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Taxing Thoughts

Posted by Lady Logician on Tuesday, April 29, 2008 11:36:59 AM
Some thoughts to keep in mind the next time you fill up your gas tank at almost $3.50 per gallon. The first comes from the Mayor (no - not this mayor.....a real mayor!)

Bill Dunkelberg, a professor of economics at Temple University and former dean of the Fox school of business there, periodically issues random thoughts on public policy as it relates to his arena of academic interest. His April 24 “Notes on the Economy” includes this gem regarding that Great Economic Satan, Exxon Mobil:
Some presidential candidates have decided that Exxon is a symbol of what is wrong with America. Recent ads complain of Exxon’s 40 billion in profits as if Exxon is some evil entity. First of all, Exxon is not a person, it is millions of owners owning over 5 billion shares in their investment portfolios. Vanguard holds over 160 million shares for its clients, Fidelity over 100 million shares. Taking Exxon’s profits for hair-brained government schemes will just mean millions of people will have to work longer to accumulate their retirement assets. And, doesn’t return on investment count? 40 billion may not represent a particularly good return on the capital invested in the company. Size is not the issue, the percentage return is what counts.
And the government takes over 40 cents a gallon in tax, far more than the profit per gallon made by refiners. And the government doesn’t make any gas for you.

That is something that the voters really need to take into account this November. Especially in light of the fact that by then Minnesotans will be paying another 7 cents a gallon in state sales tax thanks to this year's transportation bill.

Speaking of which, the House Republican caucus is taking out a new ad that is designed to remind voters just who is responsible for the increase.

 
Now I know some will say (as one caller to Jason Lewis' porogram said yesterday) that the Democrats did have some bi-partisan support in this, but hear me out.  As Speaker Siefert has pointed out many times, there are 85 members in the majority.  If there were not 85 members in the majority, the 6 defectors would not have made a difference!  Also, the Republican Party in the districts that the 6 defectors belong to have (for the most part) given the defectors their reward....by denying them endorsement at the BPOU Conventions.  They have "paid" for their votes...now it is time for the 85 to face the music and THAT is what this ad is all about. 
 
The bottom line is that the 85 members of the majority pushed through a sales and gas tax bill that hurts the poor and those of fixed incomes THE HARDEST!  The very people that they claim to want to help are the once that are suffering the most as a result of the transportation bill.  It is time for the voters in this state to let the legislature know how they feel about it.
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Taxing Our Businesses To Death?

Posted by Lady Logician on Sunday, April 20, 2008 8:00:59 PM
Much has been said, this week, about the impact of the Delta/Northwest merger on the Minnesota economy. There was much wailing and gnashing of political teeth about the announcement that there was "no chance" of the corporate headquarters of the combined entity staying in Minnesota. While the loss of jobs from Northwest (and 3M moving another operating unit out of the state) is important, small business is the heart and soul of the Minnesota economy and the small business environment in Minnesota is not a healthy one (H/T TN reader James)x when it comes to taxes.


The Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council's "Business Tax Index 2008" ranks the states from best to worst in terms of the costs of their tax systems on entrepreneurship and small business. The Index pulls together 16 different tax measures, and combines those into one tax score that allows the 50 states and District of Columbia to be compared and ranked.The 16 measures are:
1) state's top personal income tax rate, 2) state's top individual capital gains tax rate, 3) state's top corporate income tax rate, 4) state's top corporate capital gains tax rate, 5) any added income tax on S-Corporations, 6) whether or not the state imposes an alternative minimum tax on individuals, 7) whether or not the state imposes an alternative minimum tax on corporations, 8) whether or not the state's personal income tax brackets are indexed for inflation, 9) property taxes, 10) consumption-based taxes (i.e., sales, gross receipts and excise taxes), 11) whether or not the state imposes a death tax, 12) unemployment tax, 13) whether or not the state has a tax limitation mechanism, 14) whether or not the state imposes an Internet access tax, 15) gas tax, and 16) diesel tax.
The 15 best state tax systems are: 1) South Dakota, 2) Nevada, 3) Wyoming, 4) Washington, 5) Florida, 6) Alaska, 7) Texas, 8) Colorado, 9) Alabama, 10) Mississippi, 11) South Carolina, 12) Tennessee, 13) Missouri, 14) Ohio, and 15) Virginia.
The 15 worst state tax systems are: 37) North Carolina, 38) Nebraska, 39) West Virginia, 40) Hawaii, 41) Idaho, 42) Vermont, 43) Massachusetts, 44) New York, 45) Rhode Island, 46) Maine, 47) Iowa, 48) California, 49) Minnesota, 50) New Jersey, and 51) District of Columbia.


