Posted Sun, Apr 19, 11:38 a.m. Inappropriate

a supporter put my Friday testimony against the tax hike on youtube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjXbJTCmkdg

Here's the text of it:

You’re fooling no one.

It’s become the oldest trick in the book – fund non-essential programs with existing taxes, then hold essential programs hostage, demanding a voter-approved ransom to get them back. You regularly put emergency medical services on the ballot and tell voters “approve this tax increase or you’re all gonna die.”

It is pure manipulation – it is transparent, obvious, and despicable.

You are fooling no one.

You say these are ‘temporary’ taxes.

No taxes are ever temporary – you always find a way to keep ‘em going.

You say these are ‘dedicated’ taxes.

There’s no such thing – taxes can’t be dedicated – once you get the money, you can spend them on anything you want.

In 2002, the voters approved a tobacco tax increase dedicated for one thing, but then the Legislature took the money and spent it on something else.

In 2005, the voters dedicated a revenue stream for performance audits, and right now the Legislature is taking half its money and spending it someplace else.

Saying these taxes will be temporary doesn’t pass the straight face test – saying they are dedicated is simply untrue.

Even the newspapers are fed up. Last week the News Tribune wrote: “This … reeks. Voters will see right through (this) ploy to make the state’s neediest the poster children for new taxes. Failure of the ballot measure … will be lawmakers’ fault, not the electorate’s.”

Representative DeBolt hit the nail on the head: “This whole thing is gamesmanship – you cut the most vulnerable, you cut the most atrocious things you can, you send it to the voters, you show them pictures of people in basic states of panic, you tell them they have to give you more money … and then you take that money and give it to the Arts Commission.”

You are fooling no one.

Democrats claim they’re on the side of the poor and middle class – and now you turn around and jack up sales taxes that disproportionately hurts them. Democrats say they don’t like to raise taxes on the poor and middle class – but then you jack up cigarette taxes, utility taxes, and liquor taxes that disproportionately hammers them.

The best thing you can do for the poor and middle class is to stop taxing and fee’ing them to death.

Dante’s Inferno describes the seven circles of hell. There needs to be an 8th circle added and reserved for politicians who are willing to throw the elderly and the disabled under the bus, defund their programs, and then exploit them, using them as props and pawns in their never-ending pursuit of higher taxes. Have you no shame?

You are fooling no one.

Posted Sun, Apr 19, 9:42 p.m. Inappropriate

The fundamental problem in Eyman's critique is not that he wants to oppose this or that particular tax or critique the sneaky way it's being enacted, but that he argues from a position, as an ideological libertarian axiom, that society is essentially a voluntary organization, a fraternity of the willing or, probably more accurately, a market. Hence, any constraint (tax) on his consumer power is an attack on his fundamental freedom. One has to appreciate the simplicity of the position and the fullness of passionate intensity that libertarians bring to this moment. But it is a fundamentally flawed position. Eyman thinks he's in a mall and the mall owners are trying to charge him to shop. Hence his outrage at this absurdity.
But society, and the political community it engenders, is not a market. Unlike our decision to go to QFC instead of Safeway, we do not choose to enter this society with its imbalances, injustices, and injuries. We do not choose to be born to poor parents in poor neighborhoods with poor schools and no health care, nor do we choose the opposites--rich parents, nice neighborhoods, good schools, and decent health care. Non-libertarians recognize this basic injustice and argue that the political community has a fundamental obligation to assist--health care, education, a decent environment, legal protections, in order to restore something of a fair balance. Even the quickest look at the state budget shows that the state's revenues has not been captured by the "Arts Commission."
That Eyman is outraged about the game of politics is reminiscent of Renault in "Casablanca" who is "shocked, shocked" that gambling is going on in a gin joint. Of course the system is gaming, just as Eyman's initiatives with their squirrelly language, panicked appeals to fear and victimhood ("never ending pursuit of higher taxes"), over-the-top anti-governmentalism, paid signature collectors was gaming the system. This argument for a sudden return to purity in politics where no one tries to fool anyone else is just plain silly, if not weirdly sinister, coming from Eyman.
If Eyman really wants to come to the aid of the poor and middle-class (as Obama has so clearly done), he will back a steeply progressive income tax and help us move away from about the most regressive and unjust tax structure in the country. The odds are not good, however, since he helped create that structure in the first place.

Posted Mon, Apr 20, 7:59 a.m. Inappropriate

The problem is that the State has proven itself not to be an "honest broker" when dealing with the public. They have lost focus on the priorities of government and they have chosen to budget to a social agenda. To all of those who wish to join in goose step with the call for a State Income Tax I encourage them to post copies of the reciept from the State Treasurers office for the amount that they personally donated above their required tax obligation. Afterall if it is the right thing to do, one should not need to be compelled by law to make the voluntary donation to further the ambition of the State should they?