Kudos to Tim Wesco who writes the Eliminate Property Taxes blog. Last year he picked up an article quoting our Governor as saying he believes property tax repeal deserves a very serious look. We hope he will pick up and continue the blog this year.
Please spread the word about the following news:
On September 10th a group of legislators are meeting with different property tax repeal citizen leaders to discuss how repeal can happen. Representative Peggy Welch of Bloomington is heading the committee.
Represenatives from HFFT, StopIndiana.com and Advance America will be there. The work of two different Indiana economists will be closely examined. Everyone is in agreement that the only answer which is fair to all is repeal.
It is up to us to keep pressure on our legislators. Now is the time to write to your state senator and your state representative to tell them that you expect them to first CUT SPENDING and second find a path to make property tax repeal a reality. Tell our state legislators that tweeking an already broken system is not good enough and that the ONLY long lasting solution is property tax repeal. And while you are at it, remind them that come the next election they can have citizens dancing in joy or mad as hell. Be sure to emphasize that you and everyone you know is watching the tax repeal issue very closely. And there is no more REGRESSIVE tax than property tax. WHO IS MY LEGISLATOR?
We hear that just one of the two new Indiana casinos opened in July 2008 is bringing in $6 million to $13 million per day and that the state gets 50% of the revenues. This is new revenue that just started to roll in. We also know that there are more than 150 different taxes and fees in Indiana. With all that taxation going on, surely our state has enough backbone to give citizens the opportunity for true homeownership without the fear of the government taking your house one day due to taxation outside of your control. There is another word for what they do now. Legalized extortion.
From Hoosiers for Fair Taxation
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
ELIMINATE PROPERTY TAXES: A VERY GOOD INDIANA BLOG
Friday, August 8, 2008
ECO-FAIL: GIANT $6 MILLION FOAM STATUE OF LIBERTY A BIG POLLUTING MESS
So, what’s going to happen to this polluting monster of a sculpture after the YTB is done with it? It’ll end up in the trash. YTB is donating it to a community to stand as ‘a memorial to fallen soldiers’, but it won’t stay completely intact for long. What do you think the community is going to do with it when it starts deteriorating?
- It’s made of styrofoam.
- It's coated in plastic.
- It will take 48 semi trucks to move it from northwest Indiana to St. Louis, Missouri in August. That’s a lot of gas and auto exhaust.
- Despite the plastic coating, it won’t be long before this thing starts falling apart and raining styrofoam bits all over the place.
- It cost $6 million to make.
The unveiling of YTB’s giant statue of liberty is meant to get them plenty of publicity before their convention. Their goal is to be the world’s biggest travel company by 2011. Let’s give them negative publicity instead: YTB is now on our radar as a foe of the environment. They’ve already got a bad rep for being a rip-off pyramid scheme, so it’s not like many people will be surprised.
From earthfirst.com August 9, 2008
LOBBYISTS BLACKMAIL CONGRESS
http://rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/mood_of_america/congressional_performance/congressional_performance
Congressional Approval Falls to Single Digits for First Time Ever, July 8th.
Yep, the news is a little old, but it keeps getting worse. Only 9% think Congress is doing a good or excellent job. Worse, only 12% feel any meaningful legislation is being passed. "The majority of voters (62%) say Congress has not passed any legislation to improve life in America." This is a sad time for America, the greatest repository of freedom the world has ever seen. For Americans to lose faith in their leaders says something about our vacuum of leadership and the corresponding secret and unhealthy method of 'hotlining' the majority of legislation that's passed without leaving the comforts of a Senator's office, limo, or campaign trail. Failure to read a proposed bill, sometime 400-500 pages, given 15 minutes to review it by phone, and having up to 40 of those bills pass every day by phone via 'unanimous consent' or 'hotlining' is beyond the reason of any representative's responsibility to his constituents, his conscience, and his duty to be part of the answer instead of the problem. And failure to respond by phone endorses automatic passage on bills never seen; never read; but involve billions of our taxpayer money. How often we hear from those running: 'I just want to make a difference'. Yes, they have made a difference for the worse, by being part of the dumbing down of America and raping citizens of faith, money, and violating the Constitution; not the least of which is preserving domestic tranquility and failure to 'preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution'.
Lobbyists contribute to this problem by their $ influence. Desired legislation in exchange for healthy campaign contributions or favors would constitute a bribe if proven that a 'quid pro quo' exists (tit for tat), but most are more clever than that. The withholding of money may send a message. Take a look at Build-Pac., the political action committee of the National Homebuilders. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, 2 million already poured into the 2008 congressional campaigns, but now they threatened to withhold any more because they didn't get all the provisions they wanted. "Lobbies like to pretend that congressional action and their donations aren't tied, " said Melanie Sloan of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "But the home builders just confirmed that they are."
