The guys who write our tax laws

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Just as we suspected, right?

Quote of the day--on the income tax

"The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax."  --Albert Einstein

The truly odd--to the point of weird--saga that is the e-tax vote

A mulit-millionaire on the other side of the state gets a hankering to have the two largest cities in his state get rid of their earnings taxes and we all have to react.

He starts paying for advertising out of his own pocket, gets it on ballots and here we are, it's election day and we have to vote on it.

Never mind that he doesn't live here.

Never mind that it would wipe out two-hundred million dollars from the Kansas City operating budget.

He was bored, I imagine.

I also imagine he's a huge egotist.

But whatever.  Here we are.  We have to vote on this thing.

As if that isn't all odd enough, no one is quite sure how we the voters feel on it.  No one is quite sure if it will get an "up" or "down" vote.

And as if THAT isn't all odd enough, even if we kill it today, we have to vote on it again, in 5 years.


Weird as it all is, folks, get out there and vote today.

Then, let's all tune in at 7 and see how it went.

Links:  http://www.kansascity.com/2011/04/04/2776716/tuesday-is-election-day-in-kc.html
http://www.kansascity.com/2011/04/04/2776205/the-stars-editorial-voters-should.html

The Funk fails to lead again/some more

Yesterday, as I wrote here earlier, our not-so-illustrious Mayor Mark "the Funk" Funkhouser was on KCUR's "Central Standard" radio program.  He told of what he did during his first tenure ("got our economic/financial house in order", paraphrased) and said what he would want to do in a second term if--God forbid--he were re-elected.

The Star points out today--very well--in an op/ed piece on the "E tax" mess we and St. Louis are in, that as soon as the vote on the Prop A/E-tax was done, St. Louis' mayor jumped all over it and said they were going to form a business/government alliance to defeat it.

Our own mayor?

To date, no word of coordination with anyone.

Instead, again, as the Star points out:  "...Mayor Mark Funkhouser hasn't provided any real leadership to rally different groups behind the cause.  Instead, he's feuded for months with the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, creating a deep schism with business leaders."

So typical of this mayor.  Instead of working WITH people--nearly anyone--he virtually always fights them.  I've said, time and again, I can't imagine who this mayor works WITH.  It's him and Gloria against the world. And they seem to like it that way.

So since the mayor isn't leading on this, people from the chamber, the Civic Council of Greater Kansas City, the Greater Kansas City AFL-CIO, the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 42 and the Heavy Constructors Association of Greater Kansas City have all decided to come together, wisely, and fight this E-tax vote coming up.

Thank goodness someone's leading in town.

We sure aren't going to get it from Mayor Mark Funkhouser.

Link:  http://www.kansascity.com/2010/12/06/2502435/the-stars-editorial-riding-to.html

Thoughts on a Sunday morning

It happened again. Thomas McClanahan and I agree on something.

Whenever that happens, I'm a little stunned. This is the 2nd time I can think it's happened.

Mr. McClanahan points out that eliminating the e-tax would be irresponsible if it's not replaced with some other tax of some kind, so the $200 million raised by this tax is done away with.

But his bigger point is that a "land tax" would make much more sense because it rewards development in the city, instead of pushing people out of the city, like the e-tax, and the property tax, which punishes and disincentivizes (I think that's a word) even the purchase of property, let alone development of it.

Good on Mr. McClanahan. This is a really eye-opening and educational column.

It would be great if a representative or better yet, some representatives in Jeff city would study this land tax option.

--Donna Brazile is terrfic.

She's most usually seen and heard, if at all, on ABC's "This Week" news program on Sunday morning.

She's smart and gives terrific, intelligent insights on American politics and society.

What's sad and unfortunate is that she's also one of very few people of color who are on the weekly sunday morning news shows. To my knowledge, she may be the only one.

--John McLaughlin (of The McLaughlin Group on PBS) is losing it, it seems.

Out of the blue this week, when they were discussing the Tiger Woods' apology this week, he asked his guests if they thought Tiger might one day run for political office.

Wth?

Seriously, John?

His guests paused at first, then laughed off the question.

Oh, and his show covered Tiger's apology before addressing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's statement from earlier in the week that suggested Iran is becoming a military dictatorship.

Great priorities, Mr. McLaughlin.

Not.

--The Tiger Woods apology this week is the biggest non-story of the week, at least, if not the year.

The interest in it stuns me.

Other than his family, friends, golfers and people in the golfing industry, why the interest? It seems clearly purient.

--I was watching the Sunday morning news shows, obviously, with its scroll at the bottom, given our ice/snow storm, when I was reminded of one of my favorite abbreviations.

It's COGIC or Church of God in Christ.

I've always thought that was cute, downright funny and a great counterpoint of simple, clear, unemotional and rational thinking or

LOGIC.



Enjoy your Sunday, everyone.