LETTER WORTH REPRINTING HERE

I believe this letter to the editor is worth reprinting:

Richard A. Vining
Letter to the Editor
of Mobile's Register


Letter to the Editor May 18, 2003
P. O. Box 2488 Re: Comments On The Proposed Budget
Mobile, AL 36652-2488


The Proposed Budget by the State and Education Dept. is an example of unparalleled greed. After the best year of tax collecting in Alabama's History it is brave to try to pull off what the Governor, Executive Dept. and the Education Dept. is attempting.


Here are some examples: Year 2002/2003 Year 2003/2000 Increase
Examiner of Public Accounts 12,337,741 6,000,000 30%
Ag &Cons Development Comm. 2,429,970 4,361,646 79%
Dept of Corrections 233,983,663 348,688,820 49%
Criminal Justice Info Center 2,551,475 3,294,488 77%
Alabama Developmental Office 4,400,252 5,767,321 31%
Environmental Management 5,780,494 16,235,159 280%
Dept of Forensic Sciences, Dept of 7,645,575 15,412,666 202%
Health, Dept of Public 56,261,629 79,409,627 34%
Human Resources, Dept. of 72,899,443 93,118,627 28%
Mental Health, Dept of 96,832,631 114,848,820 17%
Military Department 4,767,839 6,220,331 31%
Pardon and Parole, Board of 13,887,497 19,689,425 42%
Senior Service, Dept of 10,044,976 17,939,976 79%


Total For the State 1,264,918,386 1,635,260,029 29%


State Dept of Education
Archives and History 504,930 1,340,000 265%
Children's Affairs, Dept of 680,805 7,441,905 1093%
K-12 Foundation Program 2,541,287,878 2,625,131,368 15%
Additional Teacher Units 0 16,000,000 new budget item
Transportation 194,389,291 226,454,381 16%
Total Increase K-12 2,790,010,911 2,921.790.853 16.6%


This is an increase of $ 131,787,762 in K-12 Cost


State Board two year College system Added New Budget Items
Skilled Workforce Initiative 20,000,000
Common Administrative System 200,000
Deferred Maintenance 4,870,000 (+58,070,000 )
Priority Schools 3,000,000
Social Promotion Initiative 8,000,000
Special Education 22,000,000


Adult Basic Education 5,778,447 8,780,000 52%
Math, Science & Tech. Initiative 237,600 2,237,600 941%
Education Television Commission 8,975,500 10,577,334 12%
Examiners of Public Accounts 2,960,725 4,625,020 56%
Student Assistance Program 1,326,933 5,986,460 51%
Medical Scholarships 395,694 2,800,000 708%
Supercomputer Authority 2,567,272 6,500,000 253%
Veteran Affairs (Education Benefits) 6,378,400 10,000,000 56%
Total U of Ala. System 379,395,997 436,240,102 15%
Total Ala A & M 31,848,863 39,650,917 20%
Total Auburn University 206,337,817 224,104,213 9%
Total Colleges and Schools 851,372,052 973,616,528 14%
Total Education Trust Fund 4,153,145,594 4,519,707,757 9%
Total Increase in Education Cost $ 366,562,163 9%
Total cost of the Increase In the State Budget $ 370,341,643 29%


All foregoing examples are from the proposed state budgets. You may visit this site via the Internet at:
www.budget.state.al.us/stgovfin.html


With such a large increase in nearly every department's budget it is easy to see why there is a deficit in the state budget !!
Very few asked for the same or little more this year!
They knew they had a Governor who will try and increase taxes so they made very large budget requests for their departments.
It is true that some state agencies have been shorted in recent years. Everyone who pays attention knows that the Dept of Correction, the Dept of Public Safety, Judicial and the Medicaid Program need additional funding.


I will not accept any new taxes without a sunset provision of 5 years, and the promise and plan to reduce the size of state government 5% per year for the next 5 to 10 years. This should include reduction in all state and all the education depts. with the exception of Judicial, Medicaid, Corrections and the Department of Public Safety which has not been properly funded in the last 4 years.


The state of Alabama is 13th in the nation in the number of state employees. (Source Ala Family Institute by Gary Palmer) Therefore cutting state employees will not affect services. Only 50% of state education money goes to education today compared to 90% in 1960. In the last 6 years there have been 6150 new teachers hired while students decreased by 9,000.
State funding has increasing 5 billion dollars from 1997 to 2003. .
This is a 40.38% increase in spending in 6 years!
According to the US Census data the average Alabamian pays 24.5% of their personal income to state and local government. This is higher than the Southeastern and National average. It is immoral and unethical to ask for more taxes.
The Tax and Spend Hogs in Montgomery will never get enough
Governor Bob Riley is giving the Democrats what they want, and will be a one-term governor. He has forgotten he only won by 3000 votes!!


