Please (Don't) Stop Complaining

Please (Don't) Stop Complaining

Less than a week from now, the General Assembly will begin hearings on the Governor’s two-tiered tax plan portion of his overall budget proposal. Taking the perspective of guest MINDSETTER™ Tom Sgouros this week, the “complainers” among us who oppose the tax plan, will surely be out in full force. The Rhode Island Statewide Coalition (RISC) for nearly a decade now advocating for the taxpayer’s perspective, and serving as a counter voice to the all powerful public sector unions, doesn’t mind being characterized as complainers or anything else because at least that means that, unlike all too many here, RISC is not afraid to call it like they see it.

I must concede I am very much in agreement with one critical assertion made by Mr. Sgouros toward the end of his column. Sgouros cautions that those of us who are commenting on public policy need to engage with a sense of responsibility, as we may influence the formation of public policy. He notes “people’s lives are changed in profound ways by the acts of our Legislature……”

Yes, exactly. That’s why a Legislature which for too many years approved bloated government budgets, a public employee compensation and retirement structure which far outpaces the state and municipal governments’ abilities to fund it, and noncompetitive business tax rates has played a significant role in creating the present downward economic spiral being felt across the state. You can bet people’s lives have been affected.

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Ask the 65,000 or so still unemployed residents how their lives have changed. Ask the harried middle class Rhode Island family, who either run a small business or work outside the public sector system, often with both spouses juggling more than one job to sustain the household, how their lives have changed. Ask them how it affects family life when a parent has to commute to Boston daily, perhaps New York weekly or hop on planes to Atlanta or Dallas several times a month to carve out a living. Ask them how they feel about paying some of the highest property taxes in the nation for a rather mediocre return in their child’s RI public school education, more often than not being conducted in less than state-of-the-art aging school buildings, with curriculums being stripped of arts, music, advanced placement classes, and certain sports programs.

Budget construction is as notable for what it doesn’t address, as for what it does. The Governor’s proposal, though asking employees to increase their co-pay to 11.75 %, still does not address a possible conversion from a defined benefit plan to a defined contribution plan, for example (a structural change called for in several current audit studies and reports, which would over time bring savings to the pension system pegged at $100 million). It seems curious that Mr. Sgouros has done a very selective singling out of the critics or “complainers” about the Chafee budget plan in only citing Republican gubernatorial candidate John Robitaille’s well-constructed published criticism and RISC/my columns. The chorus of tax plan critics is large and continually growing. Does Mr. Sgouros include in the category of complainers former Director of the state’s Department of Revenue and seasoned analyst of the state budget, Gary Sasse? Equally seasoned Professor of Economics at URI Leonard Lardaro? Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce President Laurie White? Rhode Island Convention Center Authority Chairman David Duffy? Community newspaper group publisher John Howell? The list goes on.

The voices blend together to hit the same note: an attempt to raise a projected $165 million in an array of new taxes on many services and some new categories of goods, IS NOT a sound strategy to steer the state toward fiscal health.

He further goes on to say those of us writing commentary need to be guided by a sense of responsibility in what we say because our comments may be influencing decisions by the Legislature. That would be great! But we are still waiting to see if the Legislature this session will reject the 6% tax plan, and address the unfunded pension liability which now stands at $5 billion- to a range that could be as high as $10 billion. (Note to Tom: please quibble with Treasurer Gina Raimondo if you question the notion that the state’s collective unfunded pension liability amounts to a serious and unsustainable debt problem.)

I am glad to see Mr. Sgouros shares my concern about the proposed municipal MAST program. As I have noted in previous columns, contrary to its noble promise to bring “accountability, stability and transparency” to municipal pension fund contribution practices, this effort is dangerously one-sided. It’s basically a “pay up, but no rein in” strategy that, as Cranston Mayor Allan Fung cites, in exchange for certain state aid incentives to communities, would expect the full funding of retirement benefits, and makes no attempt to help communities reduce the benefits. Fung says Cranston’s required contributions could end up absorbing 30% of his city’s entire operating budget, communities like Pawtucket and Johnston could be approaching closer to 40%. I am glad to see Mr. Sgouros sees the danger in those formulas.

There is a sad but distinct truth, uttered about divorce, in the 1989 film, “The War of the Roses,” where the divorce lawyer, played by Danny DeVito instructs client Michael Douglas: “Nobody wins anything here……there’s only degrees of losing.”

There are some who may believe that even the mightiest attempts at reversing the downward economic spiral of Rhode Island may not be enough now to truly change course. But as we face an array of economic, employment, competitiveness and debt problems, we need to urge leaders to craft policies which will at least not invite the potential for the deepest losses being inflicted on our communities.

If that’s defined as complaining, let the whining begin.

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Donna Perry is a communications consultant to RI Statewide Coalition (RISC) www.statewidecoalition.com