Does this mean that Mutt and Jeff will quit going on million dollar vacations on the taxpayers backs????:yo:
sequester
- Thread starter Bernard_Fokke
- Start date
Days
Commentator
Why not at least mention what the governor is pulling in Kansas? And then compare...
ft.com > World > US&Canada >
US Politics & Policy
Kansas Republicans plan tax revolution
By Richard McGregor in Topeka
The stuffed head of a giant bison sits high on the wall of the antechamber of the Kansas governor’s office. Opposite is a large turkey, mounted after it was shot by one of the office’s past occupants.
Sam Brownback, however, has been hunting much bigger game since he was elected governor in 2010, attempting to plant the seeds of a new Republican revolution to transform his struggling state and revive the party nationally.
The Republicans have lost four of the last six presidential elections – five if judged by the popular vote – and failed to regain control of the Senate in 2012 when the chamber was within reach.
But in the states, it is a different story. Republicans hold 30 out of 50 gubernatorial seats, the most for either party in 12 years, and many governors are pushing radical changes of the kind stymied by Democratic dominance in Washington.
Republican governors in up to 10 states are debating cutting or eliminating state income taxes, in line with supply-side theories that such policies will spur growth and revenues.
None has set the bar as high as Mr Brownback, a former congressman and senator in Washington well known as an outspoken social conservative.
Starting in his first term, he has set out to eliminate Kansas’s income tax, which takes in 40 per cent of states revenues.
Mr Brownback’s ambitious target – he calls it a “glide to zero” – has been branded the “Kansas experiment”, but it is not a term that he embraces. “This is not an experiment,” he says. “I can take you to jurisdictions throughout America and around the world. Any time you have a lower tax entity around higher tax entities, over time people move to the lower tax place.”
The constitutional requirement for states to balance budgets means Mr Brownback has to phase in the measure, extending a sales tax rise and abolishing deductions for mortgage interest payments to plug initial revenue shortfalls.
But the direction is clear. The state income tax has already gone from 6.45 per cent for the top tax bracket when he came to office, to 4.9 per cent, and the legislature is weighing a further cut to 3.5 per cent. It will disappear altogether, although state officials have admitted that their estimates of future revenues are “guesses”.
Mr Brownback’s critics say the measure will eviscerate the state’s finances and services, especially schools.
“This looks more like an airplane crash than a glide path,” said Joan Wagnon, the chair of the Kansas Democratic party. “There is no practical way he can raise enough money from other taxes to compensate for this.”
Mr Brownback is in a stronger position than ever to push his programme through, thanks to conservative campaign groups, some funded by Charles and David Koch, the billionaire brothers whose business empire is based in Kansas.
In 2012, well-funded conservative candidates swept aside moderate Republicans in primaries for state Senate seats, putting a more like-minded legislature at Mr Brownback’s disposal.
The state judiciary, however, has put obstacles in his way. A court ruled in January the government was underfunding education and ordered an increase of at least $440m in spending on schools. Mr Brownback is challenging the ruling and insists schools will be adequately funded.
“We will do everything to protect education, public safety, Medicaid [for the poor], and we will build the roads we promised,” he said. “Outside of that, we are going to look hard at everything else.”
The icy winter winds from the high plains meet little headway on the quiet main street of the state capital Topeka, in part testament to Kansas’s struggle to attract business and people.
“We have had 30 years of slow decline. A lot of people have seen their kids moving to Texas and Florida,” says Mr Brownback, whose own children live in Texas and California.
But the bigger message is a national one – a revival in Kansas in conservatives’ eyes can be used to cut the size of government in Washington. “Supporters of big government in the US have their own version of the Brezhnev doctrine: a government programme once established never goes away - once red, always red,” said David Kensinger, a longtime Brownback adviser.
Not all Republican governors are finding cutting taxes easy. Republicans in Nebraska have delayed plans to replace income taxes with a sales tax after a local backlash.
Mr Brownback’s own polling numbers are poor. A survey from Public Policy Polling last week recorded 52 per cent job disapproval and only 37 per cent approval.
But Mr Brownback is pressing ahead. “You change America by changing the states,” he says. “You don’t change America from Washington.”
ft.com > World > US&Canada >
US Politics & Policy
Kansas Republicans plan tax revolution
By Richard McGregor in Topeka
The stuffed head of a giant bison sits high on the wall of the antechamber of the Kansas governor’s office. Opposite is a large turkey, mounted after it was shot by one of the office’s past occupants.
Sam Brownback, however, has been hunting much bigger game since he was elected governor in 2010, attempting to plant the seeds of a new Republican revolution to transform his struggling state and revive the party nationally.
The Republicans have lost four of the last six presidential elections – five if judged by the popular vote – and failed to regain control of the Senate in 2012 when the chamber was within reach.
But in the states, it is a different story. Republicans hold 30 out of 50 gubernatorial seats, the most for either party in 12 years, and many governors are pushing radical changes of the kind stymied by Democratic dominance in Washington.
