Category Archives: Sales Taxes

Damaged Goods

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I came across two articles this morning that linked a topic that had been wandering in my thoughts these last few days. One article was about the possible move of a fast-food company headquarters from a large metropolitan area. The other was about the potential ethical and criminal issues of a politician. The common link of the two was democrat politics.

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Hardees Headquarters in downtown St. Louis. Photo by Dominic Genetti/KMOX

The first instance was from St. Louis. The corporate headquarters for Hardees is in downtown St. Louis. An article appeared in the St. Louis CBS News outlet that hinted Hardees would soon be moving to more…business friendly climes. A state without an income tax and with Right-to-Work.

All Signs Point to Hardee’s St. Louis Departure

Michael Calhoun (@michaelcalhoun) April 29, 2015 9:27 AM

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) — St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay says after his conversations with Hardee’s CEO Andy Puzder, it looks like the fast-food chain is moving headquarters, and Slay says it’s over things the city has no control over.

“I know for sure he’s looking for states that don’t have an income tax,” Slay says, “and he’s looking at Right-to-Work states.”

The fast-food restaurant chain is currently headquartered at 100 N. Broadway, just a few blocks from the Gateway Arch in downtown.

The company announced last week that it was considering moving to Nashville.

Mrs. Crucis and I was in Nashville a couple of weeks ago. The city appears to be booming if all the road construction is any indication. Tennessee does meet the two criteria mentioned in the article above.

We drove through St. Louis on our way to Nashville. As does anyone who is about to leave on a long road-trip, I filled my Tahoe’s tank before I left. I paid $2.169 a gallon at my local gas station. I noted as we drove east that gas prices were about the same, varying a few pennies, west of Columbia. However, the further east we drove, the higher the gas prices. I wondered why. The state and federal gas tax is uniform across Missouri. That couldn’t be it.

We stopped not far from the St. Louis county line for a pit-stop and to check our route. The local gas price was $2.469 per gallon and higher. I discovered one of the reasons for higher gas was more and higher local sales taxes.

Sales taxes are a burden on everyone and sales taxes have a broad negative impact on commerce. Those who can, will buy elsewhere leading to cash flow out of the taxed area. A reason why internet sales are so popular.

The CBS article made Hardees’ motivation clear. They want to move to a location with lower taxes and a place with Right-to-Work. Nashville fits the bill. St. Louis, with its higher taxes and the city’s support and promotion of unions is not the place Hardees wants for its corporate headquarters.

The sense of oppression is not limited to the social ills of Ferguson and St. Louis. It extends to the business climate of the entire section of the state around St. Louis. Decades of democrat policies and democrat leadership of St. Louis have, “come home to roost!” Missouri, especially the eastern side of the state, has become ‘damaged goods’ as far as business is concerned.

The other instance hinted in today’s post title is about…Hillary Clinton. In a FOX report this morning, her political future appears to be imploding. Her cronies in the media are no longer providing cover against the growing revelation of scandal, fraud, and probable criminal activities of herself, her husband and the Clinton Family Foundation.

DAMAGED GOODS NO BARGAIN FOR DEMOCRATS
Another day, another revelation of ethical misconduct in Clintonland. This time it’s the Boston Globe’s discovery that the largest single non-profit group in the Clinton network utterly ignored the disclosure agreement that Hillary Clinton promised would be a bulwark against corruption during her tenure as secretary of state. Foreign donations exploded during Clinton’s tenure as America’s chief diplomat, but her organization said nothing about it. At the same time, we are learning more about the astronomical overhead in the Clinton family’s charitable network. So it is no wonder that Politico reports that the donors who have funded the multi-billion-dollar enterprise – the kind of folks who go on whirlwind Africa tours with Bill Clinton – are getting queasy about the new scrutiny and the serial improprieties. Their world is shrinking down to folks like billionaire Tom Steyer, who openly embrace the Washington cash-for-influence game.

So what’s a conscientious liberal to do? The GOP is out of the question. Republicans are tumbling over themselves to seek the favor of the super PAC donor whales who are preparing to fund potentially hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of red-on-red attack ads in the coming months. This isn’t a big problem for GOP voters, though, since the members of the party widely oppose restrictions on political spending. But for liberal Democrats, these are famine times. The wife of a former president is preparing to claim by regal right their party’s nomination. She is mired in a scandal that involves boatloads of cash from unseemly sources, the violation of basic transparency standards and the destruction of huge troves of documents. To go from “hope and change” back to “no controlling legal authority” is a far fall indeed. — FOXNewsletter, April 30, 2015.

