by Sue | Oct 2, 2017 | From the Chair
What is fair anyhow…
Did you ever notice how often the word “fair” is used? Particularly in the economic sense? Like there is fair taxation, fair housing, fair income, fair rental, fair deal, etc.
Many times, however, the word fair is used – mostly by liberals – in a negative declarative statement as in “That’s not fair!” And they say it a lot because, in the liberal mind, anytime anyone anywhere gets more than what they – the liberal – envisions as correct, is simply “not fair”.
Nowhere is this mindset more evident than in taxation rates and, in particular, income tax rates. A frequently heard refrain is that the “rich must be made to pay their fair share” of taxes.
This statement is made in complete defiance – and total ignorance – of the fact that the “rich” pay considerably more taxes than do those less well off.
For instance, as an example, according to the Wall Street Journal, taxpayers with income over $100,000 a year earn 60 percent of the nation’s income and pay 95.2 percent of the income taxes in the United States. That seems hardly fair… looks like they are getting the shaft…
Moreover, at the other end of the scale, taxpayers making less than $50,000 a year represent about half of the country, earn 16.4 percent of the nation’s income, but have a negative share of income taxes because they receive more back then they pay out. That’s not fair either… looks like they are getting a free ride.
Just remember this when the next time our beloved Governor Inslee – and his free-spending democrat cohorts – propose a state income tax.
And you can bet that it will be a graduated tax that increases with your income. Because it is “fair” that those with greater incomes pay more taxes. It helps to make things equal and they prefer that everyone should be equal.
Even if that means that they are “equally miserable”.
Until next time…
Dick Pilling, Chair
by Sue | Oct 2, 2017 | From the Chair
No one ever teaches well who wants to teach, or governs well who wants to govern”. Plato
“Any person who wants to govern the world is by definition the wrong person to do it.” Greg Iles
“The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern: every class is unfit to govern”. Lord Acton
I don’t know if you noticed or not, but this year was Olympia’s longest legislative session on record. It was like watching a football game go into double overtime. With stumbles and fumbles but without the excitement, the beer, and the cheerleaders…
The reason for the extended session, of course, was a budget battle between those who felt that there was enough money to address all necessary expenditures and, therefore, tax increases were not necessary. On the other side were those who felt that more money was needed and, consequently, taxes had to be increased. And I’ll just bet that you know one politician who favored raising taxes or, as he so quaintly puts it, “increasing revenue” (Hint: his name rhymes with derringer…)
It is kinda funny but I thought politicians were supposed to determine how much of our money they needed to conduct the government business. But lately, this concept seems to have changed from “how much of our money they will take from us” to the current philosophy of “how much of our money we will be allowed to keep”. And the usual answer is… less and less because they need more and more.
Surprisingly, however, when all was said and done – and, after a session lasting 176 days, far more was said than done – it appeared that cooler heads prevailed and the $1.5 billion package of new carbon taxes, capital gains taxes, and income taxes as proposed by the Governor and House Democrats was shot down. So I call this a win… On the other hand, an increased transportation tax was passed and I call this a loss…
So, overall, did we win? Of course not. Politicians have prevailed over taxpayers again and so, in the end, it is not how much we won but, rather, how little that we lost.
Wouldn’t it be nice to actually win for a change? It is up to you. And your vote…
Until next time,
Dick Pilling, Chair
by Sue | Oct 2, 2017 | From the Chair
Tax Reduction Day…
The FOURTH of July used to be one of my favorite holidays but now no more!!
My new favorite holiday is the FIRST of July which will forever be enshrined in my memory as TAX REDUCTION DAY. Because, effective that date and for the first time in Clallam County history, a tax will actually be reduced. Can you believe it??? A tax cut… a decrease… a smaller government hand in your wallet… Really!!
And this unheard of event… this totally unprecedented happening… this unique occurrence is all due to the actions of the Clallam County Board of Commissioners as spearheaded by Clallam County Commissioner Jim McEntire. Way to go Commissioners! And a special atta boy to Jim!
It seems that that they had this crazy idea that, just because they had some extra money in the till, there was no real reason to figure out new ways to spend it. Or even keep it. Why not send some back where it came from? Why not give it back to the taxpayers? What a concept! Makes you wonder if they are really politicians. Like who ever heard of an elected official actually giving money back to the citizens?
Of course, a mere .2% reduction is sales tax is not a huge decrease but it is certainly a step in the right direction. And especially noteworthy at a time when the spendaholics in Olympia are scrabbling around trying to raise taxes or, as they like to say, “increasing revenues”.
It was a real fight though… convincing Olympia bureau-rats to lower taxes is like trying to get pigs to slaughter themselves…
Until next time…
Dick
by Sue | Oct 2, 2017 | From the Chair
Lying Liars…
We have been hearing some real whoppers here lately… You know the ones I mean… For instance, “if you like your plan, you can keep your plan”. Or how ‘bout, “Benghazi happened because of some horrible video”. And then there was “My helicopter was hit by an RPG”. Last, but far from least, “I never had sex with that woman”.
