On 1/21/2015 8:34 PM, roger Klinger
wrote:
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type="cite">
“I don’t think
it’s unreasonable for someone to ask the question ‘are
taxpayers getting a fair term?’” Hoffer said.
The leases were negotiated in good faith by the ski areas and the
State of Vermont, and last a good long time past today. Those quoted
in the story as saying there's nothing the state can do to change it
are correct.
The article sidesteps - though it implies - the added value in
revenue to Vermont in the form of local taxes (real estate, rooms
and meals, sales). Considering the state as a whole these almost
certainly more than offset the decline in relative value of the
lease payments - which are due, as much as anything, to inflation.
What I find most alarminf is the comments - which, while well
meaning, are wildly ignorant of both law and economics. If the State
of Vermont starts reneging on deals it agreed to, God help it.