Sincerely, Richard A. Vining, Coden, P. O. Box 346, AL 36523

CORRECTION

Well it did not take me long to make a mistake trying to decipher the language of the proposed amendment. Actually the language cited below appears to change an earlier amendment (adopted in 1956) which liberalized the permitted uses of the income from Section 16 lands back to its original language. Seems this is mostly an issue of political correctness.

LITTLE-NOTICED CHANGE TO THE ALABAMA CONSTITUTION PROPOSED

A change to the Alabama Constitution is part of Billion Dollar Bob's tax increase proposal that, to my knowledge, has not received any attention at all. In various places in the current constitution the State is required to spend money or create a fund which, for example, "shall be applied to the support and furtherance of education" and "it shall be the duty of the legislature to increase the education fund from time to time as the necessity therefore and the condition of the treasury and the resources of the state may justify" [this is concerning the state property tax].

In both cases, the voters are asked on September 9 to approve changes to this language from the word "education" to the phrase "public school." Thus the "education fund" becomes the "public school fund." "Furtherance of education" becomes "maintenance of the public schools." [Act No. 2003-78, p. 5]

Someone on the pro-tax team was smart enough to sneak in a CONSTITUTIONAL BAN ON VOUCHERS as part of the tax-increase package -- and then not tell anyone about it.

Please spread the word about this.

COMMENTARY ON THE TAX INCREASE REFERENDUM

Several friends and readers have asked me to post my analysis of the Alabama constitutional amendment which is to be voted on September 9. There are so many issues and so much to cover, from so many different levels and types of analysis, that one scarcely knows where to start. However, I have been collecting material on the subject since the matter first arose, and I believe I have a perspective which may add to the general debate. Between now and September 9, I will be putting downs some thoughts which I hope to be of value.

Perhaps, the shear political crudeness and cynical approach of Billion Dollar Bob in structuring his proposal is the best place to begin. The proposal which the voter will see on the ballot reads as follows:

"Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, establishing the Alabama Excellence Initiative Fund which may be used to fund programs including, but not limited to, the furtherance of excellence in public education, college scholarships, health care benefits for senior citizens and job training programs to attract new high paying jobs and otherwise provide for distributing state tax revenues; to adjust income and property taxes; to establish the General Fund Rainy Day Account; to provide for the replenishment of the General Fund Rainy Day Account and the Education Trust Fund Rainy Day Account."

There is not even a mention what parts or sections of the constitution are to be amended or what the document says today and what it will say if the measure is adopted. No matter that most of the issues being discussed in the media about the governor’s plan are not part of the constitutional amendment being voted on. For example, the proposed amendment would raise the maximum income tax rate from 5% to 6% and would change the dedication of new proceeds from the educational trust fund to the general fund (by a complex formula which was approved by the teachers’ union). But it gives no tax relief for the poor. This is in companion legislation which is subject to change at the whim of the legislature (and is vastly over-stated in any event).

Much of the recent media discussion (and the ads from the proponents) concerns a supposed “tax reform” and even a “middle-class tax cut,” but these concern proposed changes in the tax code which the legislature was and is perfectly free to do on its own without changing the constitution.

In any event the proponents first over-estimate the percentage of incomes the “poor” are currently paying in state taxes and focus on how awful this is; then they point to the fact that under the proposal these taxes will be lifted by raising the threshold of exemptions. But nowhere do they quantify the plain fact that these tax-cuts are trivial compared to the increases which are to be borne by everybody else.

Free Martha!

My friend Sheldon Richmond deconstructs the outrageous indictment of Martha Stewart. The Justice Department's case is that by proclaiming her own innocence of insider trading, Stewart "defrauded" the shareholders of her company. But she actually was innocent (not even being an insider), and the indictment doesn't even charge her with that non-crime.

Bruce Bartlett on the Bush Tax Cut


Bartlett agrees with me that Cong. Thomas bailed out the Administration with his brillant "compromise" with the idiots in the Senate. The reduction of the capital gains rate from 20 to 15 percent is just what the doctor ordered. Also note that dividend paying companies like The Southern Company are up strongly today (SO up 5%); their stream of income being now more valuable.

Robert Novak: 40 years of columns

Novak summarizes his life work. His column continues to be a must read.

Price Gives His Side of the Story

Notice his misuse of the pronoun "myself." This is real Yankee talk to use "myself" instead of "I."

Adminstration Would Be Well Advised to Listen to Thomas

President George W. Bush seems determined to stick to his plan to eliminate individual taxes on corporate dividends -- even if it means he passes on a broader, simpler tax cut that could do more for the economy. It is unclear whether this position is simple stubbornness or an inability to grasp the big picture, but the White House is misplaying its hand.

House Republicans are gathering around a plan to cut the tax on both dividends (currently taxed at individual tax rates as high as 38 percent as ordinary income) and capital gains (currently with a top rate of 20 percent) at a new, lower 15 percent rate. Lower-income taxpayers who now pay 10 percent cap gains taxes would see that halved to 5 percent.