Republican governors in up to 10 states are debating cutting or eliminating state income taxes, in line with supply-side theories that such policies will spur growth and revenues.
None has set the bar as high as Mr Brownback, a former congressman and senator in Washington well known as an outspoken social conservative.
Starting in his first term, he has set out to eliminate Kansas’s income tax, which takes in 40 per cent of states revenues.
Mr Brownback’s ambitious target – he calls it a “glide to zero” – has been branded the “Kansas experiment”, but it is not a term that he embraces. “This is not an experiment,” he says. “I can take you to jurisdictions throughout America and around the world. Any time you have a lower tax entity around higher tax entities, over time people move to the lower tax place.”
The constitutional requirement for states to balance budgets means Mr Brownback has to phase in the measure, extending a sales tax rise and abolishing deductions for mortgage interest payments to plug initial revenue shortfalls.
But the direction is clear. The state income tax has already gone from 6.45 per cent for the top tax bracket when he came to office, to 4.9 per cent, and the legislature is weighing a further cut to 3.5 per cent. It will disappear altogether, although state officials have admitted that their estimates of future revenues are “guesses”.
Mr Brownback’s critics say the measure will eviscerate the state’s finances and services, especially schools.
“This looks more like an airplane crash than a glide path,” said Joan Wagnon, the chair of the Kansas Democratic party. “There is no practical way he can raise enough money from other taxes to compensate for this.”
Mr Brownback is in a stronger position than ever to push his programme through, thanks to conservative campaign groups, some funded by Charles and David Koch, the billionaire brothers whose business empire is based in Kansas.
In 2012, well-funded conservative candidates swept aside moderate Republicans in primaries for state Senate seats, putting a more like-minded legislature at Mr Brownback’s disposal.
The state judiciary, however, has put obstacles in his way. A court ruled in January the government was underfunding education and ordered an increase of at least $440m in spending on schools. Mr Brownback is challenging the ruling and insists schools will be adequately funded.
“We will do everything to protect education, public safety, Medicaid [for the poor], and we will build the roads we promised,” he said. “Outside of that, we are going to look hard at everything else.”
The icy winter winds from the high plains meet little headway on the quiet main street of the state capital Topeka, in part testament to Kansas’s struggle to attract business and people.
“We have had 30 years of slow decline. A lot of people have seen their kids moving to Texas and Florida,” says Mr Brownback, whose own children live in Texas and California.
But the bigger message is a national one – a revival in Kansas in conservatives’ eyes can be used to cut the size of government in Washington. “Supporters of big government in the US have their own version of the Brezhnev doctrine: a government programme once established never goes away - once red, always red,” said David Kensinger, a longtime Brownback adviser.
Not all Republican governors are finding cutting taxes easy. Republicans in Nebraska have delayed plans to replace income taxes with a sales tax after a local backlash.
Mr Brownback’s own polling numbers are poor. A survey from Public Policy Polling last week recorded 52 per cent job disapproval and only 37 per cent approval.
But Mr Brownback is pressing ahead. “You change America by changing the states,” he says. “You don’t change America from Washington.”
Wahbooz
Governor
Which Mutt and Jeff are you referring to? Present day ones, past ones, future ones?
http://factcheck.org/2010/01/president-obamas-vacation-days/
http://factcheck.org/2010/01/president-obamas-vacation-days/
EatTheRich
President
Fitting that a creationist would also believe in supply-side economics. He also believes that if we all clap our hands, Tinkerbell will come back to life.
NightSwimmer
Senator
Let Mr. Brownback keep it up, and he may just find out first-hand that he will no longer be changing anything in Washington DC.
tobaccoroad
Mayor
[An ode to Comrade Obama, the 23rd Psalm rewritten in his honor.]
"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of debt, I fear no bankruptcy, for Obama is my shepherd. He prepareth a table of food stamps before me, and maketh me lie down beside waters He hath cleansed and seas He hath made recede, even though the bad Republicans wisheth the earth to be burnt unto a cinder, and will not buy the electric car that is good, for it hath zero emissions, and receiveth its power from a power plant, which hath not zero emissions, but the ways of the President are mysterious.
He hath told the stubborn Israelites, evil builders of apartments, that they know not their own interests and He does, and know not what they do, when they fear the nuclear weapon of the Persians. The ways of the President are mysterious. He alloweth the Persians to get the nuclear weapon (unless He hath something up His sleeve), for He knoweth that when they behold Him they will stay their hand, and not burn the Israelites unto a cinder, as they pronounce.
Yea, though Bernanke maketh funny money that will not compute, Obama prepareth a statistical table in front of the bad Republicans that showeth it will, if only they have faith. Fear not the Hellenes and the path they have trod. Though for sure we shall follow them, the President will be our sword, and our shield. His Hillary Rodham and his staff, they comfort us.
Fear not the Chinois, whose power waxes as ours wanes, for someday thy children’s children shall journey over the sea that Obama hath made recede, west of the land of Geffen and Famous Amos, to build railroads for Beijing. Then the Third World will have inherited the earth, and the strong will have been laid low, which is good, and which is also the Democratic platform.
