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by Chelsea Magwire
Every day, I hear of another 5+ generation Vermonter who feels they may need to leave their home, just to have a chance at successfully raising their family. Across the nation, wages aren’t keeping up with inflation or the cost of living.
Here in Vermont, we’re having taxes raised on top of new taxes each year, with no end in sight. The reason? As blue state retirees find homes in our more “lively” regions, progressives gain more of a foothold in our legislature.
It’s not a secret that Democrats in Montpelier are told how to vote on each bill. “This person is here and this person is here. Watch them for how you are to vote.” And they follow suit, partially because penalties can include losing your committee assignment or having an embarrassing hit-piece published about you. The party scratches their backs, too, though.
In 2023, Democrats supported a bill designed to double the pay of legislators by 2027. Who pays for this? I’m sure you can guess. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
Education: This year, property taxes have gone up about 14% in Vermont. A big portion of that is due to an increase in education taxes. Education is absolutely important — but Vermont schools are asking for more and more money while there is no improvement on student outcomes. We spend the third most on education in the US, but the majority of our students are reading below grade level and our combined 4th and 8th grade students placed 20th in the US in mathematics testing. Vermont has failed to adopt proposals to increase academic transparency and parents rights in education.
In 2022, the VT Legislature passed Act 127, which allows the state to disperse education funds to districts as they deem necessary. More funding will be given to low-income, rural, or English-learning communities, assuming they will cost more to educate.
Classism? Perhaps. What this really means is the price-per-pupil you see on your annual school report is inflated and inaccurate, in order to obtain more funding. Some have recognized this as a DEI measure.
One issue, however, is many families aren’t sending students to public school. We’ve seen a decrease in enrollment over the last two decades, and as of 2023 around 9% of students attend private school, and over 4% of families homeschool. That means these families are paying out of pocket to educate their children, and their neighbors’ children. The elderly on fixed incomes without children in the school system at all are also paying. Where’s the “equity” in that?
Payroll Tax: Effective July 1, 2024, this is a rebranded income tax that levies both employers and employees (employers are paying the majority of the tax), as well as self-employed individuals. The purpose is to inject $120 million annually from Vermonters into the childcare system. Designed to offset the cost of childcare in Vermont, an issue that impacts most families.
This looks great on paper, however, during the pandemic we saw the owners of many childcare centers purchasing new vehicles instead of increasing employee wages or purchasing new equipment for the children with the federal dollars they received.
Despite the firm regulations Vermont has in place, families find themselves concerned with the wellbeing of their children while in the care of strangers. Every couple of months there are new reports of abuse in a Vermont daycare. There are also questions about childhood development and how that is impacted by the current daycare model. Parents sometimes feel their children are better off with them, and so families are having to weigh the cost of living on one, or one and a half, incomes. These families are living off of less money and still paying for the childcare centers they’re choosing not to utilize.
Housing: Housing is admittedly a more complex and nuanced issue. Vermont has seen a recent net growth of around 3000 residents. Many of those individuals are housed in motels, or are unhoused altogether. There aren’t enough apartments or other rental units to go around, but with the current state of the housing market buying a home is unattainable to the average Vermonter. Even worse, Act 250 makes it difficult for new housing to be built. Vermonters have been demanding Act 250 reform for around a half a century.
In 2024, H.687 became law. This “compromise” relaxes Act 250’s reach in existing development centers, while extending its reach in rural areas. That means it will be easier to develop housing complexes in areas where zoning is already in place, but it will be more difficult to build homes (and farms) in less densely populated areas of the state. This does not address the housing issue for families who desire to own a home AND land. It also does not address the fact that rising costs for homeowners also means rising rent prices, which makes renting in Vermont more difficult, as well.
Global Warming Solutions Act: Referred by most as the “Carbon Tax”, Vermont’s Climate Council aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030. This is outlined in Act 153, which was passed in 2020. One part of this plan is the “Clean Heat Standard”, which failed in 2022 and has since been rebranded as the “Affordable Heat Act”. This was passed in 2023 (S.5) with a built-in study period. Ignoring the fact that Vermont is already carbon negative, this is up for a vote again during the 2025 session, and is likely to be voted on in January.
One issue is that older homes (ubiquitous in Vermont) may not be heated efficiently with an electric heat pump. Rural Vermonters experience frequent power outages in the colder months, sometimes for days on end. Out of concern for our youngest and oldest neighbors, someone asked Orange County Senator Mark MacDonald (D) about this. His response? “J* C*, buy a blanket.” Vermonters who choose safety over compliance will be forced to pay massively inflated costs to heat their homes. More than the average family can afford.
