I wish I had written that about taxes

Myles Spicer had a good op-ed piece about taxes in today's Star Tribune, see http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentary/81999627.html

He dispels many of the myths about high taxes including businesses moving because of taxes, the relative rate of U.S. taxes to other countries and of Minnesota taxes to other states, the efficiency of government, and the effect on economic growth.

Although he too doesn't like taxes, he appreciates the things that taxes provide.

The Republican Party is a sinking ship...

weighted down by a rigid, contradictory ideology. It is against abortion because it kills babies, but has no compunction about killing babies in foreign countries in the name of "defense". It wants limited government but supports a strong defense; a "defense" run by the largest government bureaucracy of all. It wants low taxes but fails to see the cost of the "defense" it demands. It wants a free market but fails to recognize that a free market needs more than a few large, bureaucratic corporations. It wants to clamp down on illegal immigration but fails to recognize that this country was founded on an unstoppable wave of "illegal" immigrants who overwhelmed the earlier inhabitants. It wants "bipartisanship" but fails to recognize how much its base so readily believes a few extremely partisan commentators. And if that is not enough lead ballast, it opposes the President even when he espouses ideas first espoused by Republicans!

The sinking of the Republican Party is not a good thing because it is leading to a one-party democracy as described by Thomas Friedman in "Our One-Party Democracy", New York Times, 2009-09-09. There is some old saw about there being no political parties in the U.S. – the Democratic half is based on the large number of factions within the Democratic party making it hard for Democrats to govern. This is Friedman's contention; the factions in the Democratic party are making it difficult to pass legislation that will allow the U.S. to compete against the likes of China. China's one-party autocracy is taking steps to be a leader in many 21st Century industries.

It is time for pragmatists in either party to form a new party based on the idea of governance as put forth by the Founders. It is time for a new party that will take bold initiatives like the early Republican Party's extensive support of the transcontinental railroad. It is time for a new party that doesn't judge taxes as being too low or too high, but asks if they are appropriate for the needs of today. It is time for a new party that doesn't judge the size of government as too little or too big, but asks if governing is being done at the appropriate level for the tasks at hand.

I hope that the handful of "liberal" Republicans and the many "conservative" and "moderate" Democrats will seriously consider another meeting like was held in Ripon, Wisconsin in the mid-nineteenth century. "As our case is new, so must we think anew."

Mileage tax for pedestrians

State Representative John Overthere is pushing to tax pedestrians based on how much they walk. He says that pedestrians are a minority in our state and are not paying their fair share for the sidewalks they use. He claims that it is grossly unfair to have homeowners and other property owners pay for sidewalks that they never use. Most people go out their back door to the garage and drive away. They have no use for sidewalks. Can't you tell by the number of unshovelled walks in the winter?

Rep. Overthere's bill would mandate that all pedestrians wear state-sanctioned pedometers whenever they are on a public walkway. Pedestrians would have to have them checked once a month and pay the applicable tax. The fine for not having an official pedometer would be $100 for the first offense and $200 for subsequent offenses in the same year.

Immediate opposition was raised by ARM (Association of Runners of Marathons). They claimed the tax would strongly discourage marathon runners and would greatly reduce the amount of sales taxes paid during marathon events.

See "Oberstar pushing to tax motorists based on how much they drive", Duluth News Tribune, 2009-04-29

I'm paying "high taxes" again!

I brought my truck into a Ford dealer because it has been squeaking on the right front. Tuesday I could push down on the bumper and the truck sounded like a whimpering puppy. Today I pushed down and heard nothing. On my trip to the dealer, I heard nothing.

The service representative just told me there was something, expensive somethings. A boot on the in the suspension was torn. When it was cold and dry it squeaked. Today it is warm with standing water on the roads. The boot is lubricated with water and doesn't squeak.

Additionally a tie rod is loose and has to be replaced. And, of course, the front end has to be realigned when all the repairs are made.

As of this writing, I don't know the full cost, but it will be over six hundred dollars, eight wouldn't surprise me.

How do front ends get damaged? From potholes. Why are there potholes? Because we won't pay enough taxes to build roads that will stand up to harsh weather, and we won't even pay enough taxes to repair the roads we have in a timely fashion.

So, we have to pay for the condition of our roads in another way. Either way, we are being taxed. Interestingly, this repair will be more than we pay to the City of Duluth in real estate taxes each year.

Am I important or is a third party working harder?

I just had a personal call, not a robo-call, from Dean Barkley, the 2008 Minnesota Independence Party candidate for the U.S. Senate. He was asking for donations to the party.

I told him that I had been thinking about sending email to the party about having gimmicks in its party platform, namely instant run-off voting and unicameral legislature. He said he would pass my thoughts on.

I suggested that a key word to use was "appropriateness"; for example, the question is not that taxes are too high or too low, but are they appropriate for what we as a society need done. He said that he was a believer in infrastructure and that he thinks a bit before driving across a bridge.

What I didn't tell him that I had been the "Party of One" columnist for the Weekly Reader. For years I have sometimes donated to candidates I particularly liked, but I can't remember when I last contributed to a party. Maybe it was 1981 when my term ended as a precinct finance chair for the Republican Party in Plymouth MN. I had wanted John Anderson as the Republican candidate in 1980 and did contribute to his independent campaign. Too bad people threw their votes away voting for the "major" party candidates:)

Control the terms of the debate

After reading my submission to the Star Tribune on "The media", my son sent me a link to a New Yorker article on the Republican Party, "The Fall of Conservatism" by George Packer, 2008-05-26.

One interesting point was:

The Princeton historian Sean Wilentz, in his new book, “The Age of Reagan: A History, 1974-2008” (Harper), argues that Reagan “learned how to seize and keep control of the terms of public debate.”

I thought of how the Republicans have seized and kept control of the terms of the public debate on taxes by constant harping on "high taxes" and "low taxes". I really think the debate needs to be on "appropriate taxes". With that in mind, I sent the following to President-Elect Obama's change web site, http://www.change.gov/page/s/yourvision.

Appropriate the adjective appropriate.

The Republicans are controlling the debate on taxes with a charge of "high taxes" and a call for "low taxes". The real question is not whether taxes are too high or too low but whether taxes are appropriate for the tasks facing the government.

If a war calls for a large portion of a nation's resources, a fifty-percent tax rate may be appropriate to bring the war to a successful conclusion.

If a country is at peace, if all the infra-structure is working well, and if the country is healthy and prosperous, a five-percent tax rate may be appropriate to keep the country running smoothly.

I encourage to send your thoughts to Obama's transition team. Who knows, if you have a well-thought and well-prepared idea that resonates with one of the filters, your idea may be adopted. If you don't send your thoughts to the transition team, ...

High taxes or appropriate taxes?

Republicans make a big thing of charging Democrats with creating high taxes, and to many Republicans, this also means no taxes are preferred.

Unfortunately, it is nearly impossible to run a successful business in a society without taxes. A taxless society has too many uncertainties. Uncertainties can be reduced with a civil society that sets and enforces rules. The price of a civil society is taxes. How much tax are we prepared to pay for what kind of civil society.

The question really should be do we have appropriate taxes for the society we want. If businesses needs skilled workers they will pay for them either with their own training programs, which cost money or with taxes for publicly supported schools. Otherwise, they will hope enough potential workers will pay for their own education.