Verily, we should be like the meek of the earth, and follow the commands of the President, the Amalekites, the EPA, and the IRS, which taketh our money, which is good, for we know not what to do with it. And Obama does, for you did not buildeth that. Once, we were slaves in the land of Reagan (and if you attributeth the “Reagan” deficits to increased military spending and lowered tax rates, tryeth accounting for the changes in military expenditure and tax revenues in the Reagan years, for, lo, when combined they yieldeth a surplus). Then, we were sinners, in spending our own money for what we thought was our own good. But now we are free, for the President spendeth it for us, and He maketh miracles, for, lo, He roasteth invisible chickens, and, lo, He spendeth money that existeth not, that Bernanke printeth. And, lo, it buys us stuff, for now.
Yea, though I accumulate debt higher than the mountains of Gilboa, and the deadbeats skip like rams, I shall not want, for Bernanke maketh funny money, and the President smiles upon the land, but not upon the bad Republicans. For they wisheth to live within their means, which surely must be evil. And what would you expect from people who are suspicious of Social Security? And wisheth to burn the earth unto a cinder.
But arithmetic notwithstanding, I will dwell in the house of Obama all the days of my life. (Why not four terms, and what about Michelle? For the Constitution liveth.) And, the earth having been purified, surely it will be good when—and where do I apply for—government assistance will be the only thing left."
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2013/03/psalm-23-newly-revised.php
"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of debt, I fear no bankruptcy, for Obama is my shepherd. He prepareth a table of food stamps before me, and maketh me lie down beside waters He hath cleansed and seas He hath made recede, even though the bad Republicans wisheth the earth to be burnt unto a cinder, and will not buy the electric car that is good, for it hath zero emissions, and receiveth its power from a power plant, which hath not zero emissions, but the ways of the President are mysterious.
He hath told the stubborn Israelites, evil builders of apartments, that they know not their own interests and He does, and know not what they do, when they fear the nuclear weapon of the Persians. The ways of the President are mysterious. He alloweth the Persians to get the nuclear weapon (unless He hath something up His sleeve), for He knoweth that when they behold Him they will stay their hand, and not burn the Israelites unto a cinder, as they pronounce.
Yea, though Bernanke maketh funny money that will not compute, Obama prepareth a statistical table in front of the bad Republicans that showeth it will, if only they have faith. Fear not the Hellenes and the path they have trod. Though for sure we shall follow them, the President will be our sword, and our shield. His Hillary Rodham and his staff, they comfort us.
Fear not the Chinois, whose power waxes as ours wanes, for someday thy children’s children shall journey over the sea that Obama hath made recede, west of the land of Geffen and Famous Amos, to build railroads for Beijing. Then the Third World will have inherited the earth, and the strong will have been laid low, which is good, and which is also the Democratic platform.
Verily, we should be like the meek of the earth, and follow the commands of the President, the Amalekites, the EPA, and the IRS, which taketh our money, which is good, for we know not what to do with it. And Obama does, for you did not buildeth that. Once, we were slaves in the land of Reagan (and if you attributeth the “Reagan” deficits to increased military spending and lowered tax rates, tryeth accounting for the changes in military expenditure and tax revenues in the Reagan years, for, lo, when combined they yieldeth a surplus). Then, we were sinners, in spending our own money for what we thought was our own good. But now we are free, for the President spendeth it for us, and He maketh miracles, for, lo, He roasteth invisible chickens, and, lo, He spendeth money that existeth not, that Bernanke printeth. And, lo, it buys us stuff, for now.
Yea, though I accumulate debt higher than the mountains of Gilboa, and the deadbeats skip like rams, I shall not want, for Bernanke maketh funny money, and the President smiles upon the land, but not upon the bad Republicans. For they wisheth to live within their means, which surely must be evil. And what would you expect from people who are suspicious of Social Security? And wisheth to burn the earth unto a cinder.
But arithmetic notwithstanding, I will dwell in the house of Obama all the days of my life. (Why not four terms, and what about Michelle? For the Constitution liveth.) And, the earth having been purified, surely it will be good when—and where do I apply for—government assistance will be the only thing left."
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2013/03/psalm-23-newly-revised.php
Perfect. LOL
Quit whining will 'ya
Wahbooz
Governor
That is what they are doing, in Wisconsin, in Michigan, in any state where the voters were foolish enough to vote in Republicans. Just an example, the Republicans rewrote the Emergency Managers law, the voters didn't like itso they voted it out. Along come the Republicans and wrote another Emergency Managers law, and Snyder signed it. It didn't matter that the voters didn't want it, the Republican politicians wanted it. Rick Snyder claimed to be opposed to Right to Work, said it wasn't good for Michigan even though the legislature had Right to Work legislation ready. So someone tried to get Collective Bargaining protected in the Constitution, and the Republicans ran ad after ad saying Collective Bargaining was protected, "we don't need to put it in the constitution." They even ran 'lie' ads, and defeated the proposal, and then they rammed through their Right to Work, and Snyder quickly signed it.
