There Is Always Bad News For Revenue

It constantly amazes me that the state and local administrations continue to have a difficult time finding the money to fund the needed programs.  Yet there is a way and a way that could lead to a self-sufficient community, but stupidity comes into the equation.

Year after year after year, funds are not available and year after year the legislature tries to find ways to come up with the cash.  Most times it involves the bulk of the responsibility falls on the shoulders of the working class in Mississippi.

It is time for the state and local entities to find a better way to raise funds that are needed.  As the economy keeps getting worse, funds become smaller and smaller, the people of the state become less and less safe and secure.

The only way to keep the much needed cash rolling into the coffers is by finally accepting the need for Land Value Taxation.  (read page on LVT)  Why?  Easy answer…it fits all the requirements of a perfect tax.  These are:  1–the distribution of the burden would be equitable, 2–tax should minimize the effect on economic activity, 3–the structure should facilitate stabilization and economic growth, 4–should be simple and easily understood by the taxpayer.

If you want the governmental services for your community then a new system of taxation must be found.  It can be done and the people can make it happen.  But as long as they depend on the stale thinking of the past then their community will suffer and possibly wither and die.

It is your choice.

Mississippi Moronocracy–The UGLY

This is part 3 and the finally part to my annual posts of Mississippi Moronocracy.  These are bills offered up in the 2009 legislature, some were passed while others died a death.  All in all these are just flippin’ ugly.

HB 349–exempt ad valorem tax on pollution control equipment.

HB 374–casteration for convict sex offenders–this is silly–what happens if the person is found not guilty after the preceedure–how do you repay that guy?

HB 540–phase out corporate income tax–anything for the corporations, but the people suffer.

HB 631–tax deduction for private school–helps only the wealthy.

HB 790–mandatory drug tests for students grade 6-12.

HB 800–good health video for recipients of assistence.SB 2378–state to compensate landowners for certain loss of value.

SB 2390–provide protection of doctors from lawsuits brought by Medicaid patients.

These were absolutely the ugliest of bills that could have been offered….no where was any of it good fopr the people of Mississippi.

I will be watching and reading and if the legislature returns for an emergency session I will write and bitch.  Until next session…peace out.

Mississippi Moronocracy–The Good

The yearly exercise in futility is nearly over, the legislative session, and time to rate it.  For those of us who actually watch this saga unfold day after day, it can either make you angry or so confused that you go out and talk to fire plugs.

This was the title of an opinion piece I wrote for a now defunct newspaper, the Gulfport Star-Journal, and I thought that it was worth a resurrection.  These are bills that the state legislature considered in the most recent session.  The bills that I considered the GOOD, the BAD and the UGLY.  Some made through the process, others did not.  Some were a complete waste of time, some had promise.   This will be a three part post.

THE GOOD:

HB 120– Create a Civil Rights Museum

HB345–Compensation for wrongful incarceration

HB351–Create Civil Rights Division within the AG’s office

HC 5–study of the state tax system–this never goes anywhere.

SB2309–compulsory school attendence–something desperately needed

SB2321–Prohibit texting and cel use while driving–another much needed law

SB2346–prohibit predatory mortgage practices

These were not all the measures taken up by the state legislature, but these were the ones that had a lot of promise to help the state move into the 21st century.  Sadly, many did not make it….and the state stays at the bottom of the pile.

Cig Tax UpDate

Mr Specter was facing a tough challenge from conservative Pat Toomey, in a primary election to decide who would run as the Republican candidate for Mr Specter’s Pennsylvania senate seat in 2010.

Polls suggested that Mr Specter’s decision to vote for the president’s economic stimulus package earlier this year had been unpopular with Republican activists in the state.

If this is successful then I want to see what they will go after next…you can bet that it will not effect the wealthy.

Here We Go Again

The proponents of a cig tax increase are hitting the trail making their case for the tax increase.  They are showing up on most news or talk shows.  Of course, their argument is that they care about the children….which is BS pure and simple!

These cowards are looking to tax less than 25% of the population so they do not have to do it to the state’s best friend, big business.

Their lame arggument when hit with if everyone stops smoking your tax money will dry up and their reply is predictable, it will be offset by the health savings from Medicare.  That is lame at best, but then when you are dealing with a public that does not care about too much, that tactic will WORK.

When asked if the cost of cigs is too high, what would keep the people from going to another state to buy their smokes?  They say that it would be too expensive for the people to do so.  But of course the microsephalics have overlooked the internet.  As usual the “good old boys” have shown that they are oblivious to the fact that the worldwide web exist.

Sorry dipsticks….but smokers will get their smokes.

And the savings in medicare is a joke also…..the state is aging and with age comes catastrophic dieases and injuries and scuh…the savings will not be there.  The majority of the state is poor and with poverty comes bad health habits and medicare will be used….NO savings there.

The attaching of the smokes bill to the car tag bill was a ingenious move by the cowards trying to find a way to MAKE Mississippians accept the cig tax increase.

Bet the supporters of this political game would yell a different yell if the boats were taxed, after all it would only effect a small percentage of the population.  Or maybe tax people with Hummers or Escalades or other high end cars.

The argument that it will only effect a small percentage of the people is just political trickery.  It is lame…it is moronic and it will most likely be effective.

Will Mississippians be fooled yet again….most likely so!

