Why name
delinquent taxpayers?

Why embarrass people and businesses for failing to pay property taxes on time? It’s a question we at the newspaper have been pondering all week.

We did not take lightly our decision which entries to highlight in our news story reporting on the more than 600 delinquent parcels listed, as required by law, in this week’s paper.

We understand that snafus, innocent oversights, or unexpected binds sometimes put people on the list through no real fault of their own. The list isn’t intended solely to embarrass, though it does have that function. It also is to remind.

Fundamentally, the question isn’t just about who’s on the list. It’s about the rest of us, as well.

Each year, governmental units have to impose taxes higher than what they actually need in anticipation of people not paying. This year’s record total for delinquent taxes means other taxpayers — those who paid on time — had to pay more than 3 mills more than government needed because some failed to pay.

It’s not a huge amount. For the owner of a house worth $100,000, the overpayment was a bit more than $34.50. I don’t know about you, but if I have to cough up an extra $34.50 for anything, I kind of want to know why, and not just with some vague generality.

Some of those who cost the rest of us extra taxes seem despicable. An apartment complex that year after year games the system by waiting until the last possible moment to avoid foreclosure before paying its taxes deserves whatever publicity it receives.

But do others? We may be wrong, but we decided that those with the biggest delinquencies, that people in responsible public positions, that those doing business with the community, and that those who either consciously or unconsciously tried to hide their delinquencies also merited attention.

That doesn’t mean we condemn all of them as deadbeats or scofflaws. Information is information. It’s neither positive nor negative on its own. It’s what people make of it that matters.

We can, for example, look at a business that’s delinquent as not paying its fair share. Or we can look at the same business as one that needs our help and greater patronage to remain a vital part of our community. Prevent a business from being embarrassed and you also prevent it from receiving public support it might need.

The same holds true for individuals. Pointing out large delinquencies is like pointing out tragedies — fires, storms, medical conditions. While victims might be embarrassed, failing to report a tragedy also denies them sympathy they might merit.

Our job is not to tell you what to think. It is to suggest things you might or might not want to think about — not so you can wallow or revel in them but so you can choose either to build upon them or to try to change them. News is like a map. It doesn’t specify where you go but merely helps you identify where you might want to go and potential ways to get there.

Journalists aren’t heartless people trying to profit from others’ misfortune. We simply pass along information. Maybe we share too much sometimes, but it’s almost always better to have too much than too little.

— ERIC MEYER