Vermont Legislature SmartTranscripts:

[Speaker 0]: Welcome, everyone. Happy 2026.

[Bridget Burkhardt]: Thank you.

[Speaker 0]: Here we are. So we actually are starting our year off strong with a joint hearing with Senate Finance downstairs, talking about the impacts of the federal tax law changes this summer. And we're going to spend about a third of our time over the course of the session, especially before crossover on that work. We're going to spend another third of our time on education finance. Some of that, the yield bill and short term concerns, a lot of that continuing the pieces of implementation of Act 73 that still need to be resolved, pre kindergarten weights, debt.

[Mark Higley]: Thank

[Speaker 0]: you. Yes, lots of different pieces. We're gonna try to take them into discrete pieces while we let other committees complete their work on other aspects of education reform. And then the third part is going to be all the other things that all the other committees send us, as well as monitoring on CHIP and telephone personal property tax and a bunch of other pieces that have moved along since we passed them. I thought we would start off, though, just all introducing ourselves. Instead of what did you do this summer, if anyone wants to say. And I think everyone's met Representative Page, but really, really glad to have you here. Thank you so much for joining us. We need your spirit and your humor and your attention to detail. And I've heard that you have all of those so much. So if folks want to say their name and where they're from and their favorite thing about working on tax law, that would be super funny, wouldn't it? I'll start. Hopefully. And then we'll go downstairs. So I'm Emily. I'm from Brattleboro, which is a very particular and special place. And my favorite thing about tax law is I feel like it's sort of how we organize civilization. The ultimate symbol to me of cooperation is tax law. And so that's what I like about it. Which one do

[Mark Higley]: you want

[Speaker 0]: take away?

[Charles Kimbell]: Definitely clockwise.

[James Masland]: We'll have the clock.

[William Canfield]: So Bill, from Fair Haven, been on this committee eleven years. Tax Law. It's always interesting. It's always meaningful, the sausage we make.

[Speaker 0]: If anyone's like, that's a ridiculous question, representative Kornheiser, I wanna answer a different question, you can just be like, a fun hint for Woody to navigate the next year. I joined Ways and Means part of the way through the biennium, it it was a lot. So it could also just be tips and tricks.

[Bridget Burkhardt]: Hi, representative Bridget Burkhardt from South Burlington. I represent South Burlington and Williston. I've been on the committee a whole year, so I'm almost a senior tour of this. My favorite part about tax law is really how taxes intersect with all the other policy things that we're doing, because often, all the policy not all, but a lot of policy ideas end up being expressed through the tax code. And it's interesting to get to work on all of those different things with other committees too.

[Carol Ode]: Carol Ode, Burlington, and my dad was a CPA, and we would get these circulars every month, and I would read the new tax law, and then it would always have a story, because tax law isn't that hard, it's just that you have to, I like to see a story. So you would read the story, and then how that couple or individual or child could use tax law to help them. And since then, I have studied law school and at Harvard Kennedy School, and I also, because we're working on education now, I have deep knowledge there, and I'm loving the intersection of the two. I'm Rebecca Holcombe, I'm one half of Windsor Orange II in this committee, Do you mean the orange side? Windsor Orange, I guess, right now.

[Rebecca Holcombe]: Which is also true. But most of my experience has been on the policy side, so it's been interesting to see how policy implications drive discussions around tax policy, or don't. And I'm really looking forward to looking at how we handle the homestead versus non homestead rates, because in our area it's having a significant adverse impact.

[Edward "Teddy" Waszazak]: Teddy Waszazak from Berry City, and my favorite thing about tax law is tax law is like a playground, everyone uses it differently. I very much enjoy figuring out how and why people do what they do.

[Mark Higley]: So I'm representative Mark Higley. This is my second year on Ways and Means. Enjoying it. I'm also listener, I've said that many times. We just went through our reappraisal this past summer and we're still here. It's interesting, and maybe there should be a press release that goes out there that says, Listers are not responsible for your tax bills, based on your assessment.

[James Masland]: Anyway, appreciate being here. James Masland, Deppard Center, Windsor and Orange too, just as Rebecca. One of the things I like about this committee is, I've served on other committees and during the end of

[Carolyn Branagan]: the year some of the

[James Masland]: committee's work is essentially done. But Ways and Means isn't done sometimes until the very last day because we're still working on stuff that comes in over the dreads of our other committees and so it's never boring here and you have to pay attention right up to the very end. And so it's good work.

[Carolyn Branagan]: And my name is Carolyn Branagan, and I live in the town of Georgia up in Franklin County. And I represent the legislative district of Franklin I, which includes the town of Georgia and Fairfax. And I've been on the Ways and Means Committee for twenty years. Can't believe it, but I've had all kinds of chairs and vice chairs and that worked with some of these people for nearly the whole time. It's really fascinating. Tax law is unlike anything else. But that twenty years isn't the only experience I've had with tax law because this year marks the fiftieth year that I've been married to a CPA.

[Woodman Page]: You know, I'm Woodman Page. Most everybody just calls me Woodie. I'm originally from Newport, born and raised there, currently live there. That's my district, Newport, it relates to. Tax law, I have to admit, I don't know much about tax law. It's interesting, when I was in appropriations with a certain member here, the Senate of Board, appropriations appropriates the money, and then it's this committee that finds the money that's been appropriated. So I guess I'll be interested in seeing where we find the money going forward.

[James Masland]: Welcome, Edward.

[Charles Kimbell]: My name is Charlie Kimbell. I represent Woodstock, Redding, and Plymouth, Vermont, and it's Windsor 5. So I find it fascinating to deal with tax law. Nobody likes to pay taxes that I know, but it's a necessary part of functioning government. So I'm particularly fascinated with tax expenditures. So find that an interesting piece of what we could or should look at.

[Speaker 0]: One of my favorite things is because many of the bills on our wall are sort of tax expenditures that one member has decided are particularly important, tax exemptions are particularly important, it's fun to see how it all plays out over the course of the session. Sourja, do want to introduce your Yeah, I'm Sourja in one of the middle sets. And my favorite part about tax law is putting the schedule together every week. Couple, very satisfying every week when it all comes together. And we tend to work very hard in very concentrated pieces of time and not expand into the evening or through lunch the way some other committees do. So we're fairly serious when we're in here, and we try to socialize off hours more often because we don't always have as much fun when we're actually sitting at the table. Which you could probably tell even by the ridiculous question that I made everyone go to the table now. Answer it. So we're gonna head downstairs. We'll have a joint hearing. We're probably going to have one or two joint hearings a week with Senate Finance for at least the first month or so. And I'm always really looking to make those more effective. And I'm really open to feedback on making those work better. So if anyone wants to talk to me about it, even room configurations, things like that. Then I have the beginning of an outline of a lot of the work for the whole session in a really messy Google Doc that I'm not sending to anyone, because no one needs to see the beginning, the inside of my brain that much. But if anyone wants to sit down and go through it and offer advice for decision points you see or witnesses you would want to come in on, it's nice to get in front of that. So just ask, and we'll do that. That's not serious. Maybe you all No, because it's the inside of my brain, so I'm not going show it to the whole wet world. But having sit down one on one with COVID.