Take a look below posted at open secrets http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.php?strID=C00000901
National Assn. of Home Builders 2008 PAC Summary Data
Total Receipts: $3,120,469
Total Spent: $2,240,402
Begin Cash on Hand: $ 826,669
End Cash on Hand: $1,706,734
Debts: $ 0
Date of last report: June 30, 2008
Contributions from this PAC to
federal candidates (list recipients)
(45% to Democrats, 55% to Republicans): $ 977,000
Contributions to this PAC from
individual donors of $200 or more
(list donors): $2,348,885
Among the recipients of moneymade
public as of June 30th '08 by the FEC:
Burton, Dan (R-IN)
$3,500
Buyer, Steve (R-IN)
$3,000
Donnelly, Joe (D-IN)
$1,000
Pence, Mike (R-IN)
$4,000
Visclosky, Pete (D-IN)
$1,000
For a full listing go to: http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacgot.php?cmte=C00000901&cycle=2008
It is quite obvious that the accumulated value of small potato contributions from thousands of lobbyists and pacs can readily provide a healthy campaign war chest for those seeking re-election. Just don't answer your office hotline and lobbyists' legislation will sail on through with unanimous consent. Check will be in the mail soon. Object to provisions and you're persona non grata, and your future on the Hill may be in question.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
CANDIDATE RATINGS: 2008 GENERAL ELECTION
Check out the following link to Watchdog Indiana's website. The site has candidate ratings for the upcoming November general election and lets you know if a candidate is taxpayer friendly or part of the problem. We all need to become informed voters and make the right choices based on the individual candidates and not the party.
http://www.finplaneducation.net/
MITCH ANNOUNCES TAXPAYER PROTECTION AGENDA
Building on the state's three straight years of balanced budgets, Governor Mitch Daniels today proposed two major steps to further strengthen Indiana's protection of taxpayers.
First, the governor called for final legislative passage of a constitutional amendment to make permanent the caps on property taxes contained in the landmark tax cut bill approved during the 2008 session of the Indiana General Assembly. Second, the governor proposed sending taxpayers a refund in the years when state revenues exceed those necessary for a balanced budget and rainy day reserves.
The governor's property tax package, HEA 1001, received overwhelming bipartisan support (119- 27). Among its provisions, it limits property taxes to 1 percent of the value of a home, 2 percent of agriculture land or rental property, and 3 percent of any other business beginning in 2010 (phased in starting next year). Daniels said achieving permanent property tax protections for homeowners and other taxpayers would be his top priority for the 2009 legislative session.
Homeowners all over the state are beginning to reap the benefits of the governor's property tax plan. So far, the average property tax reduction is about 38 percent compared to 2007 taxes.
A constitutional amendment must be approved by two separate sessions of the General Assembly before it can go to a popular vote. If legislators approve SJR1 again during the 2009 session, Indiana voters would have the opportunity to consider the caps in the November 2010 general election.
"We've taken the first of what must be three steps to make the caps permanent and constitutional. The legislature has voted once to submit this to a referendum of the people. A second vote under our law must occur, and then you the people get a chance to vote," said Daniels, during a luncheon speech before members of the Rotary Club of Indianapolis. "I'm very confident that if the people of Indiana get that chance, they are going to vote to lock in these caps and this unique-in-America protection. We have to make sure that that vote happens, and that it comes soon.
The second proposal, the Automatic Taxpayer Refund, would ensure that any tax revenues beyond those needed to maintain a balanced budget and adequate rainy day reserves be sent back to taxpayers in the form of a refund.
In years when state revenues are above an agreed level needed for fiscal sufficiency (for example, 10 percent of the next budget), the surplus amount would be returned to taxpayers on a per capita basis in the form of a credit on their next income tax filing. The state auditor would be responsible for certifying that the amount of total financial reserves, which consist of the General Fund, Rainy Day Fund, Medicaid reserve and School Rainy Day Fund are above the agreed level.
"The state would collect only what it needs to provide essential services, to protect itself against a downturn and to have an adequate reserve. Above that, the money stays with the taxpayer to be spent on family needs and to be reinvested in a growing economy," said Daniels.
The plan would require the approval of the General Assembly.
Audio of the governor's speech may be found at www.in.gov/gov/2445.htm.
From the Mitch for Governor Campaign Committee
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
YOU MUST BE JOKING!
He's closed the Hammond Health Department and homeless center and cut funding to the McCauley Clinic. Services that the economically disadvantaged in Hammond greatly need. Before he backed off and threw the "political hot potato" in the City Council's lap, Mayor McDermott wanted to cut the Hammond transit service.
Now on the front page of Tuesday's Times, there is an article about Mayor McDermott bringing a 130 foot Statue of Liberty to Wolf Lake. The statue will be donated, but the city will pay for its installation and upkeep. The mayor could not give an estimated price tag on what that will cost. Why not? Is he afraid there will be a taxpayer uproar over the cost? Shouldn't the people of Robertsdale have a say in whether they want this statue on Boy Scout island in Wolf Lake or not?
The idea of spending money on this statue when the good people of Hammond are losing their homes and being deprived of needed services is absolutely ludicrous. There are much better ways for the City of Hammond to spend money, taxpayer or not, than on a 130 foot statue. Shouldn't he be more concerned with cutting out bloat and waste from city government than spending money on willy nilly ideas? Not to mention the fact that we will be the laughingstock of Northwest Indiana.
And before any of our detractors can start blogging about our lack of patriotism, many of our Team Hammond members served in the military and with great pride. We don't need to look at a statue to be patriotic. We would rather the city's money be spent frugally and wisely.
If the mayor really has to have the statue, put it on the golf course next to his new clubhouse/banquet hall and leave Boy Scout island alone!
WHAT'S GOOD FOR THE GOOSE
Mayor Rudy Clay of Gary was on the local network news yesterday asking the city union employees to take a 20% paycut to help out with Gary's massive budget cuts.
Will Clay himself be willing to take a 20% paycut? Will Clay be willing to give up his Hummer? Will Clay's son give up his job as photographer for the sanitary district? Will Clay be willing to cut out the "real" fat and eliminate unnecessary patronage positions?
If Mayor Clay wants to make Gary city government lean and efficient, he needs to actually make some sacrifices. Then and only then should city union employees consider a paycut.
What's good for the goose is good for the gander.