Upon speaking with other Vermonters aged 25-45, the sentiments were widely the same. Vermont seems to prefer people like us (working class, family oriented, generational Vermonters) move out in order to make room for wealthy, progressive, out-of-staters. In fact, Senator MacDonald can also be credited for saying that if Vermonters can’t afford their homes, someone else will. The Senator is far from the only Vermont lawmaker who shares this sentiment, as is evidenced by the recent onslaught of new fees and taxes designed to send our money to inefficient social programs. The crisis we’re facing in Vermont is a crisis the Legislature created.
In addition to wealthy out-of-staters buying homes at a high cost most Vermonters have no ability to pay, transient residents coming from out of state because of our social programs are receiving money, healthcare, and sometimes housing not available to the working class. This is a slap in the face to many Vermonters who are struggling to get by and contemplating leaving their homes and families behind in order to give their children a chance at a good life.
These are only some of the reasons we must carefully consider who we vote for this November. Social issues and inter-party disputes are meaningless if there are no Vermonters in Vermont to work with. Our first priority needs to be ensuring Vermont remains a place we can enjoy for what it was meant to be, not for what a few wealthy retirees want it to be. They package their vision with things that sound good – belonging, equity, compassion – and sell us all out in the process. Where are the native Vermonters to belong if this continues?
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Categories: Taxes
When we got our property tax bill it was expected, no, dreaded, but hugely unwelcome. One thing is certain. If we send Democrat/Progressives to Montpelier, they will tax us to death and perdition. No matter what they say now, how glib their speeches, how reasonable they may sound, it is all a show. They will burn up your money faster than the devil himself could. Vermont ‘s total budget is 8.6 billion dollars. We get a very tiny bang for all those bucks. If we give the Dems a veto-proof majority again, they will vote to double their salaries and benefits.
Perfectly stated!
Thank you, Chelsea, for this clear-headed assessment of the tragic situation in Vermont. It is astounding that voters in Vermont keep electing and empowering the agents of their own destruction. This is a death wish—suicide on a statewide scale.
We seem to embrace suicide in progressive Vermont…even inviting people from out of state to come and join in. When a junkie engages in suicidal behavior by the use of street opioids though, we expend all efforts to save them…progressive logic.
Brilliant piece, Chelsea. Bravo! Every writer would be well-served by reading it and seeing how an argument should be constructed. A perfect mix of the history of each piece of legislation, its intent, and its actual downstream effects. Plus, to mention a good look at the arrogance of our legislature. I look forward to reading more of your work.
Most “real ” Vermonters who are generational, see the Vermont they grew up in being destroyed, by the new generation of progressives, that hate your way of life,
what we have are brainwashed agenda agenda-driven fools, just look at the policies that our so-called ” Super Majority ” what they have proposed for the future of you and your family financially………………….. Stupid Majority !!
They are cancer, that will eventually destroy the state as we are seeing today, by their frivolous policies that your taxes fund, that is pushing most Vermonters out, and those moving in, are mostly in Montpelier working under the golden doom……..yes doom and gloom.
Wake up people, save the state vote these pathetic fools out !!
Interesting, I hear the same comments from many people in other States, like California, Maine, Oregon, Illinois, Washington, Maryland, Rhode Island, etc. Could it be a coincidence that so many States, East to West, North to South, in these United States are plagued with the same issues and tone-deaf leadership? In sports, they call it a playbook. In real life, it’s called a reset/wealth transfer.
They want you out so they can have all their trust fund baby friends that are able to pay the tax come in and enable the Commiecrat policies and programs they propose. There will be only two classes of people in Vermont. The Commiecrat progressives that will live in the rural areas and the and the cities full of useful idiots getting freebees and will keep voting for the people giving them the free stuff.
I have had property in Townshend since 1953, some 157 acres of woods. I’ve fought high assessments, multiple times. The Lister’s Handbook states some 51 places land value has to be based on Fair Market Value. Lister’s ignore this and value property based on “I feel what the property is worth”. Listers are brainwashed by the VT Tax Dept to get what you can get. The Lister neighbor isn’t a good neighbor. It’s costly and time consuming to fight for what is right.
As per the article, the taxers want to force long time residents into a force sell and move. State wanting only the rich Flatlanders in VT and can pay the excessive property taxes. Therefore I have a solution the towns and state won’t like.
I will sell, when forced to, to large Mexican, foreign poor families and load up the school systems with all their kids and be on welfare from town & state. It will decrease local property values, the town will have a hard time with the CPA and Grand List establishing town values. The bureaucrats cannot stop a sale with you holding the property deed. Bear in mind, with property tax, the town owns the property and all improvements., the “owner” just rents via taxes. You should look into Land Grants. have a lot of such documents to fight the tax / property owner system. You have to get involved to protect your rights. What happened to “Life, Liberty, and Property”, including Freedom? Taxes means that a person is a slave to the town and state.
It’s a status of continually fighting greedy—controlling Montpelier and all the bureaucrats. Footnote: If 65 and over, in Conservative Alabama, no property taxes. Also hunting and fishing licenses are free. People are moving to the south to exist.