Emphasis mine.

Breaking down the individual measures. Minnesota ranks 44th worst in the nation in the personal income tax rate (put another way we are the 8th highest in the country), 46th (or 6th highest rate) in personal capital gains tax rate, 48th (4th highest) corporate tax rate, 48th in corporate capital gains tax....the ONLY place where we break out of the bottom 10 is when we get to personal property taxes (based on a share of personal income) - there we are actually the 17th best in the country and State/Local Sales, Gross Receipts and Excise Taxes where we rank 20th but that was based on 2004/2005 - prior to the Twins Stadium and Transportation Bill sales tax increases!

Contrary to what Minnesota 2020 tells us, Jason Lewis is correct when he says that Minnesota's tax environment is almost the worst in the nation! We are taxing our citizens and our businesses out of the state. We need to pressure our legislators into doing the right thing for people of Minnesota.
Tags: Tax Relief  
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Change

Posted by Lady Logician on Thursday, March 13, 2008 6:20:41 PM
So a couple of days ago, "Michael" posts this comment on the SD35 Republicans blog.
 
Mark Buesgens, you have no sense of how anything works at all. How can you possibly believe that "tax relief" will help the state when thanks to Pawlenty and people like you we have bridges falling down, roads in disrepair, schools not being funded, and our state basically falling apart? Do you understand that taxes are what allow us to live in a civilized society? You and your homeboy Pawlenty love to throw out the old buzzphrase "tax and spend" Democrats; how are "borrow and spend" Republicans any better? They're far worse! Destroying our economy and mortgaging our children's future by never paying for anything and pretending that that makes good financial sense? And yes, fixing our economy should be a top priority: but we don't fix it with historically proven wrong ideas like "trickle-down" economics, borrowing more money, and handing out tax breaks to (primarily) the wealthiest people. We do it with providing a working wage to all folks, keeping our jobs from going overseas, penalizing companies like Wal-Mart that destroy the economy by importing the majority of their stock from China - thereby undercutting American jobs, and working to build a "green" state that is a leader in renewable energy sources. Quit mouthing the same stupid platitudes that the Republicans have been saying for years, pull your head out of the sand, and start earning your salary by HELPING Minnesotans. Nobody is getting killed by taxes - we're getting killed by losing our jobs and not educating our children!
This was in response to a legislative report that was posted on the site.  I want to focus on the final sentence, since it wraps up the context of his rant.
 
Nobody is getting killed by taxes - we're getting killed by losing our jobs and not educating our children!
Yes, we are losing jobs because our entrepreneurs, those "wealthy" that Michael decries, are being driven out of the state in droves in fear of the massive tax increases that the DFL is pushing through.  Just in the last two weeks the DFL legislature raised taxes on every delivery company and lawn service and courier in the state in the form of a gas tax increase.  Those increased expenses are passed on to the customers who in turn quit using those services (because they are too expensive).  When enough people quit using those services costs have to be cut and the first thing cut almost every time ARE JOBS!  So here we see that increased taxes cost Minnesotans jobs.
 
Those companies that can afford to move.  They move to states (like Utah) which have a low tax climate, a youthful, well educated, hard working work force.  If you aren't wed to the state of Minnesota (most likely a government induced forced marriage like Northwest) then you would be smart to think about moving - even if it is just across the border into South Dakota (which many businesses are ALREADY doing Michael). 
 
