Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The Personal Income and Rooms & Meals taxes continue to out-perform targets and were joined in March by the Corporate Income tax in pushing total General Fund revenues ahead of expectations for the month and the year-to-date. The Corporate numbers had been running below targets and are still behind last year's total. The Sales tax, however, has under-performed for many months, which is largely blamed on Internet sales. Personal Income is by far the state's most important revenue source, with Sales second. The Transportation and Education Funds fell below targets in part because of sluggish motor vehicle sales.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Public Service in a statement released today has called on the Public Service Board to evaluate existing forms of utility regulation in light of emerging trends in the energy and utility sectors. The Department maintains that this review is needed in light of developments in State policy in recent years, particularly the enactment of laws incentivizing renewable energy; technological advancements in the utility sector; and the past decade’s worth of experience with alternative regulation.

Commissioner June Tierney said: “The Department is committed to open and transparent utility regulation, with the goal of ensuring that customers receive safe and reliable service at affordable rates. The Department’s hope is that the Board will facilitate a vigorous discussion about the changing utility sector and how regulation can evolve to meet the challenges and opportunities it presents.”

Vermont Business Magazine Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, political commentator, and former editor-in-chief of Newsweek, will deliver the 2017 Middlebury College commencement address on Sunday, May 28. A presidential historian, Meacham is the author of a number of books, including Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush, which was named one of the 10 best books of 2015 by the Washington Post and one of the best books of the year by the New York Times Book Review, Time magazine, and National Public Radio. He is also the author of “Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power” (2012) and the Pulitzer Prize-winning American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House (2009).

Vermont Business MagazineThe other snowshoe has dropped in a flurry of ski area mergers and acquisitions that seeks to merge operations in the East and West.Aspen Skiing Company, LLCannounced today that it and an equity partner are buyingIntrawest Resorts Holdings, Inc(NYSE: SNOW),which owns iconic southern Vermont resort Stratton Mountain and northern neighborMont Tremblant inQuebec, in a deal valued at $1.5 billion. Already this ski season, Aspen has cut a deal with Sugarbush Vermont on sharing ski passes, while itsColorado rival Vail bought the skiing operations of Stowe Mountain Resort for $50 million.

by Timothy McQuiston Vermont Business MagazineCarbon tax legislation isn’t dead, it’s just being reborn in a different form with a different incentive. Vermont Representative and South Burlington School Board Member Martin LaLonde announced a property tax reform and climate action proposal today at the headquarters of Ben & Jerry’s. While exact details of the bill will have to be constructed in committee, LaLonde’s legislation basically would charge some sort of fee on fossil fuel distributors and use the proceeds to reduce property taxes.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont legislators today proposed four tax reforms that they said would: Create jobs and strengthen the Vermont economy; prioritize low- and middle-income Vermonters; and reduce the carbon pollution causing global warming. The bills include proposals to lower the property tax and even eliminate the statewide sales tax.

Vermont Business Magazine TODAY, Monday, April 10, 2017, Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT) will kick off a two week statewide tour to hear from Vermonters about the impact of President Trump’s budget on their lives and communities. Throughout the tour, he will hold press conferences, convene roundtables, and conduct a town hall-style meeting.

MONDAY, April 10, 2017

11:15am Press conference on the impact of Head Start budget cuts

Sara Holbrook Community Center

66 North Avenue, Burlington

TUESDAY, April 11, 2017

12:00pm Press conference on the impact of safety net budget cuts

Northwest Family Foods

5 Lemnah Drive, St. Albans

Annual list with Entrepreneur magazine focused on best places to live and work

Vermont Business Magazine Livability.com has released its second annual Best Cities for Entrepreneurs list created in partnership with Entrepreneur magazine. Burlington ranked Number 12 on the list, with Alexandria, VA, topping the list. The new rankings combined Livability’s economic development experts and data scientists, who worked in tandem to rank small to mid-size cities across the US on what makes the best places for entrepreneurs to start a business and find quality of life.

by Mike Smith This will be my last column for the Rutland Herald and Times Argus. I am not giving up on writing a weekly column, just changing venues, but this column is neither the time nor the place to talk about that. Instead, I want to write about how grateful I am to those that gave me the opportunity to write for two newspapers that are rich in tradition and talent. Also, I want to express my thanks to the readers of my column.

Vermont Business MagazineVermont has the fifth highest effective property tax rate in the nation, according to a national survey.ATTOM Data Solutions, curator of the nation's largest fused property database, has released a 2016 property tax analysis for more than 84 million USsingle family homes, which shows that property taxes levied on single family homes in 2016 totaled$277.7 billion, an average of$3,296per home and an effective tax rate of 1.15 percent. Vermont(2.02 percent)and New Hampshire(2.03 percent)had rates that were nearly double.

Leonine Public AffairsIf there was any doubt the 2017 legislative session is getting close to adjournment, those doubts were put to rest by the end of the week. The committees attempted to deal with bills quickly so any unforeseen contentiousness could be handled in the next two weeks. It appears the session will likely adjourn byMay 6thleaving only a few weeks to get agreement between the House and Senate on a number of policy issues.

by Bill Schubart The Legislature is at an impasse trying to decide whether to establish and adequately fund a statewide ethics commission that has real enforcement capability. There’s been considerable favorable testimony by Vermonters, ethicists and our secretary of state, Jim Condos, who has been a relentless champion of government transparency, inclusion and establishing such a commission. Each time VTDigger runs a story on ethics legislative testimony or ethical lapses by state officials, comments from Vermonters run almost universally in favor of establishing such a commission.

Legislative arguments against it are unconvincing:

• In this year of budget constraints, we can’t afford another government bureaucracy ($330,000 of $3.5 billion); (less than 1/100th of a percent)

• Financial disclosure of possible conflicts will discourage Vermonters from government service;

• We’re all good people and we all know each other;