Go Free Yourself

Want to know what happens when you raise taxes in a weak economy? Look no further than Michigan.

My beloved home state was the subject of an excellent Wall Street Journal editorial yesterday, entitled “Granholm’s Tax Warning.” Here’s an excerpt (including a mention of our friend and ally, Leon Drolet of the Michigan Taxpayers Alliance):

Michigan is now in the 18th month of a state-wide recession, and the unemployment rate of 6.9% remains far above the national rate of 5%. Ms. Granholm blames the nationwide mortgage meltdown and higher energy prices for the job losses and disappearing revenues, but this Great Lakes state is in its own unique hole. Nearby Illinois (5.4% jobless rate) and even Ohio (5.6%) are doing better.

Leon Drolet, the head of the Michigan Taxpayers Alliance, complains that “we are witnessing the Detroit-ification of Michigan.” By that he means that the same high tax and spend policies that have hollowed out the Motor City are now infecting many other areas of the state.

The tax hikes have done nothing but accelerate the departures of families and businesses. Michigan ranks fourth of the 50 states in declining home values, and these days about two families leave for every family that moves in. Making matters worse is that property taxes are continuing to rise by the rate of overall inflation, while home values fall. Michigan natives grumble that the only reason more people aren’t blazing a path out of the state is they can’t sell their homes. Research by former Comerica economist David Littmann finds that about the only industry still growing in Michigan is government. Ms. Granholm’s $44.8 billion budget this year further fattened agency payrolls.

Read the whole thing here.

(Hat Tip: Fark)

You may have noticed I’ve added an Illinois Debt Counter widget to my sidebar—that’s a big chunk of change, is it not?

The Debt Counter is provided by For the Good of Illinois, a not-for-profit Illinois corporation comprised of regular people stepping forward to change how politics is practiced in Illinois state government.

Their mission: to rekindle the spirit of public service among our elected officials. They believe that there’s a role for common sense in Illinois government, and an absence of common sense has led to a lack of state leadership and accountability. By forming a network of average citizens who demand from their elected officials honest dealing and sound decision making, they will strive to create a state government that is transparent and well managed.

In short, they want to make Illinois right again—for regular people.

Visit their website for more, and check back here often to see the status of the debt. I’ll be keeping the counter at the top of my sidebar from now on.

If there’s anything that really ticks me off, it’s the obscene way in which our government overtaxes us and then wastes the money.

That’s why I’m so glad there are groups doing something about it. One of them is Sheila Weinberg and the Institute for Truth in Accounting, who recently made front-page, above-the-fold news in USA Today. Here’s an excerpt:

The federal government’s long-term financial obligations grew by $2.5 trillion last year, a reflection of the mushrooming cost of Medicare and Social Security benefits as more baby boomers reach retirement.

That’s double the red ink of a year earlier.

Taxpayers are on the hook for a record $57.3 trillion in federal liabilities to cover the lifetime benefits of everyone eligible for Medicare, Social Security and other government programs, a USA TODAY analysis found. That’s nearly $500,000 per household.

When obligations of state and local governments are added, the total rises to $61.7 trillion, or $531,472 per household. That is more than four times what Americans owe in personal debt such as mortgages.

“We’re running deficits in the trillions of dollars, not the hundreds of billions of dollars we’re being told,” says Sheila Weinberg, chief executive of the Institute for Truth in Accounting of Chicago.

Sheila and the Institute are doing important work with their Truth in 2008 project, which aims to make Americans aware of our country’s true financial situation—and force our elected leaders to face the music and deal with this sobering problem.

Read the whole USA Today piece here, and learn more about Sheila’s work here and here.

And—I’m sorry, I can’t resist—I can’t help but think how dear old Dwight Schrute might respond to a financial crisis such as this one. I mean, this is a man who brought up downsizing in his Dunder Mifflin job interview, and tried to eliminate company health care because “in the wild, there is no health care. In the wild, health care is, ‘Ow, I hurt my leg. I can’t run. A lion eats me. I’m dead.’ ” (I couldn’t find a YouTube video of this, so quoting will have to suffice.) Good stuff. We could use a little Dwight Schrute when it comes to government spending.

Happy Friday!

Facing a $16 million deficit, the Vallejo (CA) City Council voted unanimously last night to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection.

Meanwhile, the federal government is $55 trillion in the hole.

Enough said.

Who’s the biggest piglet in Illinois?

Citizens Against Government Waste and Illinois Policy Institute have teamed up to introduce the 2008 Illinois Piglet Book. Here’s a taste of the bacon:

• $1 million for the Illinois film office in Chicago
• $550,000 for the conservation of pheasants
• $40,000 for the Springfield Figure Skating Club

All in all, the Piglet Book details more than $686 million in state government waste. Check it out here, and watch our friend John Tillman talk about it on Fox News Chicago.

