Raising the Stakes On Social Security

Finally A Chance To Vote On Taxes

Since we moved to Arkansas almost ten years ago, there have been several initiative attempts to put issues on the ballot that would allow voters to choose whether or not to reduce various taxes. Every time, they have been kicked off the ballot before election day by the worshippers of big government who have been petrified over the mere possibility of ceding any power over taxes to the little people, who they openly consider to be so stupid about such matters that they would probably vote to reduce taxes. Such critical matters should only be decided by our elite rulers.

I have written several times already about this year’s effort by fellow Libertarian, Karl Kimball of Little Rock, to allow voters to decide whether Arkansas sales tax should be charged on human foods and medicines. Currently those items for non-humans are tax exempt, while the human varieties are taxed. I have mentioned several of the hurdles that Karl and his team have been able to overcome. In spite of the taxpayer financed efforts by government bureaucrats to prevent this measure from ever appearing on the ballot, it has narrowly survived a vote by the Arkansas Supreme Court. This means that we should actually be able to vote on a tax matter; a monumental first in our Arkansas history. According to some people, this issue will be the most important thing on the ballot. It’s just wishful thinking by big government fans that the support for this tax reduction is slipping.

Of course this means that the mass hysteria will grow with horror stories and other propaganda about how this reduction in the sales tax revenues will plunge the entire State of Arkansas into the 18th Century, with people losing their lives and suffering terribly as a result. Editorials such as this one are already common place and will intensify. The only media outlet that I am aware of as supporting the measure is the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, which doesn’t allow any linking to its stories. Everyone else is echoing the gloom and doom message about the extreme horrors facing the State if any less money is paid in taxes. It is all too similar to the dire predictions made about the dreaded Y2K bug before December 31, 1999.

KMK

Counter-Attack

The GOP has put up an amusing rebuttal of the DemonRats’ video showing Bush murdering old people. In this one, Bush is Superman. While his claim of saving Social Security is not 100% accurate, it is a lot closer to the truth than the sludge the JackAss Party has been spouting.

KMK

Class Warfare Not Working

I hope Bruce Bartlett is correct in his assessment that the DemonRats’ standard exploitation of hatred of the rich is not working as well as it used to.

KMK

As Accurate As Most Stock Predictors

Ultimate Sin For A Politician

In Salinas, Calif, some union members are actually running a recall campaign against a college trustee for daring to support a move to eliminate a utility tax. Coincidentally, this official is a Libertarian, the only Party that actually works to eliminate taxes, as they are doing here in Arkansas, also with huge opposition from government employees.

KMK

Money In Trash

It’s not just the Sopranos who make illegal money in waste management. Just like an episode of Seinfeld, where Kramer and Newman were going to make money by hauling cans and bottles from New York to Michigan, where the deposit was higher, some real life entrepreneurs have been doing the exact same thing. They were buying aluminum cans and bottles in Mexico and other states with lower than the PRC deposit rates. They were paying $950 per ton for aluminum cans and turning them in to recycling centers in the PRC for $2,490 per ton. Plastic bottles netted even higher profits; selling for $90 a ton out of state and bringing in $910 in California. They have been arrested for their creativity and are looking at some serious criminal charges.

The fact that this kind of thing would happen shouldn’t surprise anyone. Money is like a liquid, finding its own level. Any time there is a disparity in taxes or prices between jurisdictions, people will try to find a way to exploit it. It’s exactly what is happening with the differences in taxes on cigarettes in the various states. On Wall Street, this kind of financial scenario is called arbitrage and its practitioners usually receive huge compensation.

KMK

Tax Cuts For The Rich

I happened to hear Rush’s show today, when a woman called in who claimed to work in a tax accountant’s office. Her explicit envy of the rich and espousal of Democrat talking points made me wonder if she is Dick Gephardt’s accountant. She even said that rich people are lucky, echoing Little Dick’s oft-used description of the wealthy as “winners of life’s lottery.”

Her call reinforces how important it is to select a tax advisor who is in synch with your ideas about taxes. It never ceases to amaze me how many other tax practitioners actually think their clients should be paying more in taxes, as this woman admitted on national radio. Somehow, paying this woman’s firm to prepare a tax return giving more money to the IRS doesn’t seem quite right.

Rush has some good details from IRS on how the rich in fact pay much more than their fair share in taxes. By definition, any reduction in taxes would have to benefit those people who actually pay taxes in the first place.

KMK

Charity Fundraisers

It looks like more charities are raising funds by producing calendars with different groups of people who are willing to pose in various states of dress. Even some Libertarian candidates in North Carolina have gotten into the act with their Ladies of Liberty calendar. It sure beats bake sales and raffles.

KMK

Nabbing Scammers

It’s surprising to see that the authorities are actually trying to catch the perpetrators of the long running Nigerian money scam that seems to lure in a steady stream of gullible idiots. Here’s another quick recap of how pervasive and profitable these scams are.

KMK