Newton state Rep. Ruth Balser’s bill to exempt senior citizens from the impact of Proposition 2 1/2 overrides (something she has tried before) is not only a very bad idea. It is transparently disingenuous. It’s not about helping seniors, who already have more than enough help available to them if they really can’t pay their taxes. It’s just about trying to get them to stay home on election days, so more overrides will pass.
And that makes it both divisive and profoundly undemocratic – things you’d think a Democrat would oppose.
Balser has said in the past that part of the motivation for her bill is the fact that many property owners with children in the schools are willing to vote for higher taxes, while seniors with no children of school age are not. Take this to its logical conclusion, and what she’s saying is that only those with a direct interest in a service, and who will vote the way she wants, should be voting. She wants to bribe those who might be opposed to stay home. How about she file a bill that says only those who vote in favor of a tax increase have to pay for it?
The result, if her bill passes, of course, will be a benefit to one group of taxpayers at the expense of others, many of whom are surely struggling as much or more than seniors are to pay their taxes. And that is supposed to promote community? It promotes division.
Also what happened to the big Democratic ideal that everybody should vote? If Republicans were out there deliberately trying to suppress voting, you’d hear the screams from one end of the state to the other.