Let's talk about "mortgaging our children's future" for a moment shall we Michael?  Have you looked at this year's bonding bill by chance?  Did you happen to notice that the bonding bill (all $1 BILLION DOLLARS of it) is not going toward things like roads and bridges...no it is going for welcome centers and parking lots, convention centers and polar bear habitat, hockey rinks and gorrilla exhibits....not exactly things that are going to have a long term effect on boosting the economy - especially when so many of the DFL freshman campaigned on things like building roads and bridges and TAX RELIEF!
 
Instead of looking at long term economic growth, our friend Michael (and his friends in the DFL lead legislature) are looking at short term band-aids - designed to staunch the bleeding long enough for them to get to the elections in November so that they can say "we tried by the mean old Republicans...."  Well it won't work this time Michael.  The people of Minnesota are watching what you say and what you DO and if the DFL legislature promises tax relief and instead gives us even more tax INCREASES you can bet your bottom dollar the people will revolt.
 
Here are a few quick stats for you Michael...the numbers don't lie (these are national numbers FYI)
 
A little over one year ago:
1) Consumer confidence stood at a 2 1/2 year high;
2) Regular gasoline sold for $2.19 a gallon;
3) the unemployment rate was 4.5%. (4.0% in Minnesota)
 
Since voting in a Democratic Congress in 2006 we're seen:
1) Consumer confidence plummet;
2) the cost of regular gasoline soar to over $3.10 a gallon;
3) Unemployment is up to 5% (a 10% increase);
4) American households have seen $2.3 trillion in equity value evaporate (stock and mutual fund losses);
5) Americans have seen their home equity drop by $1.2 trillion dollars;
6) 1% of American homes are in foreclosure. 
 
America (and Minnesota) voted for change in 2006, and we got it! Spare change.....
Tags: Tax Relief  
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Representative Leadership

Posted by Lady Logician on Sunday, March 09, 2008 2:25:46 PM
Logical Lady Sue Jeffers reports...
 
I stopped by the SD 41 endorsement convention to drop off some literature and ended up staying for the fun. The 308 people who showed up, read that part again, the 308 people who showed up had one thing on their mind, representative leadership.
Representative leadership has been missing for a long time in this district. One so called representative had been around almost 18 years, since 1990. Almost two decades of incompetence and ignorance of what was important to the people in this district. Almost two decades of telling his district they trend blue. No Ron, they don’t.
Taped to the chair backs was a lit piece that included endorsements and recognitions from the Sierra Club, the Transportation Alliance, AFSCME, MAPE, and the GOP Feminist Caucus (what IS that?). He proudly proclaimed support from the League of MN Cities, the Suburban Transit Association, the Coalition of Greater MN Cities, the MN Public Transit Association and the MN Transportation Alliance (LL notes - the same MN Transportation Alliance whose president - Doug Zila - is the DFL endorsed candidate for HD 35A).
Signs posted around the auditorium included Commuters Go for Erhardt, Drivers for Erhardt, Ron Builds Bridges. Another list of supporters included Jim Ramstad, Neil Peterson, Marty Seifert, Randy Johnson, Al Quie and Arne Carlson.
The signs and all the mainstream media present…well for a minute there I thought I was at a
DFL convention. I too will be waiting for Lori Sturdevant’s column; my elation may have gotten the better of me and I may have been a bit uncharitable to the RINO’s and the few RINO supporters there.  OK, I was and I am not really very sorry.
Thank you SD 41 for decisively endorsing candidates who believe in limited government, lower taxes and fees, life, liberty and property rights. Thank you for soundly standing up for values and principles. Thank you for endorsing candidates who can actually articulate a winning message to all voters in your district. Thank you for showing up.
We know there is a lot of hard work ahead. We know there are lots of opportunities to help these candidates get elected. I personally pledge to help door knock for your endorsed candidates Jan Schneider and Keith Downey. Many of my new friends from the guest section are going to help too. A clear message, great conservative candidates, hard work is exactly the combination needed for conservatives to win.
A perfect example of the DFL, RINO assisted, incompetence was the transportation override vote, we have 89 more seats to target. Thank you SD 41, let’s get busy!
PS Neil Peterson deserves a bonus point for addressing his vote for the override in his opening remarks. I will not be sad to see both men go away, I only hope both have the grace and sense to go away quietly.
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