Now these are out and out lies and are easily identified as such. And so those who mouthed these untruths are, in fact, liars. We are now well aware that Obama knew that people would lose their plans… Hillary knew the true reasons behind Benghazi… Brian Williams knew he did not get hit by an RPG… And everybody but everybody knew Clinton had sex with anybody that would let him… Liars all…
But when is a lie not a lie? Because there are lots of other ways to deceive people that do not involve an actual lie. And they sound good but, when analyzed, are nothing less than deliberate intentions to misinform. Do they qualify as lies?
For instance when one of our local legislators continually calls for “additional revenue” it sounds somewhat innocuous. But what he really means is that he wants to raise taxes. And when he says he needs “new sources of revenue” it means that he wants to find some new ways to tax you.
But this legislator – and you all know who he is – will never say “raise taxes” or “new taxes” because he knows that people immediately understand that he is putting his hands in their pockets. So he avoids using the “T” word and substitutes “revenue”. It gets him to the same place but it sounds so much better, you see. Maybe not a lie but certainly intentionally confusing.
So how the heck do you determine if a politician is lying or merely misleading? Well, it’s not too hard, actually… just look and see if his lips are moving….
Because if they are, he is…
Dick Pilling, Chair
by Sue | Oct 2, 2017 | From the Chair
Don’t look now but the government has its hand in your wallet. And… no surprise… it’s a “left” hand, of course.
Yes, Olympia is at it again. Or, rather, the democrats in Olympia. According to Freedom Foundation’s list of big spenders, the top 20 spendthrifts in the House – all democrats – pushed through new or increased spending bills that, over the next ten years, will put Washington’s tax payers on the hook for over 64 Billion dollars. That’s “B” for billion… And yes, both Steve Tharinger at number 6 and Kevin Van De Wege at number 12 are among these top 20 profligates…
To put that in perspective, all remaining House members are responsible for a paltry 3 Billion. Can you imagine… the top 20 spends over 20 times as much as the other 78 house members COMBINED!!!
We see a similar picture in the Senate whereby the top 15 spenders –all democrats but one – are burning through over 67 Billion dollars whereas the remaining 34 senators account for a measly 6 Billion. Do you get that… the bottom 34 Senators account for less than 10% of total projected expenditures. And yes, Senator Jim Hargrove is in that top echelon – number 8, in fact – accounting for over a Billion dollars which, compared to Senator Maralyn Chase’s 11 Billion, is peanuts but still a healthy chunk of change.
Of course, we have to remember that all politicians spend money. Lots of it, too. You see, it is really easy to spend other people’s money. Because if you don’t work for it… if you don’t sweat for it… if it isn’t your hard-earned cash, it is easy come, easy go. Especially the “go” part…
But this tendency to spend and I mean really spend big – the term “drunken sailor” comes to mind – seems to be a particularly democrat trait. Like, if spending money was a contest, the democrats would win every time. And easily too.
And the only way to stop it is with your vote. So fill in your ballot and take ‘em out of your wallet.
~Dick Pilling, Chair
by Sue | Oct 2, 2017 | From the Chair
I don’t know if you have noticed, but our universities are, by and large, dominated by lefty liberals… a bunch of progressive panderers preaching propagandist pap. And I believe the reason for this is a result of the Viet Nam era of the 60’s.
You see, those who wished to avoid military service sought the safety of college campuses where they were able to avoid military service for at least four years. Even more if they opted for advanced degrees.
Trouble is, not all of those draft dodgers flooding into colleges were actually cut out for higher education much less advanced degrees. Many saw mathematics as a mystery and science a secret and so, therefore, were not destined to be engineers or doctors or accountants or, indeed, practitioners of any profession requiring real thinking and actual abilities.
The universities, sensing a hitherto unexploited profit center, began to cater to these intellectual incapables by developing courses that did not require any real aptitude but merely a physical presence and, of course, money… usually provided by parents. Suddenly, Fine Arts, Literature, Afro-American Studies, Gender Studies, Female Studies, and other similarly unchallenging programs – leading to dumbed-down degrees relying upon “feeling” rather than “thinking” – were prominently featured in their catalogs and were seized upon by the less-than-patriotic effete in order to avoid Uncle Sam’s attention.
Trouble is, once they graduated, they had no marketable skills. Face it, how on earth do you exploit a degree in Gender Studies, for gosh sakes? What does it prepare you to do? Not much except teaching other ability-challenged students wishing to pursue non-essential academic endeavors.
So, once they finished their so-called education and were, unfortunately, totally ill-equipped to support themselves with these degraded degrees, they stayed at the universities and became teachers, professors and, later, administrators presiding over legions of students that are taught to “feel” rather than “think”.
So… if you have a “feeling” that our universities are turning out educated incompetents, I “think” you are right…
~Dick Pilling, Chair
