Shifting The Tax Burden

Please note. At the beginning of this legislative session, Jack Markell kept all the tax increases in, except one, for those making over $60,000. There was a lot of talk about the need for a higher bracket, talk that perhaps in Delaware it should start at $1 million. It could then be accurately called a millionaires tax. Delaware’s Gatsby Tax has a nice ring to it….

This year, their rate was shifted from 6.95% down to 6.75%, then in future years it drops to 5.95%. Per every $100 million assessed in income, that is a loss of $1 million dollars coming in. Based on Budget estimates this tax cut will cost Delaware $68 million a year… This all happened at the beginning of the session.

Now with 6 days left in this year’s session, today, we get the announcement that we need $80 million dollars in new taxes.
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Gov. Jack Markell has offered (mighty nice of him) legislators a selection of more than $80 million in tax and fee increases to spend on roads, beaches, parks and waterways, but already legislators are rejecting some of the ideas. Markell included a 5-cent increase in the gasoline tax…

Other ideas including upping document fees charged when Delawareans purchase a car (aka a sales tax on new car purchases), expanding the hotel accommodation tax so it applies to beach rental properties, and increasing vehicle registration fees and highway tolls. Excerpt from News Journal (why bother linking to it; most of you don’t subscribe anyways). See Real News at Delaware Liberal.

This had to be planned all along! Cut the tax on the wealthy at the top, wait for the last minute, then call an emergency and slap regular people with $80 million dollars worth of fees… just averaged out to every Delawarean,(including every child so per family it is much higher) that is an increase of $80 dollars spread out over the year… If your take home pay was say, $30,000, it will now effectively be $29,920…

You are losing $80… Why? Because the General Assembly was USED. Tricked by a switcheroo….

Here is what should happen. The Democratic Majority in anger against being made into a fool by their governor of the same party, should ramrod over the dead bodies of Republicans, a 10% marginal tax rate on all those making over $1 million a year! And put it defiantly right on Markell’s desk to sign, (thereby almost guaranteeing everyone of them re-election into the next session. Woo Hoo)

Markell will either have to sign, put the state in arrears, or back down and compromise.

That is how you teach a trickster a lesson.

At What Price, Loyality?

This is going to my hard core Republican friends. Why are you still supporting Romney?

1) You know he is not going to win.
2) You know as the election heats up, his Bain Capital experience will make Republicans untouchable for decades.
3) You can’t pin down where Romney stands on anything.
4) He tied his dog to a car.
5) He stands with black people and says “Who let the dogs out, woof, woof.”

Most of you are telling me, “I certainly can’t vote for Obama. I guess I’m not voting for President this time.”

Let’s say, just for argument sakes there was a presidential candidate out there who says to have good government you need: …………………

1. Become reality driven. Don’t kid yourself or others.
Find out what’s what and base your decisions and actions
on that.

2. Always be honest and tell the truth. It’s extremely
difficult to do any damage to anybody when you are
willing to tell the truth–regardless of the
consequences.

3. Always do what’s right and fair. Remember, the more
you actually accomplish, the louder your critics become.
You’ve got to learn to ignore your critics. You’ve got to
continue to do what you think is right. You’ve got to
maintain your integrity.

4. Determine your goal, develop a plan to reach that
goal, and then act. Don’t procrastinate.

5. Make sure everybody who ought to know what you’re
doing knows what you’re doing. Communicate.

6. Don’t hesitate to deliver bad news. There is always
time to salvage things. There is always time to fix
things. Henry Kissinger said that anything that can be
revealed eventually should be revealed immediately.

7. Last, be willing to do whatever it takes to get your
job done. If you’ve got a job that you don’t love enough
to do what it takes to get your job done, then quit and
get one that you do love, and then make a difference.

Honesty. Integrity. Principal.

Sounds good so far. Let us say just for argument, he had chief executive experience. Let us say just or argument that he once ran a state, one of the fifty in this union. Let us say while governor, this is what he did…..

During his tenure, New Mexico experienced the longest period without a tax-increase in the state’s entire history.

1) He cut the rate of government growth in half,

2) Left the New Mexico state government with a budget surplus and 1000 fewer employees (without firing anyone),

3) Privatized half of the prisons in the state,

4) Brought a state-wide school voucher system to New Mexico.

5) Vetoed 750 bills (more than all the vetoes of the other 49 Governors in the country at that time, combined) with only 2 overrides, earning him the nickname Gary “Veto” Johnson.

6) In 1999, Johnson became the highest-ranking elected official in the United States to advocate the legalization of drugs.

7) Shifted Medicaid to managed care.

ISN’T THAT WHAT YOU WANT? ISN’T THAT WHAT WE NEED?

Can you not think of a better way to show your lack of enthusiasm over a wealthy capitalist buying his way to the top of your ticket, by voting for someone who has character, who does what you’ve always wanted, a doer, not a talker?

