Response to former Door County Administrator Mike Serpe's November 1, 2023 letter to the Peninsula Pulse
Dear Mike Serpe,
You expressed concern in your letter, https://doorcountypulse.com/letter-to-the-editor-those-who-voted-for-mike-johnson-must-agree-with-him/, about federal support for Social Security and Medicare. Would you be willing to form a local group of second homeowners to ask the state to enact a Vacant Home Tax?
The tax, besides helping to curb real estate speculation, could be used to subsidize nursing homes and assisted living centers. With new legislation and support, it would not be necessary to sell them off to private, for-profit owners. Although nursing home residents are legally protected from eviction, people living in assisted living centers are vulnerable to new owners who decide to evict existing residents as a profitability measure.
Trauma from being evicted led to the death of a woman from the Emerald Bay Retirement Community in Hobart, according to the woman’s daughter. The proposed state legislation to extend the notice time for assisted living center evictions is a helpful step, but more could be done.
Scandia’s sale date is coming up and from the purchaser’s business model, it seems the facility will be sold again after measures have been implemented for profitability’s sake.
If second homeowners from Door County asked for the tax, that would have to merit attention from elsewhere in the state. It could be a bipartisan measure. The Democratic side would be able to support the measure as an increase in social related spending, and with the support of health care workers’ unions, where they exist.
The Republican side could back it as a way to partially close the income tax loophole. The loophole is used by retirees who move to Florida for a little more than half the year in order to avoid paying Wisconsin income tax. Their Wisconsin properties get taxed at a lower rate than they would have been, had Wisconsin not had an income tax. Because Florida does not have a state income tax, this means Wisconsin’s tax policy incentivizes seasonal relocation. A Vacant Home Tax could help to reduce this incentive.
Implemented statewide, the tax could be used to fund a state-wide correction for inadequate social related funding at the federal level.
Addressing your concern about Mike Gallagher, he stated:
Congratulations to Speaker Johnson on becoming the 56th Speaker of the House. From countering Chinese Communist Party aggression to supporting Israel to passing basic appropriations to passing the National Defense Authorization Act, the House has its work cut out for it. It’s time to unify, deliver on the promises we made to the American people, and finally get back to work.
Gallagher tends to be agreeable rather than antagonistic. I expect he will agree with Mike Johnson more often than not, whatever the issue is.
I looked through the laundry list in your letter. While Johnson still won’t meet your own preferences, the extent of his divergence from your own positions is not as severe as what was described in your letter. What follows are issues where you might find him less disagreeable to you.
With elections, Johnson described problems in some states, but affirmed that Trump should concede after exhausting legal challenges, if not earlier:
When asked by Robert Doar, president of the American Enterprise Institute, whether Trump should concede he lost the last election so voters can have faith in the constitutional process, Johnson replied: "He has to do that, there's no question about that.
"But the only question is, what is the appropriate time? Is it right now? Or do you wait until the final case is resolved?
https://www.newsweek.com/mike-johnson-house-speaker-donald-trump-1837699
For rioters in the Capitol building:
No, I think much has been made about a phrase. I think it was inartfully worded. I think what the RNC was trying to say is there is obviously political discourse that goes on every day and went on January 6th, but violence clearly is not. That is clearly a different category. I think the terms got conflated, and it caused a big political scuffle. Clearly, we have no tolerance whatsoever for the people that broke the law on January 6th to breach the capital and do damage to the people’s house. They need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. But, people who came to the nation’s capital just to express their views, that’s something we jealousy guard with the first amendment and always have. That is not a partisan issue at all.
For covid:
“After returning from Washington a couple of weeks ago, both Congressman Johnson and Mrs. Johnson began showing symptoms of COVID-19," his spokesperson Whitley Alexander said in a statement. "They were tested and the results came back positive. Following the guidance of their doctors and the House Attending Physician, they immediately began a quarantine at home. They have both since recovered and have just completed their quarantine.
"Congressman Johnson worked throughout his illness from home, and is back now serving the constituents of Louisiana’s 4th Congressional District in his full capacity.”
For babies who survive abortion, he stated:
Every single person should be able to agree that a living, breathing baby deserves protection. Anything short of this is infanticide. Despite Democrats' attempts to deny newborns their God-given right to life by refusing to vote on the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, House Republicans are taking action. I am proud to join my colleagues in signing the discharge petition to force a vote on this important measure and hope my friends across the aisle will put people before party and protect these innocent children.
State health care records, in states which require detailed enough documentation, show that some babies survive abortion every year. This is corroborated by first-hand testimonies of what happens to babies who are born alive. Sometimes the abortionist injuries them in order to kill them quickly, and other times the babies are uncared for until they die, which happens more slowly. Still others are cared for. They may survive, even to adulthood. Some abortion survivors, as adults, have publicly spoken about why babies who survive abortions should be cared for, and allowed to survive if it is possible.
There are graphic and moving accounts about this on the internet. Typically there are no charges brought. An exception is Kermit Gosnell, an abortionist who was convicted for killing three infants who were born alive during botched abortions.
Johnson’s intentions for Social Security and Medicare are elaborate, but there is a good description of it at https://www.morningstar.com/news/marketwatch/20231103449/what-house-speaker-mike-johnson-has-said-about-social-security-and-medicare.
The Social Security system was originally set up when the demographics were favorable to its long term solvency. The demographics were more youthful in part because elective abortion was illegal nationwide, which supported a higher birth rate than there is presently. This increased the demographic proportion of adults who were in the workforce from what it would have been otherwise.
Mike Johnson has called attention to the opportunity cost of abortion. The cumulative loss of earnings and spending by those who were, coercively, not allowed to be born is tremendous. If elective abortion was completely outlawed throughout the United States, the taxes eventually paid into the system by a larger up and coming generation would help keep Social Security and Medicare solvent.
But I don’t see that happening soon, so Door County could benefit from a Vacant Homes Tax to fund care for elderly people at the state and local level, even when the financial and political situation at the federal level is concerning.
Other posts about a Vacant Home Tax:
https://doorcounty.substack.com/t/vacant-home-tax
Other posts about Scandia Village:
https://doorcounty.substack.com/t/scandia-village
Other posts related to protecting unborn babies:
https://doorcounty.substack.com/t/protecting-unborn-babies