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Taxpayers League of Minnesota eUpdate
April 18, 2008
1. David’s guests this week are Mark Steyn and Mickey Edwards.
2. Despite liberal media reports the Tax Rally was a great success.
3. Four little words that may save Minnesota drivers $2 billion.
4. Congress's fiscal ratings drop closer to all-time low.
5. The IRS: making criminals out of American citizens since 1953.
6. “YES, I'm still a Conservative, dammit!”
1. The David Strom Show presented by the Minnesota Free Market Institute.
Tune in this Saturday to AM 1280 The Patriot at 9 am when David and Margaret take a break from their live show to bring you replays of two recent A-list guests.
First up at 9 am, Mark Steyn, columnist to the world and author of America Alone – now out in paperback.
At 10 am, David’s guest will be Mickey Edwards, one of the founders of the Heritage Foundation and author of Reclaiming Conservatism.
Also, be sure to tune into TPTs Almanac program tonight for another political roundtable with the Taxpayers League’s own Phil Krinkie.
2. Despite liberal media reports the Tax Rally was a great success.
And despite the cold, snow and gale force winds over 5,000 brave Minnesotans made their way to the State Capitol last Saturday for the 2008 Tax Rally. How do I know it was 5,000 and not the 1,000 that some of our local media outlets reported? For one, the Taxpayers League is 3,000 Legislative Scorecards lighter than we were last Friday (I know the Scorecard is a great publication but even I don’t think it’s “every person needs three copies great”). But even if attendance wasn’t more than 1,000 – or even if only 500 people showed up – it still says something about our people and our cause. Hey, the unions have to pay people to show up at the Capitol for their rallies. We take the time because we care.
Attendance aside, however, if you missed the Rally you also missed getting a copy of the Taxpayers League’s “St. Paul Six WANTED poster.” But don’t worry, you can still get your copy of the poster at our website. So thanks to all that took a few minutes out of their week to shiver next to a few thousand fellow taxpayers.
3. Four little words that may save Minnesota drivers $2 billion.
Whenever anyone is putting together a large bill designed to bilk Minnesotans out of billions of dollars, mistakes will likely be made. Generally, these mistakes take the form of something benign like ordering 10 stop signs instead of 100. But sometimes the mistake is much bigger than a few road signs. And this time the mistake may save Minnesota taxpayers $2 billion. How? In the original Transportation tax bill that passed over the Governor’s veto, language concerning the increase in tab fees seems to blink off after August 31, 2009; in effect raising the tax on new car purchases for only one year. Of course the tax-and-spenders in St. Paul won’t abide this discrepancy so “correcting” language that deletes the end date and leaves the tax open-ended has been slipped into this bill. Perhaps the upcoming vote on HF3800 will be a chance for some of our less fiscally responsible state legislators to do something to actually help Minnesota taxpayers.
4. Congress's fiscal ratings drop closer to all-time low.
“The multi-year decline of lawmakers' pro-taxpayers scores under Republican control of the House of Representatives and Senate entered a nosedive in 2007 with a new Democratic majority, according to NTU's 29th annual Rating of Congress. The scorecard, the only one to utilize every roll call vote affecting tax, spending, and regulatory issues, was based on a record 609 votes – 427 in the House and 182 in the Senate.
“‘Despite campaign-trail promises from many Members of Congress to put Washington on a stricter diet, our 2007 Rating shows that, by and large, the only things shrinking on Capitol Hill are lawmakers' pro-taxpayer scores,’ NTU President Duane Parde said.”
You can find the 2007 Rating in PDF here.
5. The IRS: making criminals out of American citizens since 1953.
From Stephen Moore and WSJs Political Diary:
“Albert Einstein once said that the most complicated thing on earth was the U.S. tax code -- and he was speaking at time when the tax code was about one-tenth as costly and time-consuming to fill out as today.
“According to the Tax Foundation, the tax code now comprises 67,200 pages. It takes the average taxpayer 24 hours a year to do his or her taxes, and the average small business spends 52 man-hours a week on taxes. Many businesses now correctly complain that the cost of complying with the income tax is higher than the cost of actually paying their taxes -- and that's not counting the cost of a potential audit. Dick Armey, chairman of FreedomWorks.org and the former congressional sponsor of the flat tax, says that tax compliance now costs the economy at least $250 billion a year.
“As bad as Tax Day is today, it will get a lot worse for millions of Americans. Five million filers swept up by the Alternative Minimum Tax will soon become 30 million unless the law is changed. Happy April 15th.”
Whether you prefer the flat tax, the FairTax (or no tax at all), I think we can all agree that the present system serves lobbyists and lawmakers much more than it does the American people.
One more thing. Leave it to the IRS to corrupt an innovation that can sometimes save taxpayers a lot of money – privatizing government functions. From the Washington Post, “Collectors cost more than they raise.”
Compare the numbers in paragraph two with the quote in paragraph six.
6. “YES, I'm still a Conservative, dammit!”
Collegians for a Constructive Tomorrow present an evening with P.J. O’Rourke. Tuesday, April 29th – 7 pm, Northrop Auditorium, University of Minnesota.
With more than 1 MILLION words of trenchant journalism under his byline and more citations in the “Penguin Dictionary of Humorous Quotations” than any other living writer, P.J. O'Rourke has established himself as America's premier political satirist. He is the best-selling author or 12 books, including Parliament of Whores, Give War a Chance, Eat the Rich and Peace Kills. Both Time magazine and the Wall Street Journal have labeled O'Rourke as “the funniest writer in America.” He is also the H.L. Mencken Research Fellow at the Cato Institute.
The Taxpayers League of Minnesota's eUpdate is written by Mark Giga
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