you, Tomi!
Thank you Carrie. I started out doing this as a lark and it's beginning to take over my life...in a good way. It started as a promotion for our newspaper archives. That's why the emphasis is on the context that history brings to policy. But I found that the archives are my TikTok. I get lost in them and don't come up for air for days. Just ask my husband. :)
Thank you, Tomi, for another informative article. I have a solution. If we continue our destructive growth trend in Valley County, developers should pay a proportional tax based on the costs of their long-range impacts. Residents and visitors should not be forced to subsidize developer profits, which is what is happening now, and who gladly pass the costs of their growth off to the public, who are then faced with levies and bonds to subsidize developer profits. When the numbers are crunched, we could save property taxpayers money and reduce tourist taxes. Tourists need to pay for their impact, too.
Who-pays-for-what is a rich topic that I have to bite off one little piece at a time. I haven't gotten to the subject of developers but it's on my radar. One way of looking at it is that tourists pay for their impact just by showing up and spending their money. Want to fix the workforce housing problem? Simple. Get rid of the tourists and the second homeowners! Recognizing the dependence of the local economy on tourism and selling pieces of paradise was essentially what John Edwards was trying to get at. The purpose of this Substack is to pull all those ideas of the past out of the closet. The case Edwards made was your case in reverse. Both are a bit extreme in my opinion. Just because John is now dead doesn't mean his argument is. However you or I or any of my readers come down on growth, it is still the central question we grapple with. So, I thought I'd dust John's side of it off because I haven't heard it aired in a while. If you haven't noticed, I love and curate arguments. As for what I think of the streets tax in particular...stay tuned.
Death and taxes ya know! One can't be avoided while the other live forever? LOT's the only one that interest me is for infrastructure needs in my mind, while others can easily get lost in the mud.. These small communities greatly benefit from the generation of funds and seeing's how tourism is essential to these towns, guess what, Tourists generate the most of it. I hope that Cascade stays the course on infrastructure, generally so far main St. and so called well traveled Roads get most the funds. Once the powers to be realize how much mud is left in town and how a limited sewer limits growth, things may greatly improve. Personally I'd like to see everything in this country work off sales taxes. Ya, I know, it supposedly would hurt the poor? There can be ways around that. We have so much to fix in this country and so little resources now that we've borrowed the printed money to the hilt. Good luck everyone!
I agree that local option taxes dedicated to infrastructure are the best use of this funding source. If I agree with the need, I like specialized taxes that have a very narrow focus. If they target a certain demographic, like visitors in the case of the LOTs, they should be spent on infrastructure that is worn down by tourists. BUT, the Donnelly tax and the McCall Tourist Tax, which dispense funds to civic groups, are popular. And they weren't sold with threats (as I argue McCity is doing with its Streets Tax). The voter was told where the money would go and they voted for it. I wasn't arguing against the taxes, I sought to explain where they came from and clear up confusion about what they do. Hopefully, that info gives McCall voters more confidence in the choice they are faced with in May, whatever that choice ends up being.