The editorial in the Times on Sept. 15 argued that part-time resident taxpayers on the Cape, and specifically in Provincetown, do not deserve the right to vote in local elections. The editorial board claims that it’s essentially a perversion of democratic values for part-time resident taxpayers to participate in the electoral process in the communities where they own property.

The inability of part-time resident taxpayers to vote on local matters allows full-timers, who pay only 14 percent of the town’s property taxes, to denigrate and marginalize those who generate the vast majority of the town’s property taxes. In fact, it is a perversion of democratic values to block part-time resident taxpayers from voting on any town matters even though they pay nearly all the bills.

In an era where our national politics continues to marginalize populations and encourage hateful discourse, we are saddened to see such misperceptions and misrepresentation of the valuable part-time resident taxpayers in Provincetown.

This is, at its core, an issue of taxation without representation.

Because part-time resident taxpayers do not have the right to vote, Provincetown's Select Board has been able to:

• Prevent part-time resident taxpayers from serving on any town committees or boards even though they, too, have a large stake in the town’s future;

• Impose more than $1.1 million in additional taxes for FY 2018 and FY 2019 on part-time resident taxpayers to subsidize a property tax cut for full-time residents;

• Force part-time resident taxpayers to be responsible for the vast majority of the $124 million in long-term obligations the town has incurred, including bonds, notes, interest payable, unfunded pensions, and unfunded post-employment benefits for the town's current and former employees;

• Suppress part-time resident taxpayer’s financial contributions to local nonprofits as limited funds are being diverted to pay for tax cuts for full-timers.

Actually, up until FY 2017, full-time and part-time resident taxpayers were taxed equally in Provincetown. Advocating taxation without representation, towns like Provincetown, Truro and Wellfleet are denigrating part-time resident taxpayers, creating friction within their communities, and potentially endangering local nonprofit organizations as part-timers are forced to pay more and more money to support full-timers on the Cape.

Furthermore, the Select Board in Provincetown continues to disenfranchise the very core population funding the majority of the town’s budget. Effective in FY 2018, the Select Board cut full-timer property tax bills by $480,000 and nearly all full-timers benefited, regardless of financial need. Part-time resident taxpayers protested but were forced to pay the $480,000 bill. With this action, the Select Board, representing a shrinking base of full-time residents, converted part-time resident taxpayers into an ATM machine to enrich themselves and other full-timers.

Effective in FY 2019, the Select Board cut full-timer property tax bills even more – now by $640,000 – and, again, nearly every full-timer gets a cut with no means testing.

Not only do full-time residents receive subsidies from the part-time resident taxpayers, but it appears that quite a number of those full-timers who receive the tax subsidies may not even reside full-time in the town. A review of the mailing addresses of those who received exemptions in FY 2018 lists primary address locations in Phoenix, Ft. Lauderdale, St. Petersburg, Boston, Cambridge, Eastham, North Falmouth, North Truro, Swampscott, Detroit, Brooklyn, Philadelphia and Dallas and others.

If part-time resident taxpayers are to be forced to subsidize full-timers, at the very least there should be an annual requirement that full-timers prove they have filed Massachusetts tax returns from the specific property for which they’re seeking an exemption. A recent Boston Globe investigative team found massive fraud in this program in Boston, and so it appears here in Provincetown as well.

Giving part-time resident taxpayers the right to vote is essential to stop this abuse of democracy. Despite paying a small fraction of the property taxes that support Provincetown’s government, full-timers get 100 percent of the say over all issues in the town. Instead of spending their time finding ways to generate new jobs that will entice residents to move to Provincetown, the Select Board is instead working overtime to cut their own taxes and pass that bill on to their part-time neighbors and fully exclude those neighbors from participating on all town boards and committees.

Part-time resident taxpayers are not simply accepting the Select Board’s push to raise the tax burden even higher in the years ahead. The Provincetown Part-Time Resident Taxpayer’s Association will work locally with adjacent towns and with communities throughout the state to change the law to allow part-time resident taxpayers to vote on local issues. Ten other states already allow part-time resident taxpayers to vote, with Connecticut being a good nearby example. We strongly encourage other part-time resident taxpayers on the Cape to contact your local association. Join the fight to have a meaningful say in your community.

Steve Fossella is president of the Provincetown Part-Time Resident Taxpayers Association.