I moved to Vermont a flatlander so to speak as I have ancestors (2-3 generational split) from Derby Line, the Nelson family, who originally came from Scotland via Nova Scotia. My point is simply that the people I respect in this state the most are the ones that have been for generations. Good solid hard working people. It’s such a shame to see them being financially screwed over. Senator MacDonald, your attitude is inflammatory and downright cruel.
The Evansville Trading Post is due to close permanently on September 2. The store and its inventory are currently for sale. A Brownington town committee applied to get a grant from the state to buy it so that it would be run by the town, but after leaving them on the hook for a couple of years, the state backed out.
Funny how the diversicrat state of Vermont will not intervene to preserve this important relic of Abenaki culture. The late Ralph Swett, Chief Lone Cloud, did so much to keep it alive, with national Pow Wows. More recently, the Swetts hosted a very well-attended harvest festival at the Trading Post. Brownington will now be a food desert with the only stores miles away in Orleans and the only year-round restaurant located in Westmore. Be that as it may: this is an ideal spot for a restaurant, farmer’s market, convenience store or what you will. There is extensive space available for parking, and the property includes a historic church with a bell tower.
https://www.facebook.com/etpstore/
I grew up in Orleans, and my grandfather Enoch claimed we were part Abenaki, so I attended a class put on by Mrs. Swett and performed at one of the pow wow’s in Evansville, probably about 20 years ago. I loved going in there and walking around the store growing up! It’s too bad what the state is doing to business owners. Communities shouldn’t have to suffer because of the greed.
What people are largely missing here is that this is INTENTIONAL! The carpetbaggers who are occupying Montpelier are there specifically to drive out generational VT’ers AND long-term middle-income Vermonters in order to replace them with their “diverse” urbanite population comprised of “people of color”, “migrants” from the deepest of the African Continent, and illegal aliens in order to purposely destroy & alter America’s culture, Judeo-Christian faith foundations, and to eventually & most importantly: critically & permanently change election results.
To keep pleading with democrat-socialist legislators regarding your woes of being banished from your own state will bear no fruit whatsoever. The only way to even begin to change the trajectory of the fate you envision or are experiencing is to remain and fight tooth & nail. And some of us have fight left in us, and some of us do not, with personal circumstances that may take precedence. Defeating this uni-party of Communists & Marxists requires a genuine GOP organization, an influx of real money in order to challenge legislation & unconstitutional policies, and a stalwart leader like the nation has in Trump who cannot be bullied, swayed, or discouraged.
In the end though, the very end – God wins. Which means of course right triumphs over might and corruption and the evils it promotes are defeated. The world will be saved, but indeed Vermont itself might be lost during the ensuing era; lost to a government that no longer recognized God as the “Supreme Judge of the world” and the “the protection of Divine Providence” as our founding fathers did —-
JOHN ADAMS WRITES:
We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion.
Avarice, ABMITION, revenge, or gallantry would BREAK the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net.
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.
Again, the founding fathers were either men with exceptional intellect or prophesiers of what was to come in our own day and age.
We’re neither ‘old’ Vermonters nor ‘new’ Vermonters, having been here since 1970. However, I will not vote for the same old representatives. They want bigger salaries; why????????? Because they work SO hard. Hahaha. Let’s all vote for someone who says something and really means it and follows through!!!!!!!!!!!
Agreed. There are ONLY Vermonters, i.e.: Americans — and the “democrat” socialists (i.e.: Communists) who are now occupying the statehouse & the boneheaded constituents who keep voting “D” as though programmed inanimate robots are the enemy here.
My point is as always – it’s not average, law-abiding hard-working Americans who have instigated this dangerous movement, but specifically Communists who are working to undermine this country, destroy it economically, culturally, & academically and replace our system of governance with COMMUNISM!
It’s but a few old-school folks who repeatedly keep deriding originally “out-of-state” individuals and families who relocated to Vermont (in the same manner as many born-and-raised Vermonters relocated out-of-state themselves) as though the “culprits” for the massive deconstruction of this entire nation we are all witnessing.
They will never be convinced though. Grandpa’s fears about “outsiders” still echos from the beyond. They’ll never recognize the actual enemy until it’s FAR too late.
Whether old or new Vermonter, we are all affected by property taxes!!!! Let us ALL think about where our votes in November are going. Do you want higher salaries for legislators (because they work SO hard-hahaha) or because they look out for the average person. Do they campaign with some words and, when elected, do differently?
This has been the plan for 50 yrs or better. We are a playground for the rich with just enough lower class around to keep the lights on and things running.
“High taxes driving out native Vermonters” The dickens you say ! This ain’t news folks ! I ain’t no Nostrodamus, and I’ve been seeing it for years ! I guess maybe this revalation is another case of “better late than never” unless late is too late .
I am a 7th generation Vermonter. I have sold my house and leaving. Had enough.