Hello Alberta,

It's so funny that this was in today's email as I have just written a 
small story for our town  report on our most recent nonagenarian and 
when I was doing the research, I came across an article in Time Magazine 
in 1977 where she was quoted as speaking against getting the discount. I 
seem to remember that we voted on this a couple of times - and each time 
it was kept the same. Eventually, our town went to quarterly payments 
and eliminated the discount sometime in the mid 1980s.

Back when, I remember that there was a single payment due November 10 
with an early discount of 3% if paid by August 15. We always took the 
discount. In the discussion at town meeting, those who argued to 
eliminate it said it was unfair as only those who could afford to pay 
their taxes early got the discount and therefore it discriminated 
against poor residents. Others argued that if you could pay once in 
November, this was just an earlier deadline with less money and people 
could plan.

Since we are into the complications of residential and non-residential 
and prebates that are sometimes rebates, I sorry my information is a bit 
dated.

Heidi Racht

 Town of Hardwick wrote:
> Hello all:
>  
> The Town of Hardwick currently offers a 3% discount if you pay your 
> taxes in full early. We are going to try and eliminate or adjust this 
> offfer at Town Meeting this year. Our Town Manager wanted me to see if 
> any other towns offer a discount and how yours is set up.
>  
> Do yo offer a discount on all taxes or just on the Municipal?
>  
> What is the % that you offer and what are the payment terms?
>  
> Do you offer to everyone or just to the residential (homestead) tax 
> payers?   
>  
> Thank you all for your help.
>  
> Alberta Miller
> Hardwick Town Clerk
> P.O. Box 523
> Hardwick, Vermont 05843
> 802-472-5971 Phone
> 802-472-3793 Fax
> [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>  
>