Our Stupid Politics: "Donor Towns"

Narrowly beating out "View Tax" (0.00 / 0)

for Stupid Tax Meme of the Year.

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by: elwood @ Wed Mar 26, 2008 at 06:10:11 AM CDT

Donor? No. (4.00 / 1)

The entire concept of a "donor town" misses out on the fact that education is a societal good and not a familial good.  We have public education not so your kids (or mine) have a place to go all day and get educated, but so that ALL kids can have an educated and become intelligent citizens, educated voters and productive workers.

We all benefit from public education whether we have children or not, and whether those children are educated in the public schools or not.  The benefits are at different levels, but as a society we all benefit far more than the $10,000 or whatever we pay annually in property taxes.

That's point one.  I know you were being a little funny with calling yourself a donor homeowner since your kids are already through, but a lot of seniors really think that way.  The fact is that people whose kids have gone through the public schools are actually debtor homeowners.  Without the daytime care of kids in schools, there is little chance that the jobs or the homes people have would exist.  Career advancement would be harder if you had to care for the kids yourself, or educate them yourself.  If they had to pay for private school, the size of house you could afford would be smaller.

We make more money, we have more leisure time, our government works better, our elections make more sense, our shelves have better products, our businesses run smoother, etc., etc., etc., all because of public education.

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by: jwgoodwin @ Wed Mar 26, 2008 at 08:08:22 AM CDT

Similarly Bow benefits (4.00 / 1)

when Claremont has good schools.

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by: elwood @ Wed Mar 26, 2008 at 08:23:55 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

In the long run (4.00 / 1)

we all benefit by keeping Social Security solvent, and keeping America working.

"Poetry is not an expression of the party line. It's that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that's what the poet does." Allen Ginsberg

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by: JonnyBBad @ Wed Mar 26, 2008 at 09:33:07 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Thank you (4.00 / 3)

Elwood, thank you for this diary.  I have always said if we were to add up all the state revenues that come in from rooms and meals, liquor sales, lottery sales, gasoline taxes, car registration fees, transfer taxes, business profits taxes, and business enterprise taxes (not to mention property taxes), and divided them out by zip code, Manchester would probably be the biggest source of tax revenues in the state.  If we are going to base state distribution from one tax on the zip code producing the revenue to be distributed, then you could as easily argue the revenues from every tax should be apportioned out in accordance to its source.  Of course, then we would no longer be the State of New Hampshire, just a loose affiliation of towns and cities that are unwilling to work together for the greater good of all of our citizens.

"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."  Franklin D. Roosevelt    

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by: Kathy Sullivan 2 @ Wed Mar 26, 2008 at 08:25:01 AM CDT

Monadnock School District (0.00 / 0)

Of course, then we would no longer be the State of New Hampshire, just a loose affiliation of towns and cities that are unwilling to work together for the greater good of all of our citizens.

I see you have heard of the Monadnock School District. Rumor is there are some Swanzeans petitioning to dissolve the District... so we will the be just a loose affiliation of towns that are unwilling to work together for the great good.

Hope > Fear



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by: Mike Hoefer @ Wed Mar 26, 2008 at 12:54:40 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Donor terminology (0.00 / 0)

I am fairly new to this controversy of Donor Towns, but I have heard it debated for years now. But having said that I feel there is a mistake in how we use or abuse this derogatory term called Donor Towns.

The use of this term appears to originate from those towns in New Hampshire that put more money into the system than they enjoy in the form of educating their children. This isn't exactly what I am seeing here.

If each town is putting in a percentage of their property tax collection into a state education fund equally and receiving from that same fund a balance of funds proportional to the number of students they educate then the system is fairly well balanced.

Simply comparing the local town's expense to return or ROI isn't an adequate metric to whether the system is balanced or not. Some towns have higher property values than others, but that does not mean they have more students does it? And metropolitan areas may enjoy higher property tax income while the majority of their tenants are businesses and not residences. The fact is we cannot consider this at the local level of a township. The education system must be maintained at the state level and whether you are in the far north or downtown Concord or Manchester you need an equal chance at an education.

So unless the term Donor Towns is used to represent "only" a few towns putting in money and all the rest put in nothing then I don't see it being used correctly.

Simply saying,
Wynter

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by: Wynter @ Wed Mar 26, 2008 at 09:53:33 AM CDT

The various proposals are about like that (0.00 / 0)

Communities pay into the statewide property tax as a percentage of assessed property values in town.

They are allocated education funds based on several factors. Depending on the plan or proposal these may include:

• Number of students (always the baseline factor)
• Number of special needs students
• Number of English as a Second Language students
• Measures of community ability to fund schools on its own: e.g., average family income

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by: elwood @ Wed Mar 26, 2008 at 10:17:26 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Income Tax Methodology, Not Donor Towns (0.00 / 0)

Then I would have to say that this is simply an "Income Tax" methodology used with Property Taxes instead to provide funding to our Education System. It doesn't fit the nasty connotation given to the term Donor Town in my book.

It would be nice if every town could fund themselves, but that is "why" states exist do they not? The State is a larger more viable territory capable of supporting broad systems like the Education Sytem. The local towns are not viable units capable of managing it. They are capable of managing some barebones government structure. But they cannot generate enough revenue to sustain everything that its local population requires. That is where the state steps in.

Simply saying,
Wynter

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by: Wynter @ Wed Mar 26, 2008 at 11:02:44 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Sort of. (0.00 / 0)

I gave income as one potential factor. There are lots of others. Bow historically did well because it had a huge power plant in town whose property taxes allowed residential rates to stay low.

But your larger point is spot on. Cities and towns are an administrative convenience; it is the state that has fundamental obligations.

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by: elwood @ Wed Mar 26, 2008 at 11:06:56 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

I don't hear the same people complaining about being a "Donor State" (4.00 / 1)

New Hampshire is #47 in the amount of money we get back from the federal government for every dollar we pay in taxes.  71 cents on the dollar.*  And federal taxes are much higher than State taxes.  Complain about that first if this is your issue!

* http://www.taxfoundation.org/r...

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Wed Mar 26, 2008 at 13:04:54 PM CDT

Good point. n/t (0.00 / 0)

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by: Dean Barker @ Wed Mar 26, 2008 at 17:39:25 PM CDT

[ Parent ]