Wednesday, 10 a.m. Ray Maly has never run for political office before, and it shows. He is a sincere, well-meaning citizen, and we need more such folk stepping forward to serve (as he already did, for 20 years in the Army). Unfortunately, he knows very little about the office he is seeking or the issues he would face in that office.
Does that mean we’ll be endorsing his opponent, incumbent Jimmy Bales? I don’t know. We have yet to speak to Rep. Bales, a Richland County Democrat, about the subject. In fact, I don’t believe I’ve spoken with him in several years, so it’s hard to compare any memory of his performance as a candidate.
But I just spoke with Mr. Maly, a retired Army officer, today, and the memory is still fresh.
"What has gotten me into the political process is when I got my property tax," he says, repeating a very, very familiar refrain. And in his case, it’s about as simple as that. He’s dissatisfied with the recent property tax cut the Legislature threw together, and you know why? Because it didn’t do away with residential property taxes entirely.
The concept of the property tax — which, for those of you who forget your basic civics, is based in the rather sensible assumption that those with property benefit most substantially from the kind of community infrastructure that such taxes pay for (police, fire, schools, libraries, and the other amenities that make a community livable and give property therein its value) — confounds him no end.
"I just don’t understand it," he says. "I think it’s reprehensible … that local authorities can just take over your house."
You would think that Mr. Maly has had a terrible time with this tax. Well, you be the judge:
- His home, with improvements, cost him $130,000.
- That was 11 years ago.
- It is now assessed at $240,000, making his tax $2,800.
- He can afford that. As he puts it, "I don’t think I’ll ever be in danger of losing it due to inability to pay." He said he’s worried about other people who are not so fortunate.
But ultimately, it seems it’s the very idea of the tax that offends him, that he would be "paying Richland County to live in my home — that’s paid for.
He’s also bothered that 60 percent of those taxes go to schools, "and they’re not turning out anything." Two of his three children graduated from Lower Richland High. One went to the Citadel, the other to Erskine College. When I noted the irony of his statement in light of those facts, he explained that both children attended Cardinal Newman before transferring to the public institution, and he attributes their success for the solid grounding they received at the Catholic high school.
He says the property tax should be replaced with an even higher sales tax; the hike just enacted wasn’t enough. He said one virtue of the sales tax was that it was more visible; the property tax was less obviously painful. I asked the obvious question: Wouldn’t that make more people, rather than fewer, unhappy about their taxes? "Hopefully so," he said.
"That’ll give ’em a wake-up call." He was referring to politicians, whom he is convinced never think about the tax burden on citizens. Never mind the fact that it often seems — to those of us who have to listen to them for a living — that they never think about anything else.
"They think about spending more money" on their districts so they can get re-elected, he says, with utter confidence. They also waste money on such things as teaching third-graders a second language, when they should be sticking to the basics. That assertion surprised me. I’ve always heard that if you aren’t immersed in a language by age 9, you’ll have more trouble mastering it. Perhaps Mr. Maly is less concerned about that because of his own experience. He immigrated from Austria at age 12, and he speaks accentless English. (Maybe he should give some lessons to the governor of California.)
He says he can’t imagine why people run for the Legislature over and over, when the job only pays $12,000. "Something happens when they get there," he theorizes. "Maybe it’s inside information that leads them to profit or something. I don’t understand it."
For his part, he has no intention of running for a second term. He just wants to accomplish that one goal — eliminating residential property taxes — and he’ll move on.
Related Posts
Brad,
Your condescension is showing… were you able to conduct the interview without rolling your eyes?
How much do you pay in property taxes? Enough, not enough, or just right? More
than Mr. Maly or less? If it’s less, how come Mr. Maly has to subsidize your services?
“He is a classic example of a type of candidate we see from time to time — a sincere, well-meaning citizen who knows very little about the office he is seeking or the issues he would face in that office.”
Brad, your deeply entrenched elitism is coming through loud and clear again! I’m very happy when we get regular citizens like Maly to run for the legislature. We desperately need a fresh perspective there. They may not be quite as knowledgeable as your favorite lobbyist-receptacle piggies that are there now, spending our tax money like there is no tomorrow. Most of the legislature is currently is composed of the type of person you would prefer and just look what a fat lot of good that’s done us. It’s time for some new brooms and if it takes them a few months to learn the job, so be it.
To paraphrase a famous quote, I’d rather be governed by the first 500 names in the Columbia phonebook than by the faculty of USC and the pointyheaded editors of The State!
That doesn’t mean that I agree with Maly’s stance on the property tax. I very much prefer a painful property tax requiring people to write a substantial check every year. In fact, I would require that sales tax and income tax also be paid once a year. Make people write a large check once a year for sales tax, another one for income tax. When they finally really see all the thousands of dollars going to the government, many of which dollars will be utterly wasted, the resultant uproar would force a massive cut in state government overnight. The current tax collection process is much too painless – a nickel and a dime here and a few dollars there and nobody really notices the massive amounts that are forcefully extorted from them. Bring it out in the open for all to see and many liberal big-government types would suddenly not be liberal big-government types anymore.
I too am tired of career politicians and glad to see someone run for office just to get the rascals out.
Just for the record, I swam on a swim team with his kids, and there are three of them, not two.
I’m sorry, Cap; he only mentioned the two children.
Call it elitism if you will, LexWolf, but I’m sincere when I say I like people like Mr. Maly — they are some of the best folks I meet in an election cycle — but it worries me a great deal when people know so little about the issues they want to help decide.
I didn’t get into other issues on this post because he basically had no other positions. He is, by his own account, single-issue. You ask him about something like restructuring — a HUGE question for anyone who would seek to make our state better — and he just doesn’t know. He doesn’t think about such things.
The small-d democrat in me likes the idea of regular folks running for office, particularly people who have long served their country, such as Mr. Maly.
The small-r republican in me believes firmly that, whether they are “regular folks” or bluebloods, anyone who would make our laws needs to know what’s going on.
John Adams — the guy who came from humble beginnings and earned every penny he ever had — was a small-r republican, and constantly attacked as an elitist (even a monarchist) for wanting the folks in charge to be qualified.
Thomas Jefferson — the inheritor of land and slaves who spent most of his life pursuing hobbies (one of which was public service) — was a small-d democrat, and constantly extolled the virtue of the common man and distrusted elites such as himself.
It’s a weird world.
And Doug, I probably pay about the same as Mr. Maly, based on his assessment. It’s just part of that huge check I send the mortgage company every month. And I don’t mind it as much as I will probably mind paying that increased sales tax — although I suppose I’ll enjoy the new break on groceries.
He’s not a professional politician, so The State holds him in contempt.
And he questions the property tax, a relic of the slave era, because it has no relationship to ability to pay, and costs most homeowners more than the house itself – heresy!
CORRECTION: I just received the following from my colleague who was in this interview with me:
“RAY MALY
My notes say 3 kids – two Lower Richland Graduates.”
This is yet another reason why it’s good to have at least two of us in these interviews.
Mea culpa. I’ll fix it above as well.
I also reworked the beginning a little. I have no desire to hurt anyone’s feelings. I’m just trying to be honest.
No biggie. I just didn’t want anyone left out.
penis enlargement pills
acne treatment
weight loss
VigRX pills