Mississippi Gets A Tax Holiday

Consumers will not pay sales tax on clothing or footwear that costs less than $100 on July 31 and Aug. 1. Gov. Haley Barbour signed the bill into law earlier this month.

The Tax Commission has been working to assemble information on the tax holiday since the state enacted the exemption earlier this month, commission spokeswoman Kathy Waterbury said

Mississippi’s sales tax holiday is relatively limited, but it is designed to give consumers, especially parents buying back-to-school clothing, a break.

Exempting some items from sales tax once a year is not a new concept.

The District of Columbia and 13 states have tax holidays of their own. Alabama and Tennessee’s include computers and school supplies, while Louisiana allows up to $2,500 in purchases.

In Mississippi, cities receive a portion of sales tax collections. Cities that feel it will cost too much can opt out of the sales tax holiday next year.

Is this a good idea in this time of economic crisis?  This where the disconnect gets interesting……the state is broke….it wants to tax somethings…..and then give some money back…….unfortunately this is just a misdirection…..give the people something to think about and they can run other crap pass them ….unopposed.

It is a political game and Mississippians fall for it everytime…….

It Is A Cig Tax —-Again

House and Senate negotiators have been locked at an 11-cent impasse over how much to raise the state’s 18-cent per pack cigarette tax.

Heading into the meeting, both sides appeared to be calling on the other for compromise, though no one was hinting at what the tipping point could be.

Senate conferees have offered a tax of 64 cents – the average of Mississippi’s surrounding states.  The House is proposing 75 cents.

In a statement released Monday, House Speaker Billy McCoy, D-Rienzi, argued that the car-tag dilemma is among the reasons for the House’s proposed 75 cents a pack.

“Car tags, the Medicaid deficit, other beneficial programs and better health for smokers who choose to quit are unique advantages for enacting a higher cigarette tax,” he said. “Opinion polls show voters overwhelmingly approve of such action.”

It is all so pathetic….the state is still giving away the farm to businesses and then try top make up for it by taxing the things that the workers indulge in , in their off time.  Before you support this type of game, ask yourself what happened to the hundreds of millions that is to come from the cig companies through the lawsuits?

Mississippi’s Highways and By-ways

There are some absolutely beautiful drives in Mississippi, very scenic and very interesting.  But do these highways and by-ways need special names?  Lots of drives in the state have been re-named this or that, “blues highway” for example.

Senate bill SB2735 renames highway 67 in Soiuth Mississippi as the “Biloxi-d’Iberville Scenic Expressway”.  The bill actually says:

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 65-41-57, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO RENAME THE “HIGHWAY 67 SCENIC BYWAY” AS THE “BILOXI-D’IBERVILLE SCENIC EXPRESSWAY”; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

How many have driven Highway 67?  Then will someone tell me what the scenic part is?  Nothing but pine trees and popcorn trees. with an occasional building of some sort, none of which would be considered an attraction.  So what did the state accomplish by re-naming this highway?

NOTHING!  This is just another waste of time by the legislature, kinda like the commending of half the state on some thing or the making of every other day as “National Whip-dicky Day”.  These jerks spend more time patting someone on the back or re-naming something than they do on the actually necessary business of the state.

So the legislature wastes money and time on superficial horsesh!t and how much will the cost be to make new improved road signs, the installation and so forth.

When the state finally get a group of representatives that actually want to work foir the better of Mississippi?  Probably never!   This type of bill makes the rep look like he is voting for substand when in reality he is just increasing his count, because about 80% of a reps vote total is on absolutely worthless, mindless crap.

Pat On The Back For Home Schooling

The Mississippi legislature has a resolution before it to recognize the state’s “unwavering” support for home schooling with House Concurrent Resolution 77  which states:

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION RECOGNIZING MISSISSIPPI’S UNWAVERING COMMITMENT TO EDUCATION IN THE DESIGNATION OF THE WEEK OF MAY 11-15, 2009, AS MISSISSIPPI HOME EDUCATION WEEK IN THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI.

Let us be honest home schooling for the most part is attempted because the parents do not want their children mixing with minorities or other religious teachings.  It is a form of racism.

The resolution spotlights the home schooling of Geo. Washington and Patrick Henry…thinking…it was in a frontier area and the early 18th century, there was about 4 schools in the Colonies and home schooling was about the only way to be educated.  But the most ludicrous example was Booker T. Washington….the man was born in slavery and they were not ALLOWED to be educated….so home schooling was the only option his family had.

There is a good reason that home schooling in Mississippi should be recognized and that is that the educational programs in Mississippi suck wind.  instead of making the hime schooling sound more noble than it is, maybe they should use it as a way to justify improving education in the state.

I Vote….Wait!

Seems a Harrison County state representative has accomplished the impossible….he can be in two places at once.  I now look for a book on how he can do it.

Wait!  Here is how!  He cheated!  It seems that he was in capital of Jackson to vote on a couple of bills and in Biloxi, about 150 miles away at a bridge collapse.  It seems that someone voted for him.  It has been said that this is a usual occurance.

House Clerk Don Richardson said although the rules don’t allow lawmakers to vote for each other.  Maybe there should be an investigation into who is cheating and lying and who is not.

Janus is in favor of a statewide standard for counting, verfying and ensuring accuracy in voting.  Maybe that should be extended to include our crackerjack reps in Jackson.