The Tax List: A Sign of the Times — Unfortunately

This year’s tax list issued by the Office of the Collector of Taxes  – that is – the list of those who have not paid their taxes which appeared in last week’s Journal, was larger than last year’s.

This comes as no surprise.

While we hear day to day reports of good corporate earnings and a rising stock market, there is virtually no job creation, no expansion of the business marketplace and thousands have lost their homes, their businesses and their jobs and those on unemployment have come to the end of that, too.

All of that is what leads to more and more homeowners and property owners owing taxes to the city for their properties.

When you have reached that point, your name gets printed and you either pay your taxes or make arrangements to do so, or you ultimately lose your property.

The tax list is absent of major corporations. Major corporations are financially healthy because they’ve laid off so many workers and consolidated their business interests to enhance their bottom line.

Everything these days is about the bottom line and profits, more so than ever before. Corporate America drives a big part of the business engine but it is smaller businessmen who provide millions and millions of jobs and opportunity.

Smaller businessmen and property owners are almost entirely left out of the big time corporate earnings bonanza being generated at the disadvantage to American workers who no longer have jobs.

This is wrong and somehow the economy needs to be managed in such a way that the tax code is made more fair for everyone and so that opportunity exists, not just for big corporations but also for smaller businessmen and women and individuals.

The Revere unpaid tax bill is symptomatic of the weakness of the local and national economy.

Something must be done – and soon – to reverse the trend.

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