Cutting the capital gains tax should give a jolt to all businesses, not just those who pay out dividends. And unlike plans to phase in the president's dividend cut, a simple cut in the marginal rate is much easier to implement and comply with, requiring no army of accountants to figure out.

In all, a cut in the capital gains rate would appear to be easier play for the White House, so much so that current opposition to it may just be so much posturing.

Robert Novak: Saved by Bill Thomas

Novak writes that Ways and Means Chairman, Bill Thomas, is using his tax-cut bill, which includes capital gains tax cuts, to bail out the administration's moribund tax cut plan. I suspect that some sort of dividend tax relief will find its way back in the House plan as finally adopted. Then the administration will dare the Senate Democrats to kill it and hurt their elderly constituents. These guys will take the dare.

Let My Teenager Drink (washingtonpost.com)

T.R. Reid laments the prohibitionism which pervades the issue of teen-age drinking and parental authority. Most of the world would be absoulutely astounded to learn that it is a crime in this country for a father to go into a restaurant with his 19 or 20 year old son (or daughter) and buy him glass of beer. These are people who are considered adults by state law but who are denied the legal rights of adults concerning the use of alcohol.

Patriot Raid

Can you believe this?

Treasury chief has to sell tax cuts

Novak reports that John Snow put in a call to him to say the Wall Street Journal had it wrong about the administration's willingness to cave on the tax bill. He concludes as follows:

Back in Washington this week, Snow must convince everybody that he is not about to cut back on a rate reduction essential to business. He must also deal with prickly House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas, who so far has not told House Republican leaders what he plans to do with the president's proposal. Finally, nobody has yet calculated how to reach the needed 51 Senate votes.

And then there is the daunting prospect of Alan Greenspan testifying before the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday. The president announced last week he will turn the other cheek to Greenspan's previous thrashing of the Bush tax bill and name him to a fifth term as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. Nobody could sell the tax cut better than Greenspan, but he also could inflict far greater damage on tax cuts than ''distortion'' of Snow's quotes.

Economic Principals: What Have We Learned?

Here David Warsh presents a summary of what mainstream economists have to say about Nation Building. Iraq must look forward to a good dose of experimentation in that regard. It turns out that microfoundations are what are important and, once again, macroeconomics is too aggregative to capture anything of value.

The laws of capital taxation -- The Washington Times

OK, let us see if there is any life left in the President's tax proposal. Bush has some political capital at this point; let him use it to do some good for the productive element in the country.

War brings out the Purple People

Good historical analysis of those who instinctively whoop it up for war.

Mesopotamia. Babylon. The Tigris and Euphrates

How is it that 42 percent of the American people believe Saddam Hussein is directly responsible for 9/11?

Wilson, Bush, and History

Joe Sobran on the lessons to be drawn from the wars of the 20th Century.

He concludes: Like Wilson, Bush is a moralistic Protestant who feels he has a divine mission to change the world. Bush too is a product of the Ivy League, though unlike Wilson, a minister’s son who presided over Princeton University, he isn’t exactly a student of history. Wilson wrote more books than Bush has read, but that didn’t make him wise. Neither man should ever have been let near a Bible.

In fact Bush may be about to do for the twenty-first century what Wilson did for the twentieth. The two men seem pretty evenly matched in hubris. Bush has evidently exchanged the intoxication of liquor for the intoxication of power.

SportingNews.com - Baseball : TBS shakes up Braves' broadcast team

Next thing you know the Bulldogs will force the retirement of Larry Munson.

The Philosopher of Islamic Terror

From the New York Times:
In the days after Sept. 11, 2001, many people anticipated a quick and satisfying American victory over Al Qaeda. The terrorist army was thought to be no bigger than a pirate ship, and the newly vigilant police forces of the entire world were going to sink the ship with swift arrests and dark maneuvers. Al Qaeda was driven from its bases in Afghanistan. Arrests and maneuvers duly occurred and are still occurring. Just this month, one of Osama bin Laden's top lieutenants was nabbed in Pakistan. Police agents, as I write, seem to be hot on the trail of bin Laden himself, or so reports suggest.

Yet Al Qaeda has seemed unfazed. Its popularity, which was hard to imagine at first, has turned out to be large and genuine in more than a few countries. Al Qaeda upholds a paranoid and apocalyptic worldview, according to which ''Crusaders and Zionists'' have been conspiring for centuries to destroy Islam. And this worldview turns out to be widely accepted in many places -- a worldview that allowed many millions of people to regard the Sept. 11 attacks as an Israeli conspiracy, or perhaps a C.I.A. conspiracy, to undo Islam. Bin Laden's soulful, bearded face peers out from T-shirts and posters in a number of countries, quite as if he were the new Che Guevara, the mythic righter of cosmic wrongs.