Bernie Sanders
Bernie Sanders doesn't under that eliminating the taxes on land hurts the poor:
- "We became the first municipality in Vermont to develop progressive alternatives to the property tax. Every day, people flocked to the city in order to work, play and enjoy our active nightlife; it was right that they contribute to the city services they enjoyed. We established the first municipal Meals and Rooms tax in the state. After a court battle, the utilities were forced to pay for the damage done whey they tore up our streets for utility work. "
- "\[In the 1981 mayoral race\] one of my most widely noticed positions was strong opposition to a huge increase in the property tax proposed by Mayor Paquette. He calculated that with only token resistance (mine), he could slip the tax hike by without suffering any negative political effect. I kept stressing my opposition not only to this particular tax increase but also to the very concept of the property tax. Property taxes are highly regressive and hurt, in particular, low- and moderate-income citizens, especially senior citizens. During the campaign, I proposed that Burlington break its dependence on the property tax and develop a fair and progressive tax system to fund municipal services and local education. "
- "The property tax, the major source of funding for education and municipal services in VT, is regressive because it is not based on ability to pay. Many senior citizens and working people were (and are) paying far more in property taxes than they can afford on their limited incomes. For 7 straight years I did not raise the general property tax for homeowners in Burlington. At the same time, I fought hard for more progressive forms of taxation.
- "We did become the first municipality in Vermont to develop alternatives to the property tax. After a major struggle against many of the restaurant owners, we implemented a 1% room-and-meal tax. We also passed a classification system of taxation which raised to 120% the tax rate on commercial and industrial property."
Bernie has swallowed the big lie that property tax is regressive. This lie is based on ignoring all corporate and investment property that is taxed and assuming that property tax is passed on to tenants. In fact there is a negative correlation between property tax rates and rents. Within population categories, the cities with the highest tax rates tend to have the lowest housing prices and rents