Taxes & Spending: Commentaries

EAI believes Vermont is spending money on government services at an unsustainable rate. In order to pay for these services, Vermonters are being asked to pay more in taxes and fees with each passing year. Taxation must be limited else it will “defeat and render useless the power to create.”

By what principle should it be limited? There is a principle embedded in our system which provides inherent limits to all taxation. It is so basic to our political institutions that it should govern every legislator, every executive, and every judge. It precedes all our constitutions, all our laws, and all our political institutions. It brought them into existence; it sustains them; without it they are nothing.


All Commentaries

Commentary: The Climate Council’s “Carbon Tax PLUS” Agenda for Vermont

As gasoline prices hover around record highs, putting tremendous pressure on family budgets, stressing businesses, and making life generally more expensive, the Vermont Climate Co... Read more



Commentary: A Legislative Wrapup for 2022

The 2022 legislature did a respectable job avoiding the dangers of too much money to spend, but its mo... Read more



Commentary: Heating Fuel Tax Dead – for Now

On May 11 the short life of the Clean Heat Standard (CHS), promising “clean heat for a cooler planet”, came to sudden but probably not final end.

Read more





Commentary: The Future of Agricultural Report

Earlier this month the Scott Administration released the Report of the Governor’s Commission on the Future of Agriculture. The Report is well-written and constructive, but for man... Read more



Commentary: Here Comes Another Carbon Tax

Are you ready for the coming carbon tax on your home and business heating bill?

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Commentary: Gov. Scott’s Diamond Mine

            Some years ago, faced with the many competing spending demands before the Senate, I would say “all this state needs is a diamond mine”.  That is, with an inexhaustible... Read more



Commentary: Vermont’s Unfunded Liabilities Aren’t Just Pensions

When we talk about Vermont’s nearly $6 billion unfunded liability, most of us think about the teachers’ and state employees’ pensions. But these two giant liabilities only account... Read more



Commentary: The Peril of the Federal Billions

           On January 5 Gov. Phil Scott delivered an upbeat State of the State message. He declared that though Vermont has many unmet needs  -  his leading example was a “despera... Read more







Commentary: Unsustainability Crisis Facing Seniors

            The national debt is $28.43 trillion and rising steadily. Even at historically low interest rates, that can’t last forever, the Federal government is paying almost... Read more



Commentary: Opting in and out of Government Spending

A large insurance company has been flooding the television channels with an advertising slogan “Only Pay for What You Need.” It’s an interesting exercise to a... Read more





Commentary: Climate Council Wants “A River of Money”

The Vermont Climate Council, charged with coming up with a plan to reduce Vermont’s greenhouse gas emissions to 26% below 2005Read more







Commentary: Retirement Fund Blues

Vermont’s state employee and teacher retirement funds, plus their associated Other Post Employment Benefit obligations, now total $5.657 billion – a Billion dollar increase in... Read more



Commentary: Combating “Welfare for the Rich”

A new book “Welfare for the Rich” explains the many ways that government policies benefit the rich, leaving the not-rich to hold the bag. We need to ... Read more





Commentary: Candidate Questions for 2020

Here are 16 incisive questions, fairly stated, to put to your candidate for the legislature, Governor and Lt. Governor. Voters deserve to know what they’ll get by giving thei... Read more



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