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Taxpayers League of Minnesota eUpdate
1. David’s guests this week are State Rep. Tom Emmer and author Jonah Goldberg.
2. Even on a “diet” the Central Corridor project will cost a billion dollars.
3. To compromise on the gas tax or not to compromise?
4. Great. $600 for every American to waste on a new TV.
5. Can you say, “Year ‘round Legislative Sessions?”
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 Tom Emmer and Jonah Goldberg.
At 9:30 get a 2008 legislative session preview from Deputy House Minority Leader Tom Emmer [R-Delano].
At 10:00, be sure not to miss National Review contributor and Los Angeles Times columnist Jonah Goldberg discuss his book, Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning.
In case you missed Almanac last Friday, you can clickhere to see Taxpayers League President Phil Krinkie talk about the need to use state bonds for state roads (select “Former lawmakers panel” towards the bottom).
2. Even on a “diet” the Central Corridor project will cost a billion dollars.
This week, Governor Pawlenty informed the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul as well as the Hennepin and Ramsey County commissioners of the need to cut the projected cost of the $1.2 billion Central Corridor light rail project by a third. Peter Bell, head of the Met Council – the organization that will be giving the project the final go ahead at their February 27th meeting – said on Almanac last Friday that the project needs to get down to the $840 million mark so the Feds will pick up $420 million worth of construction costs. Unfortunately, all the trimming and down-sizing in the world won’t make the Central Corridor project any less of a boondoggle. While $840 million may be the magic number now, if the construction history of the Hiawatha light rail line and the Northstar commuter rail line are any indication the final price tag on a Central Corridor line will easily sail past the billion dollar mark well before the first subsidy-sucking rider steps on the platform. Add to the project’s current $990 million price tag the $300 million in add-ons that area interest groups are clamoring for ($990 million plus $300 million gets you to $1.2 billion), and you might as well say goodbye to property tax relief in Ramsey and Hennepin Counties.
3. To compromise on the gas tax or not to compromise?
While you should already know where the Taxpayers League stands on a gas tax increase (we’d rather use state bonds for state roads to pay for our infrastructure needs), other groups – particularly other supposedly free market and apple pie-loving groups – are taking the Stockholm Syndrome approach and introducing tax increases of their own. The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce’s support for a 7.5 cent gas tax increase and an increase in vehicle tab fees isn’t helpful – specifically because of the country’s coming economic woes and our state’s continued job losses, but generally because the Chamber supposedly represents those same companies that aren’t hiring workers. How are immediate tax increases going to lead to job creation?
If Minnesota taxpayers are going to win again this year we’re going to need all our commerce-loving friends pulling in the same direction. And yes, poltics may be about compromise and bipartisanship and kumbaya and all the rest, but by now we should all be well-schooled in what happens when we try to “compromise” with tax-loving state legislators.
So go ahead and give the liberals 5 cents or 7.5 cents or 10 cents now and see how long it is before they come back for more.
4. Great. $600 for every American to waste on a new TV.
Now that the President and Congressional leaders have reached an agreement on an economic stimulus package (that most Americans are going to end up blowing on a TV or new paint job for their kitchen), let’s step back for a minute and look at a plan that will not only stimulate the economy (and keep the Federal Government from running deeper into debt), but will actually provide incentives to job creators and investors.
From Larry Kudlow at National Review Online this week:
“The Ben Bernanke Fed did the right thing this morning [Tuesday] by slashing the fed funds target rate by 75 basis points to 3.5 percent. A lower cost of money will gradually increase the demand for it…
“As Congress looks at taxes, they should think about the one pressing need in today’s loan-problem story. Namely, asset values are falling. This needs to be stopped. The answer? Eliminate the capital-gains tax both for individuals and corporations. This will spark higher asset values by increasing the after-tax present value of future cash flows. They also should cut the corporate tax rate.
“To put it simply, stop the multiple taxation of capital.
“Last week Bernanke said the dividend tax-rate cut should be made permanent and that doing so would help the economy in the short-run. Good for him. Abolish the dividend tax altogether. It’s just more double-taxing of capital. Anything Congress does to reduce the cost of capital and raise investment returns will help.”
“The world is not coming to an end. Our free-market capitalist system goes through periodic corrections and cleansings. It’s the natural order of things. Things are going to be okay.”
5. Can you say, “Year ‘round Legislative Sessions?”
I can’t possibly see anything going wrong with this plan.
From the St. Paul Pioneer Press:
“Minnesota lawmakers could go around the governor and call a special session of the Legislature under a constitutional amendment being introduced at the Capitol. [ed. Serenity NOW!]
“Rep. Lyndon Carlson, a Crystal Democrat who has served in the House for 36 years [ed. Some jurisdictions give convicted felons shorter life sentences.], said in a news release that the current system, which allows only governors to call lawmakers back to work outside of their regular annual sessions, breeds delay and confusion. [ed. What’s wrong with that?]
“Under the measure, a majority of the 201 lawmakers would have to sign a call for a special session or the presiding officers of both the House and Senate would have to agree to bring lawmakers back to the Capitol. [ed. If there’s a better example of the inmates running the asylum, I don’t know what it would be.]
“In order to change the rules for special sessions, a majority of lawmakers would have to approve the constitutional amendment and then a majority of Minnesotans voting on Election Day 2008 would have to vote for the ballot measure.”
The Taxpayers League of Minnesota's eUpdate is written by Mark Giga
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