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6/17/2009
Parins: To TABOR or not to TABOR
“To be, or not to be: that is the question: Whither 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing, end them?” -- Billy S.
Does 53402 sound familiar? It's Tabor, Wisconsin. Thanks to Google Maps for that fun fact I never knew, along the lake, between Milwaukee and Kenosha. .
Diamond Jim and the Democrats' little free-spending budget joy ride is hauling us breakneck backward not to Tabor, but to 2004 when we so desperately needed, yet failed to pass a Taxpayers Bill of Rights.
Where would we be had TABOR taken hold this budget cycle? We’d probably only be in as bad a shape as Michigan, home state for our intrepid domestic auto makers, The Big [ger than a breadbox] 3. Can you imagine: YOUr state’s top 2 employers, GM and Chrysler, have laid off thousands and are on the horizon of bankruptcy, your unemployment rate is almost 13%, and your budget is only $2 billion short?!
Our state has 2 comparatively small assembly plants, about 9% unemployment and our budget is $6.6 billion short?! Holy Red Ink, Arnold! just pardon my incredulity!
The TABOR would have limited budget hikes to a factor of population and inflation increase. Population is up about 2.2%. Inflation has averaged maybe 3.3% annually and is actually negative so far this year. State budget grew from $47 billion to $63 billion – more than 25%! In 2009 alone, it proposes to grow 7.7% -- while the deficit more than doubled from $3.2 billion to $6.6 billion!
DO those numbers bear any similarity to population growth plus inflation? Hell No!!! The TABOR would also have required voter approval for tax hikes. SO while Diamond Jim would have double-cut the deck, removed the pea from under all three shells and still gotten away with his segregated fund raids – we could have stopped motor vehicle fee boosts, increased Manufacturing Tax definition, cigarette and tobacco sales tax hikes, the Hospital Tax, the Nursing Home Bed Tax ( get the oldies ), Oil Company Profits Tax ( energy cost hike ), Energy Bill Fee ( another tax for those who pay), Justice System Use Fee ( higher cost to seek justice ),
Childcare License Fee Increase, Securities Trading Fees (Higher costs to Invest), Vital Records Fee, UW Tuition Increase, Universal Service Fund Fee Increase (one of my favorites-remember the Spanish-American War Fee ?) and another 15 pages of "Enhanced Collection Measures."
I have one more for Diamond Jim. Let’s pass "Citizen Taxation Abatement" (CTA) legislation (I just made that one up), or let's have a contest to name the "Political Theft Act" -- some appealing handle the electorate will embrace.
No. We must resurrect TABOR, former Rep. Frank Lasee’s modest tax and spending control proposal, give it real teeth, not "baby" teeth and give taxpayers the tools required to control the profligates and wastrels in the Legitocracy. Though I look forward to recalling Doyle – there will be time for that, the latest in 2014, after his conservative successor gets things back on track. Then it will be good to recall the audacious Doyle years we are trying so hard to escape.
Richard Parins is the President of the Brown County Taxpayers Association
COMMENTS
And don't forget, it failed to pass when the REPUBLICANS were in power! This is why I don't listen when their "guard dogs" start yapping about "we'll take care of Doyle" or, "Doyle is sure to win if he's recalled". How's that for a politics of defeatism?
Or what about when they failed to get behind Michels in the race against Feingold? They pushed Russ Darrow instead! (How many REAL people'll trust a CAR SALESMAN?)
Their antipathy to the recall movement says it all. They ignore facts, such as his popularity is at an all-time low, such as recall elections are the not the run-of-the-mill stuff, and usually succeed in that opponents to the incumbent usually win--they ignore those statistics, in favor of keeping their ideology (if you could call it that).
They'd rather LOSE the gubernatorial election, than lose their supposed "power". Shame on them!
emily matthews (Wed Jun 17 08:32:24 2009)
Emily, they ALL ignore facts! R's and D's alike. Like TABOR. Reducing taxes will probably hurt the legitimate interests more because they don't (as often) partake in political bribery. Yelp at teachers if you like, but I complain that if they really want to stem layoffs and bad schools, they are going to have to come up with more political cash. Sad, isn't it?
If you want to get taxes down stop the political bribery that buys legislation that spends money, pass public funding of campaigns. TABOR is counter-productive and has been voted out in some of the places it was first voted in.
Jack Lohman (Wed Jun 17 09:52:13 2009)
**TABOR is counter-productive and has been voted out in some of the places it was first voted in.**
Jack, can you give us some "for instances"?
C.R. Stevenson (Wed Jun 17 14:02:17 2009)
If memory serves me correctly it was voted out in Colorado. But the main issue is that most of the people that I've spoken with that oppose high taxes, also oppose the campaign finance reform that would curtail them. Seems a bit strange, but everybody to their own beliefs. See Teabaggers overlook “cause and effect”
Jack Lohman (Wed Jun 17 16:10:08 2009)
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