Posted on 01/24/2007 10:51:50 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
If you're searching for the next big thing in American politics, it's wise to keep an eye on the states. Here's one possibility: the abolition of state income taxes.
In Georgia, Missouri and South Carolina, Governors and state legislatures are drafting serious proposals to repeal their income taxes to promote economic development. St. Louis, one of America's most distressed cities, may overturn its wage/income tax as a way to spur urban revival. And in Michigan, the legislature is in the last stages of phasing out its hated business income tax -- the most onerous in the land. "States are now in a ferocious competition to attract jobs and businesses," says economist Arthur Laffer, who is advising several Governors and legislators on the issue, "and one of the best ways to win this race is to abolish the state income tax."
The timing for fixing state tax codes could hardly be more ideal because states are swimming in budget surpluses thanks to the booming national economy. This should be a big year for state tax cuts. Governors in Arkansas, Florida and West Virginia have already announced major tax relief plans for 2007. Even New York City has a $1 billion surplus and Mayor Michael Bloomberg is promising a property tax cut.
But the biggest target is the income tax. Newly re-elected South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford is talking of reviving his plan to phase out the income tax over 18 years. Mr. Sanford ran into opposition from the legislature in his first term, but he tells us that "I still consider this one of my top priorities and if the legislature wants to do it, I would be ecstatic."
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
18 years? Whoa, Buddy! Not so fast!
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
This could be the start (or continuation) of a big thing, but much more than the author thinks. Imagine this...red states abolish state income taxes and use value added taxes instead...the blue states tax everything and they go up every year...what do you think will happen?
Texas has no income tax and i have to pay $7,500 a year in property tax.
It helps that all of your oil revenue goes into a fund that can't be touched except for the income generated. You guys also get a couple of k just for being Alaska residents. On the other hand you are in the middle of nowhere and the only thing making the place livable is global warming.
BUMP!!
Tax reductions are the kind of things that make Democrats' heads explode.
Gotta love it!
Look at my old hometown - the city of New Haven. Once a fine old city. It kills me to watch it die.
Now, they even have billboards saying what a great place it is to do business. Businessmen are not fooled by billboards like this. We know that if a city has to put up a billboard to lure people into town, it's a hellhole. Take your money and run the hell out of town when you see a billboard - they tax people to pay for that?
New Haven has a mill rate of 44.85 right now. That means, that if I invest say, $2,000,000.00 in New Haven, my property tax bill will come to almost $90,000.00. Two million dollars is not huge as investments go, and is considered "small business", but for me to earn an extra $90,000.00 to throw to the tax thieves in city hall - for nothing... why that's pretty tough. I'm just not going to do it.
Then I have crime to worry about. If I put a business in New Haven, who will I hire? Uneducated inner city diptards who cannot read a ruler, let alone a micrometer? Then there are all the PC rules... break one, and law students from Yale team up against you in a "pro-bono" case to help the "downtrodden".
Violent crime on your doorstep: Last time I lived there, somebody was shot and killed on the sidewalk outside of my property. A Yale student was shot and killed for a few bucks on his way home and bled to death in the street. Go ahead and lower the taxes... still not enough. I'm not putting my factory in Baghdad either.
No thanks. I'll put my little factory in China or Mexico. No property taxes. No lawsuits. No social problems of the American inner city. That $90,000.00 that the city of New Haven wants to throw to welfare scum can hire me a small army of workers in Mexico or China.
Go ahead, phase out those income taxes over 18 years... I'll be long gone. I already am.
The Democrats run ruin our cities. Pretty much, every one of them in the Northeast.
And 8¼ percent sales tax.
In Maine our governor has proposed reducing our taxes to all that we have plus 10%. The guy just got reelected with 39% of the vote.
We've seen the same thing in the construction trades over the last twenty-five years. Guys straight out of voc school will give you a reading like, "Fifteen feet, four inches and five little marks." WTH?
Okay, that's funny (or sad).
Those taxes are absolutely unreal!
No wonder the place has turned into an absolute craphole!
New York HAS an income tax and I pay $9,500 in property taxes.
You can deduct your state taxes from your fed taxes and keep your money local.
He needs to run for Governor in Alabama after he accomplishes this in Georgia!
Now that's scary.
And it starts in, what?, the 4th grade? I can't remember when I started fractions, but it wasn't long after division. Thinking about it, it might have been 2nd or 3rd grade. Probably was.
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