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Taxpayers League of Minnesota eUpdate
1. Taxpayers League Live! with David Strom.
2. No, no, no, no. You only think you don’t want light rail.
3. They must have finally taken care of that property tax problem, eh?
4. Keith X and one of the Toxic Twins to the world’s rescue.
5. How fast can state government spend your tax dollars?
1. Taxpayers League Live! with David Strom.
Tune in this Saturday to AM 1280 The Patriot from 9 – 11am when David will be joined by Lori Klein and Ray Vandeveer. Klein, Director of Development for Americans for Fair Taxation, will talk about the current state of the FairTax on Capitol Hill and how you can help abolish the IRS.
And for the second hour, Vandeveer, State Senator from Forest Lake, will tell us how he recently got Larry Pogemiller to cough-up some accountability on the Senate’s ongoing effort to increase their per diem rates. They must have that property tax problem licked, too.
2. Just wait until our fancy ad agency tells you how to think.
Along the lines of last week’s piece outlining the practice by local governments of hiring lobbyists to tromp around the Capitol shaking-down state legislators for even more tax dollars, here’s yet another example of government throwing money at a problem in hopes of subduing opposition to a multi million dollar boondoggle. In this case it is the Ramsey County Regional Rail Authority and their $100,000 contract to a local advertising firm to help build support for a light rail loop plan around the city of St. Paul. A plan, mind you, that a recent study commissioned by Ramsey County said would be “costlier and serve fewer riders than a Cedar Street route” that is supported by the city. So here we go. Ramsey County vs. the city of St. Paul just because a couple of politicians can’t agree on whose plan to fleece the taxpayer is better.
3. What are your state legislators up to? Not much by the looks of it.
First up in this week’s edition of “Are you serious, they have nothing better to do?” is HF1027 - a cosmetics procedures sales tax (or has Phil Krinkie likes to call it, the “Botax”). Now, when you get a little fat sucked out of your backside, Phyllis Kahn will suck a little green out of your wallet. Most likely to pay for this…
HF921 - the tree planting income tax credit. What better way to ease the tax burden facing Minnesotans than to offer them $100 for stealing a neighbor’s tree and sticking it in their yard. My guess is that certain members of the legislature have been bought and sold by the diabolical garden center/home improvement lobby. Bang up job, Rep. Hilstrom.
And finally, we come to HF1015 - a provision for new restroom access regulations (or as it is affectionately called, the “Freedom to Poop” act). Sick and tired of surly sales associates who tell you their bathroom isn’t for customers? Fear no more. Simply bring in your receipt from Taco Bell or have Rep. Erin Murphy queued up on speed dial and you’re home free.
4. A public subsidy for peace, love and the brotherhood of man.
“What do Keith Ellison and Steven Tyler, the lead singer of Aerosmith, have in common? Both are backing a bill to create a U.S. Department of Peace. Tyler and Ellison, D-Minn., appeared at a conference at George Washington University earlier this month to tout the legislation. It included workshops and training in conflict resolution. Similar legislation has been introduced before, but it has never passed. The chief sponsor is Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, who's running for president again.”
[ed. Yes, that makes perfect sense. I’m sure international narco-terrorists are just waiting for the right “conflict resolution” sit-down with future DoP officials so they can reform their drug dealing ways. I suppose it’s the least the “Boys from Beantown” can do. After all, they have to be at least 43% responsible for the explosion in drug use during the 1970s and 80s, right?]
5. Quicker than you can say, “Hey, have you seen my wallet?”
For this year’s installment of “how much will state government spend every day, hour, minute and second,” I’ll be using Governor Pawlenty’s proposed $34.4 billion biennial budget. Add to that the other $20.6 billion in dedicated spending that takes place outside of the state’s General Fund (the part legislators don’t really like to talk about), and you end up with a nice, round figure of $55 billion dollars in total proposed spending for fiscal years 2008 and 2009. One more thing, don’t forget that the Governor’s budget will most likely be used as the floor for the upcoming budget negotiations. Here it is, your state government is planning on spending,
$75,342,465 a day, or twelve John Edwards-style estates. Now you too can build a bridge across Senator Edwards’ two Americas with a house that takes up most of both of them (Jonah Goldberg’s line).
$3,139,269 an hour, or a Britney Spears-like haircut at Great Clips for every man, woman, child in Madison, Wisconsin.
$52,321 a minute, or 130,802 Chicken McNuggets (of the 6-pack variety). Hopefully enough to feed Morgan Spurlock for another 30 days.
And lastly, $872.02 a second, or enough to purchase fourteen copies of David Hasselhoff’s entire iTunes catalog.
The Taxpayers League of Minnesota's E Update is written by Mark Giga
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