Two democrat institutions, large metropolitan areas and Hillary Clinton; are two in a growing pile of democrat damaged goods. The liberal policies of the democrat party fail everywhere they are found from Detroit to Baltimore to St. Louis and Kansas City.

Kansas City’s Mayor Sly James proposed not long ago to raise Kansas City’s minimum wage to $15/hour. He filed to notice some of the unintended consequences to the city if that happened (or perhaps, like Baltimore Mayor Rawlings-Blake, he just doesn’t care about business and private enterprise or property.)

I looked at the Kansas City School District’s pay scales recently for another post. The district is required to post the pay scales every year by individual from the Superintendent to the freshly hired teacher’s assistant. Over 1,000 district employees make less than $15//hour. If the district had to comply with Mayor James’ proposal, the decision would be who to lay off. The district can not longer depend on the state for funding. Those days are longer over.

Sly James proposal would break the KC school district’s budget. It would be one more woe for a failed district who lost its accreditation and is struggling to remain credible while hoping to control student flight to other accredited school districts.

Six decades of a failed political policies have killed the life of large cities. Wherever democrats are in control, the economies of those areas crumble and add one more city after another and their people to the pile of damaged goods.

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Words for Wednesday

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Somedays it is hard to write a post. The difficulty is caused by a number of reasons, repetitive news cycles, ignorance of the MSM and in many areas the ignorance and apathy of the public. At other times, a lack of motivation or time conflicts conspire to push me to not post.

Today is one such day.

Be that as it may, today’s lead item is about stupidity. John Boehner’s bartender—a man who has been Boehner’s bartender for over five years, is accused of plotting to poison the Representative from Ohio.

The bartender must be an astoundingly poor planner. He had opportunities to shuffle off Boehner’s mortal coil for five years…but he just couldn’t get his act together.

When I read the article, it triggered my disbelief tripwire. After a facing mutiny in the GOP ranks, Boehner and the FBI reveal this incompetent. It just seems to be a misdirection ploy to get some positive media for Boehner. I wonder how many American have trouble with this news item?

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Guns and Taxes

From WMSA.NET…

From the PoliticMO Newsletter for January 14, 2015.

GUNS — ‘Gun groups vow to fight Missouri lawmaker’s bill taxing guns to pay for police body cameras,’ Raw Story: “A Missouri state legislator has drawn criticism from gun enthusiasts for introducing bills that would pay for body cameras for police officers through a tax increase on firearm and ammunition sales… House Bills 75 and 76, which were introduced by state Rep. Brandon Ellington (D), would implement a 1 percent tax raise on gun sales, with the money going to the “Peace Officer Handgun and Ammunition Sales Tax Fund,” to be used to buy the cameras. Officers would then be required to wear the cameras during any interaction with the public, and keep the footage in their records for at least 30 days. Undercover officers and detectives would be exempt from wearing the cameras. …

“The National Rifle Association (NRA) has already come out against Ellington’s proposal. ‘Forcing law-abiding Missourians to pay an additional tax on firearm and ammunition purchases is unmerited. Gun owners and purchasers should not be responsible for funding these projects,’ the group said in a release. ‘The NRA will continue to fight against such misguided encroachments on those who exercise their Second Amendment rights.’” — PoliticMO Newsletter, Jan 14, 2015

We continually hit with taxes and more taxes. A new tax to one thing or another, another hand in our pocket stealing our money under the guise of law. Every tax has some benefit, we’re told. I just don’t believe it. We don’t need a new tax to fund body cameras now, especially one that taxes guns and ammunition.

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The rank and file of our military do not like Obama. Who’da thunk it?

AMERICA’S MILITARY: A conservative institution’s uneasy cultural evolution

The force is changing — often reluctantly — alongside the civilian society it serves

In his first term, President Obama oversaw repeal of the controversial “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

Then he broke with one of the military’s most deeply rooted traditions and vowed to lift the ban on women serving in combat.

And the commander in chief has aggressively sought to change military culture by cracking down on sexual assault and sexual harassment, problems that for years were underreported or overlooked.

Obama is an unpopular president in the eyes of the men and women in uniform. Yet his two-term administration is etching a deep imprint on the culture inside the armed forces. As commander in chief, he will leave behind a legacy that will shape the Pentagon’s personnel policies and the social customs of rank-and-file troops for decades to come.

Go visit the Military Times and read the complete article. It confirms the opinions of many now serving and some fears as well.

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Hierarchy of Needs

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Have you heard about the Federal Tax increase passed by the House last week? Not many people have because it contained a tax deferment and the Washington elite from both parties didn’t want the news spread. Ignorance of voters is bliss—especially when it is Washington taking more money out of our pockets.

