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Taxpayers League of Minnesota eUpdate
1. The David Strom Show – This week’s guests: Bruce Bartlett and Phil Krinkie
2. Senator Bakk: Property taxes shouldn’t increase faster than the rate of inflation.
3. How do you turn $31,000 into $53,000 without producing anything of value?
4. America works best when we say “Corruption: YES!”
5. What issues matter to you? Share what you know with MPR.
1. The David Strom Show presented by the Minnesota Free Market Institute.
Tune in this Saturday to AM 1280 The Patriot from 9 – 11 am when David will be joined by Bruce Bartlettat 9 am and Phil Krinkie at 10 am. Bartlett, a former domestic policy advisor to Ronald Reagan and Treasury official under George H.W. Bush, is most recently the author of Wrong on Race: The Democratic Party’s Buried Past. I’m sure Wrong on Race is great, but if you’re looking for a great book by Bartlett, don’t miss this one.
Krinkie, president of the Taxpayers League and former chairman of the House Taxes and Capital Investment committees, will talk about the Taxpayers League’s proposal for increasing on the amount the state spends on road and bridge projects without raising taxes. For more information on the proposal, click on the link above and then head over to the Minnesota Free Market Institute for their analysis of the plan.
2. Hey Senator Bakk, the Taxpayers League couldn’t have said it better ourselves.
At a legislative session preview press conference yesterday, chairman of the Senate Tax Committee Tom Bakk (DFL-Cook), made some comments about the property tax burden faced by Minnesota homeowners and comments on taxation in general. Here are some of the highlights:
At 20:30 Senator Bakk dodges a question about who in Minnesota is under-taxed (meaning who is he going to penalize to give us his version of property tax relief) by instead tax about our tax system’s “volatility” and telling us we’re are idiots because we don’t understand how government deficits and surpluses work.
At 23:10 Rep. Lynn Carlson (DFL-Crystal) jumps in to explain that if we just gave more money to local governments, the property tax issue would go away (but, of course, the Governor vetoed the Tax bill so we’ll continue to see modern day “Hoovervilles” and Soviet-style bread lines all over the place).
At 24:40 Rep. Jim Davnie (DFL-Minneapolis) makes sure to mention the 35W bridge collapse (the DFL uses that almost as much as Rudy Giuliani relies on dropping “9/11” in every speech he makes).
At 26:50 the real fun begins. In response to a question from a reporter about the DFL saying one thing (we need to protect Minnesotans from property taxes), but doing another (namely, wanting to raise the gas tax, sales tax, wheelage tax, etc), Rep. Davnie babbles on about the need to protect the middle class by (I guess, taxing the middle class?)
Then, Senator Bakk hops back in with the money-shot. In response to a question about residential homestead property taxes increasing by 5.7%, he’s asked what would he consider to be an acceptable property increase? The Senator’s answer: “I don’t think it should be more than the rate of inflation.” YAHTZEE! Wouldn’t that be fantastic? Property taxes increasing by no more than the rate of inflation. Where do I sign up for that one? My guess is that the Tax chairman doesn’t quite understand what that would mean for local units of government – namely keeping spending increases to inflationary adjustments only – but we’ll leave it to the dozens of government-funded lobbyists to tell him what he missed.
3. How do you turn $31,000 into $53,000 without producing anything of value?
You claim to be working for your constituents, that’s how.
As I mentioned in the eUpdate last Fall (and House Republicans publicized last month), the State Legislature’s committee structure is a mess. Sub-committees, working groups, advisory commissions and task forces are multiplying at a rate normally reserved for rats and bunnies. And thanks to a report this week from KSTP we now know how much this confusion is costing taxpayers: an extra $2 million a year. With the average House member taking home an extra $10,245 and the average Senate member pocketing an extra $14,219, taxpayers are footing the bill for extra-circular work that has zero relevance to the legislative process and circumventing the state constitution by claiming increased per diem payments aren’t a form of compensation.
So just remember, when a state legislator knocks on your door this summer and tells you that they want your support for their re-election campaign, ask them how many “Environmental Justice & Healthy Housing” or “Development of New Cost Containment Strategies Subcommittee” meetings they attended in last two years.
4. America works best when we say “Corruption: YES!”
From Stephen Moore in Monday’s Opinion Journal’s Political Diary: “When it comes to corruption and graft, union leaders point to greedy corporate crooks, but a new report suggests the labor bosses should look in the mirror. The U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Labor-Management Standards has found that court-ordered restitution of union funds rose to $32 million in 2007, a 16-fold increase since 2000, when the Clinton administration turned a blind eye to union misbehavior. That's on top of $70 million in restitutions already collected in the current decade.
“Many of these cases involve improper use of union dues for activities like electioneering, but also serious criminal offenses such as embezzlement, fraud in union officer elections and using violence to deprive union members of their rights. Some 406 criminal cases were filed last year, resulting (so far) in 118 convictions. ‘The unions routinely spend their member's dues on illegal activities,’ says Rick Berman of Unionfacts, a union watch-dog Web site. ‘They need constant and vigilant monitoring.’
“Labor Secretary Elaine Chao has been arguably the most aggressive prosecutor of union abuses in the history of the department -- especially when it comes to the misappropriation of money the unions collect from rank-and-file members.
“But that attitude hasn't won Ms. Chao many friends among the union bosses. Intense scrutiny is the last thing the union hierarchy wants. Last year, AFL-CIO lobbyists worked with their friends on the appropriations committees in the Democratic Congress to slash funding for union oversight activities at the Department of Labor. Just maybe that has something to do with the fact that the AFL-CIO and allied unions publicly announced plans last fall to spend $200 million in the 2008 cycle to elect Democrats. ‘We're going for the Trifecta: the House, the Senate, and the White House,’ AFL-CIO Political Committee Chair Gerald McEntee publicly proclaimed.”
5. What issues matter to you? Share what you know with MPR.
“We already know -- well, mostly -- what issues are important to the candidates. But we need to know what issues are most important to you and why. Are the candidates addressing the things you care about? What issues will guide your voting next November, and what issues will you follow after the elections? Help Minnesota Public Radio report on the 2008 elections by sharing your insights below.”
Have no fear, folks. This is not a poll (nor will your information be used by the Secretary of State for any of his nefarious and dastardly re-election schemes). From the responses to this query, MPR will select underreported and unaddressed issues, ideas, perspectives and experiences to feature in our election news coverage and national programming.
So if you’re tired of Public Radio ignoring the link between tax cuts and economic prosperity like I am, or if you’ve had just about all you can handle of Ben Stein and his inane, repugnant pseudo-populist commentaries, click here and give them your two-cents.
The Taxpayers League of Minnesota's eUpdate is written by Mark Giga
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