When he unveiled a deal Tuesday to balance the budget without raising taxes, Gov. Peter Shumlin seemed to have squelched the legislature’s efforts to thrust a greater share of the state’s tax burden on wealthy Vermonters.
But proponents of a more progressive tax code appear poised Friday to make one last stand.
In the days since the deal was struck, leaders of the House and Senate tax-writing committees have been talking up the idea of moving forward with proposals to limit income tax deductions that mostly benefit the wealthy. In keeping with the framework of the deal with the governor, any revenue gained by doing so would be returned to middle- and lower-income Vermonters through slightly reduced tax rates.
“The goal of my committee has been to make the tax code fairer, and we believe that can be achieved in a revenue-neutral framework,” says Senate Finance Committee Chairman Tim Ashe (D/P-Chittenden). “While reducing the special advantages to some deductions, we can lower taxes for as many as 200,000 people.”
While Ashe and House Ways & Means Committee Chairwoman Janet Ancel (D-Calais) have been pushing behind-the-scenes to build support for their proposal, Shumlin has indicated he opposes it.
“I have made very clear that the consensus that has been built in this building, which I have urged, is to not take action on tax policy, but to finish up the work that we have, balance the budget and get home,” Shumlin said during a Wednesday press conference. “And I think Vermonters want the legislature to do just that.”
Now the question is whether House Speaker Shap Smith (D-Morrisville) and Senate President John Campbell (D-Windsor) are willing to risk a final confrontation with the governor by backing Ashe’s and Ancel’s plan.
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