WendyMcElroy.com | |
For a few years a debate has been raging -- well, quietly raging -- about anonymity on the Internet. Those in power and those threatened by freedom of speech insist that that there is no valid need for it, that anonymity is a cover for illegal acts, and those who obey the law have "nothing to hide." Those fighting for civil rights and personal freedom insist that there should be no legal requirement to identify yourself online, and that anonymity is an important protection for unpopular opinions. I'd say the latter argument just got a boost, given that Scott Finman, a blogger who has been critical of his town government, just had his property reassessed by that government at 4 million dollars and now has to pay a tax bill of $70,000 per year. Finman writes: Selectman Willie Farnum, prior to a public meeting, openly described his policy for dealing with the few hundred privacy minded families who did not give their permission for the tax assessor to enter their homes during last year's re-assessment: evaluate the interior of their homes at the highest level possible (assume the interior of an old Tamworth farm house is encrusted with granite countertops and $800 faucets, for example), and residents will come to the Selectmen begging to have the assessor in their home when they see their tax bill. This policy could account for the first million dollars of my assessment, but John Roberts' motion, seconded by Farnum, to increase my assessment to four million dollars is clearly a perpetuation of their objection to folks speaking out against them that started with former Selectman Tom Abugelis' public flogging for a letter-to-the-editor criticizing the mentality of town government. I can't imagine the Selectmen will fess up to their assessment being a punitive measure, but a four million dollar price tag on an unfinished single-family home and a 36'x36' barn speaks for itself. All this for resisting a demand from the assessors to enter his house and have a snoop around. Which demand seems excessive to me; where we live, the assessors at most measure and inspect the exterior of your house. Well, I guess that's New Hampshire for you. Time to replace that old motto, "live free or die," with a new one, "live subservient or pay through the nose." (Hat tip to HR on the forum.) | |
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