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Taxpayers League of Minnesota eUpdate
1. The David Strom Show presented by the Minnesota Free Market Institute.
2. Apparently some of you out there are upset about property taxes.
3. Nice timing on the editorial, Star Tribune.
4. So much for public service. Good riddance to Trent Lott.
5. Apropos of nothing: Ted Nugent’s thoughts on animal intelligence and foreign relations.
1. The David Strom Show presented by the Minnesota Free Market Institute.
Tune in this Saturday to AM 1280 The Patriot from 9 – 11 am when David will be joined by Keith Downey, Michael Tanner and Phil Krinkie.
Downey, a candidate for state representative in district 41A, will talk about his candidacy and his challenge to Rep. Ron Erhardt for the Republican endorsement in the Edina legislative district.
Tanner, a scholar at the Cato Institute and author of Leviathan on the Right: How Big-Government Conservatism Brought Down the Republican Revolution, most recently penned the essay, “What if Economic Conservatives Stay Home on Election Day?”
Also joining David will be Taxpayers League President Phil Krinkie to talk about the State Economic Forecast (which was released today) and what it means for conservatives.
2. Apparently some of you out there are upset about property taxes.
Personally (and being a new home owner myself), I sympathize with you. But professionally, if you’re not mad about something then I’m out of a job.
So what can you do? Here’s the Taxpayers League’s easy step-by-step guide for dealing with outrageous property tax increases.
1. Complain to your state legislators about why they didn’t pass a property tax relief bill last session. Stay on the line until they give you an answer, but don’t let them pass off any of that malarkey about how they tried to increase payments to local units of government. You and I both know that scheme is rigged just like Tim Donaghy’s officiating. Tell them you want a rebate check or a Taxpayers Bill of Rights.
2. Complain to your city and county government officials. This step is probably more important than the first one. These guys and the spending decisions they make are the reason you’re going to pay what you’re going to pay. Your property taxes have nothing to do with Tim Pawlenty, Karl Rove or any of the other boogey men that the left relies on you to be afraid of. Your city and county officials wanted to build a water park with tax dollars and now you’re paying for it.
3. Read this article from Sunday’s Strib that explains the phase-out of Limited Market Value and why, even though home prices may be falling, your property taxes aren’t.
4. Finally, make sure to check with the Minnesota Department of Revenue to see if you qualify for the Targeted Property Tax refund. I’m a little hazy on the specifics so let them explain it to you. That’s what government employees are for – to serve you. Think of it as your chance to get the State back for every DMV line you’ve ever had to stand in.
Hopefully this will help some of you. If it doesn’t, you can always try this guide from the Minnesota Taxpayers Association called, Understanding Your Property Taxes.
3. Nice timing on the editorial, Star Tribune.
Take a look at your city’s proposed property tax levy for 2008 and tell me what the first thing that comes to mind is. Is it that the current salary cap for city and county employees is hurting your municipality’s ability to compete for top managerial talent. No? Are you sure? Because if you read the Strib’s editorial last week (Salary cap hurts competitiveness), you’d think that Minnesota local governments are being forced to hire beauty school drop outs to make sure the lights stay on. Right now, the maximum pay for top local or state official is just under $140,000 (with an exception for superintendents). $140,000 (plus benefits) seems like a pretty sweet deal to me. Of course a lobbyist for the Minnesota Inter-County Association (a lobbyist that is paid for with your tax dollars by the way), was ready to provide the perfect doom-and-gloom quote: “To pretend that we can get by for $140,000 and consistently attract the talent…We’re kidding ourselves.” Ah yes, the “talent.” Where would local government be without that?
What in the world is wrong with this state when $140,000 (plus benefits that I’m sure would make Michael Eisner blush) isn’t enough for a government employee?
If you haven’t been reading the Star Tribune’s editorial pages lately (and judging by the recent circulation numbers, you haven’t), there’s been a pleasant upside to the Strib’s company-wide down-sizing: fewer editorials. With the recent departure of their “Bride-of-Engels” Op-Exer Susan Albright, Strib scribes have been reduced to filing one institutional editorial most days and coming up with their own cut-and-paste amalgamation of other papers’ editorials to fill space. Whatever the cause, I think we can safely say that this has been a most welcome development.
4. So much for public service. Good riddance to Trent Lott.
This week, Mississippi Republican Senator Trent Lott resigned his Senate seat after spending nearly his entire adult life on the public dole (see below). Robert Novak’s column on Thursday (found here), explains why Lott is throwing in the towel: “It is understood in Washington and Jackson, Miss., why Lott is leaving without serving even the first two years of a six-year term. By getting out now, he can collect big lobbying money in one year instead of having to wait two years, as he would under new congressional ethics regulations.”
Yes, of course. Lott is being a good, little capitalist. And I’ve really got no problem with a former legislator coming back to lobby his old colleagues. What makes me mad, however, is how someone like Lott can use their seat to get well while in office. More Novak:
“Actually, federal legislators know how to build tidy nest eggs without spending one day in the private sector -- none of them much better than Trent Lott. Except for one year as a practicing attorney fresh out of law school, Lott has spent his career on the public payroll -- four years as a congressional staffer, 16 years in the House and 19 in the Senate. Nevertheless, the Center for Responsive Politics in 2005 calculated his net worth at between $1.4 million and $2 million, or 42nd among 100 senators. It put his annual income from the Senate and private sources at $289,710, in the top 1.5 percent of American income earners.”
His one year in private practice in his late 20’s must have paid pretty well indeed.
5. Apropos of nothing: Ted Nugent’s thoughts on animal intelligence and foreign relations.
In May 2006, Ted Nugent was being interviewed by British journalist Robert Chalmers for the Independent on Sunday. The journalist asked Nugent, “What do these deer think when they see you coming? ‘Here comes the nice guy who puts out our dinner?’ Or, ‘there’s the man that shot my brother?’”
To which the Nuge, of course, replied, “I don’t think they’re capable of either of those thoughts, you Limey a**hole. They’re only interested in three things: the best place to eat, having sex and how quickly they can run away. Much like the French.”
The Taxpayers League of Minnesota's eUpdate is written by Mark Giga |