Ah, April 15. Today is the day where we send in our tax checks so that the government can provide us with important services like the Catfish Genome Project, asparagus technology, and the management of pig manure.

In honor of today, April 15, check out Dave Barry’s latest column, “How your taxes turn into manure.”

Trust me; you’ll need the laugh.

…because on April 15, the rest of America will empty their wallets.

From Timothy Carney’s (senior reporter for the Evans & Novak Political Report) column in the Washington Examiner yesterday:

For a minority of Americans, however, Tax Day is worth celebrating because taxes — either the dollars you pay or the complexity of complying with the law (or both) — are good news for them. I call them tax bandits, and they fit into four categories: the tax spenders, the tax receivers, the tax parasites and the tax shelters.

Read more about these tax bandits here.

(Hat Tip: Mark Tapscott)

I posted yesterday about how federal lawmakers are, to say the least, misusing taxpayer funds. The National Taxpayers Union offers more proof of our politicians’ disregard for taxpayers with their 2007 Rating of Congress, based on every 2007 roll-call vote about spending or taxes.

“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. “Overburdened taxpayers looking for an end to ‘earmarked’ spending, an extension of President Bush’s tax cuts, and an honest entitlement reform plan won’t like what they see in Congress’s performance so far.”

The Washington Examiner also weighed in on this problem in the Washington area, declaring that “local lawmakers spend like drunken sailors.”

Unfortunately, the voting records of the Washington-area’s senators and representatives show that most couldn’t care less about the growing burden of taxes on their constituents.

What they care about is using our tax dollars to advance their political interests.

Ho-hum, just another day. At least the Office starts again tonight!

See how your lawmakers rate here.

(Hat Tip: Mark Tapscott)

I haven’t been to Los Angeles since I was in fourth grade, but I remember the traffic being horrendous. The smog was also pretty disgusting. Unfortunately, it hasn’t gotten any better—in fact, according to California Assemblyman Mike Feuer, “the people of Los Angeles have just had it when it comes to traffic and air quality.”

Fine. I can understand that. But the solution is definitely not to pass a “global warming tax.”

However, that’s exactly what Feuer is proposing. He’s the author of bill 2558, legislation that would institute a “climate change mitigation and adaptation fee” already endorsed by the board of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority. This would mean drivers could end up paying an extra 9 cents per gallon at the gas pump or an additional $90 on their vehicle registration, either of which would add an additional $400 million a year for public transit projects.

Needless to say, not everyone is pleased by this scheme. The Los Angeles Times reports:

But opponents already are rallying against the measure, saying it exploits public concern about climate change to tap taxpayers for the MTA’s regular services: providing bus and rail lines.

“This seems to be a cashing in on public sympathies on global warming to generate additional funding for programs that already exist,” said Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn.

Coupal also objected to the measure’s being called a “fee” — which requires a simple majority for approval — instead of a “tax,” which requires two-thirds approval.

Another opponent wrote a letter to the editor, which appeared in the Desert Dispatch on Monday:

Los Angeles County motorists should ask Mr. Feuer what global temperature would persuade him that a new tax is unneeded. Global warming, now conveniently rechristened “climate change,” is perfect for demagoguery. Those advancing the cause won’t explain how they will know we have won the global warming fight, let alone what the ideal temperature is supposed to be.

Climate has changed as long as the Earth has spun on its axis. It’s been considerably warmer in recent centuries than today, and during those periods humanity simply adapted, indeed, flourished with fewer cold-weather deaths and more abundant crops.

But facts don’t deter schemes like Mr. Feuer’s to raise $400 million in additional taxes to pay for already funded transit projects.

Read the rest of the LTE here, and the LA Times piece here. And in the meantime, let’s hope California voters reject this tax scheme.

I am already pissed about the amount of taxes I have to pay. But when I found out today that my hard-earned dollars (and yours) are paying for lingerie, gambling, iPods (you KNOW how I feel about those), Internet dating services, and steak & booze dinners, I nearly burst a blood vessel.

Look, I know this shouldn’t/doesn’t come as a surprise, but it’s no less infuriating.

The Washington Post reports (with the most understated headline ever—”Federal Credit Cards Misused”):

The study, released by Senate lawmakers yesterday, found that nearly half the “purchase card” transactions it examined were improper, either because they were not authorized correctly or because they did not meet requirements for the cards’ use. The overall rate of problems “is unacceptably high,” the audit found.

The GAO also found that agencies could not account for nearly $2 million worth of items identified in the audit — including laptop computers, digital cameras and, at the Army, more than a dozen computer servers worth $100,000 each.

…

The GAO found that 41 percent of the transactions it examined did not follow government purchasing rules. The problem was worse with larger purchases: Forty-eight percent of transactions over $2,500 were in violation of federal rules, the report said.

Read the rest (and more highlights)—if you can stand it.