Small's big tax
The late newspaperman Joseph Pulitzer, founder of the Pulitzer Prize, had a famous exchange with Judge Morgan K. Stanley in 1904. Pulitzer had invited Stanley to serve as a trustee of the New York World, and he asked the judge for his opinion of the newspaper.
"It is a great paper. But it has one defect," Stanley said.
"What is that?" asked Pulitzer.
"It never stands by its friends," Stanley replied.
"A newspaper should have no friends," snapped Pulitzer, in disgust.
"I think it should," said Stanley.
"If that is your opinion, I wouldn't make you one of my trustees if you gave me a million dollars," Pulitzer said.
Colorado Springs Vice Mayor Larry Small believes The Gazette's editorial section has few friends. Small sent an e-mail July 1 to all City Council members, Gazette Publisher Steve Pope, and various other community leaders to express a gripe with The Gazette's editorial philosophy. It said, in part: "The Gazette's libertarian philosophy is completely out of sync with the citizens and while it reflects the views of government by one deceased individual, it does not represent the views of the great majority of our citizens."
Gazette editorials do not merely reflect the views of "one deceased individual." Small is referring to the late R.C. Hoiles, founder of The Gazette's parent company Freedom Communications. Gazette editorials defend the principles of freedom, which Hoiles defended with a warrior's passion. Defending freedom is seldom popular, because freedom requires work, patience and strength. A society that maximizes freedom is one that tolerates danger and risk; one in which people are asked to give their lives so others might live free. A society that defends freedom is one in which the individual is expected to thrive within a context of self-restraint, never counting on government for guarantees against failure; never asking government to provide. The Freedom Philosophy holds that freedom alone is the ultimate prize. The Freedom Philosophy upholds the wisdom of Thomas Paine, who said: "The government is not society;" and: "Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil."
That is why The Gazette advocates for limited government, which society achieves through minimal taxation. It is not about the money; it is about keeping government small.
If our editorials are "completely out of sync with the citizens," it is not cause for alarm. The free press was not established and protected to give a resounding "amen" to conventional wisdom and majority sentiment. Quite the contrary is true. It is the media's responsibility to challenge authority, conventional wisdom, and popular belief.
It is, therefore, somewhat unfortunate that Small's polite admonition of The Gazette's philosophy does not withstand even minimal scrutiny. Longtime Gazette readers know our editorials oppose most tax increases and efforts by City Hall to grow or maintain levels of service during hard economic times. Who shares this sentiment? A majority of voters, who consistently defeat attempts at general tax hikes during recessions.
Given the intended role of the media in this country, Small should run the local editorial page. He is so far out of sync with citizens, and the conventional wisdom of this community, that editorial writers are green with envy.
After voters soundly rejected two proposed tax increases in the last two elections - one a county sales tax and the other a city property tax extension - Small wants another shot. He's not talking about adding a few points to the mill levy, or a penny to the sales tax. Small thinks big. He wants to increase the city's mill levy by 600 percent, raising it from 4.94 to 34.40 mills. His proposal would offset much of the increase by discontinuing the Public Safety Sales Tax, the uber-popular Trails and Open Space Tax, the business personal property tax, the Stormwater Enterprise fee, and by lowering the city's 2 percent sales tax by .5 percent.
This would be a radical shift in the city's revenue philosophy. Rather than a tax structure that relies heavily on sales taxes, which are voluntary and respond to good times and bad, Small would attach most of the tax burden to the artificial values government places on private homes and business properties. Rather than having tourists and out-of-town shoppers pay for a good chunk of local government, more of the burden would fall to the people who live here. Even in times of recession or depression, when some consumers decide they can't afford discretionary consumption and sales taxes, Springs residents would have no choice but to fund a large city government. City Hall would have an abundance of cash, barely noticing hard economic times and suffering taxpayers. Citizens would pay heavy taxes, whether or not they had lost their jobs or suffered pay cuts.
All should admire the vice mayor's chutzpah. Gazette editorial writers only wish they could be so bold, and so out of sync with the people of Colorado Springs.