In this case, the bill would allow employers to defer making pension fund payments. Pension fund payments are tax deductible. Companies are required by law to make those payments…unless…the government wants those measly tax payments for something else.

It’s a matter of taking from Peter to pay Paul. This Highway bill, which our local congresscritter, Vicky Hartzler voted for, allows companies to defer making those pension payments. If a company is in such dire straits, they would have more trouble making their tax payments. Peter, in this example, is the FedGov. Paul is the retirees. Guess who gets screwed. Vicky says, “It’s budget neutral.” My question is, “Whose budget!?” Not mine!

Highway maintenance is a subject that will appear on the upcoming primary election ballot August 5th. Amendment 7 is a sales tax increase to ‘help’ fund maintenance of Missouri’s roads and bridges. The reality is that there is sufficient money already—if the state, county and city governments use that money as it was intended.

The real problem is that the state, counties and cities, have not been spending the existing funds on roads and bridges. Instead, they’ve been using the funds for other items. For example, Kansas City has a fixation with light rail and street cars. They have a plan, using funds from the roads and bridges maintenance funds, to restore a 1940’s era rail plan.

In 1943, Abraham Maslow published a paper on Hierarchy of Needs. In that paper, Maslow discusses needs—prioritization of needs that must be met. In engineer-speak, it is known as prioritization of tasks and dependencies. In order to complete a project, say maintaining roads and bridges, the individual tasks must be listed, dependencies determined, and then the tasks are prioritized by need and efficiency, i.e., getting the most bang for the buck.

The assumption is that the state, counties and cities, will be logical and work the projects as engineers. Unfortunately, the leaders of the state, counties, and cities, especially the larger cities more insulated from voter wrath, are not logical. They are more like neurotics, seeking to upset that engineering hierarchy of needs to feed their neurotic needs of their egos. They want their needs to be at the top, and a high need is to remain in office.

If they can placate their supporters, some of their needs have been met. The original purpose of the project funding gets lost and instead of maintaining the city’s road and bridges, we get the light-rail/street car boondoggle in Kansas City. I’m given to understand St Louis has similar boondoggles that is funded by the road and bridges budget just like Kansas City.

Maslow’s thesis was that everyone has a hierarchy of needs. No one really disagrees with that concept. Organizations, like city and county governments have needs, too. Unfortunately, governments are logical people. They are reflections of their elected officials. The passage of Amendment 7 would feed their egos insteading of meeting the actual needs of roads and bridges.

In Kansas City, the issue is the ego-stuffing of Mayor Sly James. In Cass County four years ago, it was the egos of the presiding commissioner Gary Mallory and commissioners Bill Cook and Brian Baker.

Mallory, Cook and Baker approved two unworkable boondoggles called Tri-Gen and Broadband Internet. The projects were unworkable and unaffordable but they did present the opportunity for corruption. That issue is still being played in the courts.

The damage to Cass County’s finances was severe. The county was within a hair-breath of bankruptcy. Due to the leadership of the current Presiding Commissioner Jeff Cox and County Auditor Ron Johnson, Cass County is slowly recovering.

Cass County has a new crop of responsive elected officials and an auditor who actually does his job instead of being a rubber stamp for the county commission. But the opposition, the prior officials, are still present, building an insurgency to regain access to public funds. Their hierarchy of needs opposes the hierarchy of needs of us the residents of the county.

When the primary arrives on August 5th, vote for yourself, your needs, not for the selfish needs of an oligarchy, unrepentant of their corruption. Vote for Jeff Cox, Ron Johnson and Stacey Lett. Let’s keep Cass County free of the Oligarchy and supportive of the needs of the residents. We don’t’ need a minority in office who has rapacious eyes on our public funds.

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Pre-Fourth of July news

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Time is running out for Nixon to choose one of three actions on the pile of legislation sitting on his desk. He can sign, veto, or ignore the bills. If he ignores a bill, it is considered to have passed without the governor’s signature.

One choice was announced late yesterday. Nixon vetoed the 72-hour wait for abortions.

ABC affiliate KSPR reported that Mr. Nixon, a Democrat, said the legislature’s failure to insert an exception for rape and incest “demonstrates a callous disregard for women who find themselves in horrific circumstances and would make Missouri one of just two states in the nation to take such an extreme step.”

“Lengthening the already extensive waiting period serves no demonstrable purpose other than to create emotional and financial hardships for women who have undoubtedly already spent considerable time wrestling with perhaps the most difficult decision they may ever have to make,” he continued. — Washington Times.