And to think…. you were simply just going to throw your vote away.

His name is Gary Johnson. He is the new party’s candidate for President.

Remember Republicans. It is your values that are important. If your party has given up and moved on from your values, don’t think you have to be loyal to the word…. “Republican”… What you have to be loyal too, is yourself. Always. Never lie to yourself.

You don’t need to waste your vote on Romney. You probably need to find more about this guy, Gary Johnson, and then throw your support behind him.

Don’t worry it is not one of the two parties on whose ticket he is running. Remember, at one point in time, the Republican Party was a once a third party too. One that went mainstream because of its core values, its principles resonated with everyday American People.

The Simple Solution……..

“But the big dilemma is how to deal with national debt. If governments spend more, they increase the debt. If they cut back, they slow the economy further. “I don’t know how it’s all going to end,” says Ron Simpson, managing director of global currency analysis for Action Economics..

The answer is rather obvious. You take it from those who have it… Long before modern civilization, that used to be the king and you took it from him by force; then, it evolved to the wealthy class and you busted monopolies,, then to the top echelon and you taxed, and now, it is appropriately named “the top 1%….”

You TAKE it from THEM……. Over the evolution of man and society, we have learned that it is a lot more effective to use benign forms of taxation, giving them options on how they wish to pay back, than storming the castle and killing all inside… and then looking around at each other, and saying …. “ok, so now what?”

Simply raise taxes on all profit until the debt crises has abated. But, be sure to give ample tax breaks, to the point that taxes can be completely written off, on every penny that is invested into physical capital in that country under question… That includes the United States…..

Move away from income tax… and more to profit tax… Which is essentially what the United States Income Tax System has now become.. and probably must now stay…

Instead of how much do you earn: we’ll tax that… our mantra is how much do you have after a minimum level of expenses have been surpassed.

Here in America it takes $56,000 for a family to live comfortably and have a 10% buffer. That is about where our income tax begins to take money and put it into the Treasury.

We’ve even evolved to where if you are a functioning adult, making a contribution to society and are under a poverty minimum, we will pay you money for your contribution.. (EIC)

This philosophy seems to work well.

WE, the People, just need to insist that it also applies to corporations and the top 1% as well…

Hell, during war we do it all the time… Hello, Mr/Mrs. We’re under attack. WE need to borrow your son/daughter for a while, maybe forever…

So why not: Hello, Mr/Mrs. 1 Percenter. We’re in a financial crises. WE need to borrow your excess profit for a while… just one year or two… Benefit to you, is that you will be twice as big and ready to double your income, as soon as that profit ban is lifted……..

Narcotics Decriminalization in Portugal

Apparently decriminalization works. All evidence from Portugal seems to lead thought in that direction.

That is a far cry from when they announced they would decriminalize opium, as well as other narcotics. Tales of gloom and doom, of addicts laying in streets begging for another hit, of college students flocking to Portugal to indulge legally in recreational drugs….

It was then, forgotten…..

But two years ago the Cato institute published data on it’s effectiveness. Here are some surprises….

“Except for some far-right politicians, very few domestic political factions are agitating for a repeal of the 2001 law.”

“Data indicates that decriminalization has had no adverse effect on drug usage rates in Portugal, which, in numerous categories, are now among the lowest in the EU, particularly when compared with states with stringent criminalization regimes.”

Drug-related pathologies — such as sexually transmitted diseases and deaths due to drug usage — have decreased dramatically.

Since Portugal enacted its decriminalization scheme in 2001, drug usage in many categories has actually decreased when measured in absolute terms.

The number of people in methadone treatment leaped from 6,040 in 1999 to 14,877 in 2003, an increase of 147% . . . . The number of places of detoxification, therapeutic communities and half-way
houses, has also increased. .

The number of newly reported cases of HIV and AIDS among drug
addicts has declined substantially every year since 2001…

For the period 2001–2005, Portugal—for the 15–64 age group—has the absolute lowest lifetime prevalence rate for cannabis, the most
used drug in the EU.

For usage rates of cocaine (the second-most commonly used drug in Europe) for the same period and the same age group, only five
countries had a lower prevalence rate than the Portuguese rate. Most EU states have double, triple, quadruple, or even higher rates than Portugal’s, including some with the harshest criminalization schemes in the EU!

By freeing its citizens from the fear of prosecution and imprisonment for drug usage, Portugal has dramatically improved its ability
to encourage drug addicts to avail themselves of treatment. The resources that were previously devoted to prosecuting and imprisoning drug addicts are now available to provide treatment programs to addicts.

The Portuguese have seen the benefits of decriminalization, and therefore there is no serious political push in Portugal to return to
a criminalization framework.

This policy works. Now if it had the hell taxed out of it, we could eliminate this country’s deficit in a very short time.