Common Sense Radio: Energy, Land Use and Tax Policy for Rural Vermont with Mike Tagliavia
Monday, November 02, 2026. Common Sense Radio with Bill Sayre, weekdays, 11 o’clock to Noon.
Mike Tagliavia, member of the Vermont House of Representatives, serving on the Environment Committee, joins Bill to discuss changes in environmental, energy, and tax policy that affects Vermont families, businesses, and communities.
Potential Questions and Issues.
Why are energy policies so important to rural families and businesses? More travel time for shopping, school activities, snd in commenting to work in Vermont’s more urban areas. Diesel fuel for farm machinery and equipment, and similarly for timber harvesting machinery and equipment. And diesel for transporting raw materials from Vermont farms and forests, and transporting finished farm and forest products to customers.
What should we think about the renewability of Vermont energy from rural areas — wood energy, in particular?
And land use regulation of rural areas? For example, did Act 181 go too far? Such as in the case of the Road Rule and Tier 3 land designation. Are there other examples in land use planning and regulation — local, regional, and State — that affect rural law owners, families, and communities?
What is the best way to sustain working rural lands? Personal choices creating stronger markets for the product of working lands?
Why is balance within environmental and energy policy, and balance within public policy generally, important as a guiding principle for lawmakers as they develop new legislation? Is affordability in the cost of living, particularly young, middle class families, an important policy goal, in creating that balance?
And balance in economic growth, so that we can raise tax revenue by enlarging the the tax base, not by raising tax rates?
How has greater balance in the composition of the Legislature affected the tenor of deliberations, as well as nature of policy in new legislation and regulation?
How has the cost of regulation affected affordability of new housing? Some estimate higher than $100,000 per unit. What is the difference between affordable housing and housing affordability? Es pecially for first time home buyers.
Is it possible, generally, to reduce taxes without reducing spending, which generally means resetting priorities. How much do we spend on education? More than $25,000 per student, about 75 percent over the national average, about $9,000 per student, and one of the highest of any State in the nation, second only to New York. Does this include the cost of teacher pensions, and post retirement health benefits — about $200 million.
Is the cost of education, totaling about $2.5 billion, a key factor in Vermont’s high burden of property taxes — which are highest of any State in the nation? If Vermont spent closer to the national average, would this release $100s of millions for other public purposes, including returning some of the spending to tax payers?
Vermont now transfers all, or almost all, of the sales tax revenue and rooms and meals tax revenue, to pay for education? What is the history of raising non-property taxes to reduce property taxes? Income taxes in the mid 30s, Rooms and Meals taxes in ’59, Sales taxes in ’69, and the futile attempt to reduce local Property taxes by transfering the burden local spending to other localities, via a Statewide property tax. How has that worked for reducing Property local property taxes? Have the additional new taxes fueled more spending rather than lower taxes? A matter of interpretation to be sure. But one way to decide the interpretation is to compare spending with that in other States. One of the beaties of a Federalist government structure.
Does this suggest we have not a revenue problem, but a spending problem.
What might be the unintended consequences of creating a Second Home Tax? Or a special income tax on high earners?
What is a fair share? How much of the income tax is paid by the highest 1 percent (30%) and the highest 10 percent (60%).
Is it better to grow tax revenue by growing the economy, than by raising tax rates?
Are there more affordable ways to reduce our Carbon Footprint, with increasing the regulatory burden or the tax burden on Vermont families and businesses? What are they — principally involving the rural economy and working forests and farms?
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