78-01-B1

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Taxes

Transcript In California a court decision has outlawed the traditional financing of public schools by local property tax on the grounds that some school districts are poorer than others in real estate values. Naturally this has caused an automatic turn to the state as the only source of funding some 1100 districts on an equal base. California doesn't face this problem alone. More than 20 states -- perhaps your own -- have switched from local property tax funding since 1971. That was the year a high-powered movement began to centralize school funding at the state level. Those pushing the move were very well aware that control of funding would also mean control of education and that was really their goal. Up in Maine, a statewide property tax was adopted in 1973 with the enthusiastic support of the Maine Teachers association -- an affiliate of the National Education association. Prior to 1973 the citizens of each Maine community met at annual town meetings and voted on the budget for specific local programs including education. Since their decisions had a direct effect on local property tax rates, economy dictated those decisions. Under the new system, the state set the uniform property tax rate and then returned to each community an amount based on the number of children enrolled in school. This meant of course, that some towns found themselves supporting their own schools as well as schools in other towns. At first those "other towns" -- the ones benefiting from the new system -- were happy as clams. Of course, the towns that had to share their revenues had a legitimate beef and they weren't long in starting to complain. But they weren't alone in their misery for long. School budgets began to move skyward as the public school establishment lobbied for and got from the state legislature all the things it had always wanted. And, of course, the statewide property tax climbed right along with those skyrocketing school budgets. The people of Maine did more than just complain. On December 5th they went to the polls in a statewide referendum and voted three to two for repeal of the statewide tax. Their campaign went up against the school establishment and the National Conference of State Legislatures, which has been plumping for a statewide system all over the country. The move to repeal was, for the most part, a grass roots affair and the issue was local budget control. If this action by the people of Maine is the forerunner of a national move toward more authority and autonomy at the local level and a return of such by the federal government to the states, government will cost less and we might look around some day and find inflation "went that-a-way". This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening.		Details Batch Number 78-01-B1 Production Date 01/09/1978 Book/Page RPtV-251 Audio Youtube? No
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