Want to Know what REAL Tax Reform Would Look Like?

Leonardo's post on Jack Evans' proposal to cap property tax increases reminded me how low most folks put the bar for tax reform. We don't need piecemeal proposals when it comes to either federal or local tax reform - we need radical tax reform.

What to know what real tax reform would look like? Go HERE!

DC 2008 Budget 9% Higher, Kills Proposed 5% Cap on Property Taxes

This week the DC Council once again asserted its desire to grow beyond the ability of its taxpayers to finance it. The Council passed a $5.6 billion 2008 budget, which is 9% higher than the 2007 budget. As a point of reference, the consumer price index increased 2.6% in the 12 month period ended April, 2007.

Even worse, the budget nixed Council hero Jack Evans' proposal to cap property tax increases at 5% per year. Evans' proposal was ambushed by the DC Fiscal Policy Institute, which sought to kill the cap by cravenly making it a racial issue, claiming that most of the cap's benefits would flow to predominantly white Wards 2 and 3. Any property tax deduction or cap would benefit most those whose properties have the highest assessments, but every tax payer would benefit proportionally. The DCFPI also left out of their press attack that diverse Ward 4 would be a big beneficiary, something that Evans deftly pointed out today on the Kojo Nnamdi show on WAMU.

The Washington Post is the house organ for the DCFPI. It had only one article on Evans' proposal and and a Schwartz proposal to reduce DC estate taxes. That article quoted generously from the lobby group before even explaining the details of either proposal to its readers. The article is so one-sided that it is worth reading the first three paragraphs:

The D.C. Council is considering substantial breaks on inheritance and real estate taxes, and the plans could cost the city almost $100 million in revenue over the next four years, officials said yesterday.

Some council members said the proposed cuts are a way to encourage homeowners to stay in the District. But a report scheduled for release today by a think tank concludes that the legislation would most benefit the city's wealthiest residents and do little for people who don't own their homes.

"This is a city that is divided by income already," said Ed Lazere, who wrote the report. Lazere is executive director of the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute, which analyzes District tax and budget issues.

The Wa Post also wrote an editorial titled "Giveaway" that attacked the tax reductions and, of course, cited the conclusions of the DCFPI. How reducing the rate of tax increases from three times the inflation rate to about 1.5 times is a "giveaway," I have no idea. If the DCFPI really want DC to be affordable to seniors and low-income residents then they should endorse lower property taxes and enable those constituents to be able to keep their homes.

CNN is Reporting the Reverend Jerry Falwell is Dead

CNN is reporting that the Reverend Jerry Falwell is dead at 73. In related news, the police are looking for tinky winky who they describe as a "Person of Interest" in the case.

Do Not Try This At Home Kids

How freakin embarrassing for Mayor Fenty. He actually had to come out an apologize for stealing large portions of education "plan" from another school district.

From The Post:

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty characterized his administration's verbatim copying of portions of an education plan from another school district as a "serious issue" that should not have happened, while District leaders warned that the matter threatened to erode support for the mayor's takeover of the public schools.

Fenty (D) said the administration made a mistake in lifting sections of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg, N.C., school system's "strategic plan" and using them without attribution in a document submitted to the D.C. Council in February.

Unless the Charlotte plan they stole from called for cracking down on the influence of teacher's unions, shuttering dilapidated and half empty schools, and chucking out as many overpaid bureaucrats as possible - I aint interested.

City Tax Reduction Dances

The City Council is, reasonably, considering legislation that would reduce DC taxes. The legislation is a positive step but only relieves current DC property owners and not new ones, which is implicitly unfair.

The Wa Post coverage of this tax relief was so skewed to the left viewpoint that I am almost shocked. The subheadline on the story was Report Says the Rich Would Benefit Most From D.C. Proposals. The article then went on to quote at length in the second paragraph, before the article even outlined the tax proposal, the DC Fiscal Policy Institute's opinion of it.

Predictably, the DC Fiscal Policy Institute says that lowering property taxes benefits "the rich" and as such ought to be avoided. In reality, any tax decrease benefits all of the the people who are actually paying taxes and the fact that it benefits them should not be a means to penalize them more.

Too Many DC Agencies to Count and Pay For

As you can see from my prior post, I have been spending time on the DC web site. While it is a good site for paying parking tickets, it also reveals the vastness of the DC government and what they are trying to accomplish, which far exceeds taxpayers's ability to pay for them.

This page shows all of the DC agencies. Why isn't any candidate proposing eliminating about half of them? Does DC really need an office on Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs? Just about every pressure group has an office and there are also vague offices like the Clean City Initiative. Go through the list and you can eliminate many agencies. Shouldn't we, as the people who fund these offices, be entitled to elected officials who care a whit about our money and close down unnecessary offices?

A Taxpayer's Lessons in Getting Basic DC Services and a Welfare Benefit Too

Tired of paying a dollar figure in DC taxes that is a high multiple of the services I receive in return, I have dedicated myself to finding out how to make this socialist welfare state pay me back a little. I would prefer to reduce all taxes and services, but that is impossible. So the only thing I can do to make myself less resentful of my neighbors who somehow have me paying to support their "learning disabled" but otherwise completely normal children in a $75,000 per year school is to see if there is anything at all beyond trash collection that I can get from this government. The DC web site, I have discovered, is very helpful in this pursuit.

It has a feature that is called "Request a Service." My first service request was to get sidewalks on my street. How a street in DC has no sidewalks, even as the city politicians bemoan the state of pedestrian safety, is beyond me. My second service request was for trees to be planted in front of my house. You can actually do this, and it seems that if you don't request them, they won't plant them. They will remove them, as they did the tree in front of my house two years ago, but to get a new one you have to request a service. I am catching on. DC tree planting is so poor that the Casey Trees Endowment Fund has had to step in.

Trees and sidewalks are basic government functions and not welfare benefits. But how can a person who pays excessive taxes get a welfare benefit? I found the answer! Prominently featured on the DC web site is the DC Rx Prescription Drug Discount Card, which gives residents, regardless of income, a discount of up to 20% on prescription drugs. I have my own company and pay for my own health insurance but I don't have drug coverage, so I qualify. My card is in the mail, assuming that someone in DC government remembers to send it. The site does not say who pays for this benefit, but I assume it is DC taxpayers and that David Catania, the biggest disappointment on the Council, sponsored this law. My favorite feature of this welfare program is that it also pays for your pet's medications.