That last statement just makes no sense. The act, whether consensual or not, happened some time ago. Even the best of tests cannot detect pregnancy immediately after the fact. So, some time has pasted, at least a month, probably more. Why is waiting just 72 more hours horrific?

It’s not.

Nixon just bowed to pressure from the ACLU and abortionists who want no restraint nor constraint on abortions. Then he made up this flimsy excuse. Typical of a democrat.

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A question a number of people have asked me is, “When is a bill considered to have passed without Nixon’s signature?” That is a bit difficult, but according to what I’ve found, that date should be July 14, 2014. The calculation is 15 or 45 days from the date of transmittal after passage of the bill in the legislature. If the bill was passed early in the session, it is 15 days, otherwise it is 45 days.

According to the MO SOS website, the transmittal date for those bills passed late in the legislative session was May 30, 2014. From that date, you can do your own math.

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There are a number of Amendments on the ballot come the Primary election. I’ve stolen borrowed the summary below from Andrea Plunkett.

Your August Ballot

When you head to the voting booth on August 5th, you’ll see a number of Constitutional Amendment issues on the ballot. Here’s an overview of what they do:

Amendment 1- Right to Farm
This amendment would give Missouri voters the opportunity to enact a constitutional amendment that affirms the right of farmers and ranchers to engage in farming and ranching practices. Upon voter approval, it would “ensure that the right of Missouri citizens to engage in agricultural production and ranching practices shall not be infringed.

A yes vote will amend the Missouri Constitution.

A no vote will not amend the Missouri Constitution regarding farming and ranching.

If passed, this measure will have no impact on taxes.

Amendment 5- Right to Keep and Bear Arms
This amendment would reinforce the right of Missouri citizens to keep and bear arms, ammunition and accessories in defense of their family in addition to the current rights to protect a person’s home, property or themselves. The amendment would remove the language that states that the right ot keep and bear arms does not justify the wearing of concealed weapons. The amendment would make these rights inalienable and obligate the state of Missouri to uphold these liberties and under no circumstance decline to protect against their infringement. The amendment does not prevent the legislature from limiting the rights of certain felons and certain individuals adjudicated as having a mental order.

A yes vote will amend the Missouri Constitution to expand the right to keep and bear arms.

A no vote will not amend the Missouri Constitution.

If passed, this measure will have no impact on taxes.

Amendment 7- Transportation Sales Tax
This amendment allows voters to decide whether to pay more in sales tax to provide additional funding for Missouri’s roads and highways. It would raise the state sales tax by three quarters of a percent to generate around $534 million each year for maintenance and construction projects for the state’s transportation infrastructure. If approved, the tax increase would take place in 2015 and be in effect for 10 years. It would require that these measures be re-approved by voters every 10 years.

A yes vote will amend the Missouri Constitution to increase funding for road, bridge, highway and public transportation initiatives by increasing sales/use tax by three quarters of a percent for 10 years.

A no vote will not amend the Missouri Constitution.

If passed, this measure will increase the state sales/use tax.

Amendment 8- Veterans Lottery Ticket
This amendment would create a new lottery ticket which would raise funds for veteran’s programs. If approved, the Missouri Lottery would create a new ticket and the proceeds of sales would be deposited into the Veterans Commission Capital Improvement Trust Fund, which is used to fund construction and maintenance for veterans’ homes and cemeteries in the state.

A yes vote will amend the Missouri Constitution “Veterans Lottery Ticket.”

A no vote will not amend the Missouri Constitution to create a “Veterans Lottery Ticket.”

If passed, this measure will have no impact on taxes.

Amendment 9- Electronic Privacy
This amendment would protect Missourians’ electronic information from unwarranted seizure. It would amend the state constitution to protect email, cell phone data and other electronic information in the same way it current protects the papers, homes and effects of a person from warrantless search and seizure.

A yes vote will amend the Missouri Constitution to specify that electronic data and communications have protection from unreasonable searches and seizures.

A no vote will not amend the Missouri Constitution.

If passed, this measure will have no impact on taxes.

I would like to draw your attention to Amendment #7, the sales tax increase. Why am I doing that? Because the entire amendment is a fraud. It purports to be a tax increase to support highway infrastructure. In reality, it’s a ploy by the construction unions and their sycophant construction companies to fleece Missouri taxpayer.

St Louis and Kansas City have been whining for years about their inability to maintain their streets and bridges. In reality, the state has been funding a large part of that maintenance out of the highway fund—as designed. However, the large metropolitan cities did now keep their half of the deal. Instead of funding the rest of the money to actually do that maintenance, they spent it elsewhere—most to black-hole “community projects.”

Don’t be fooled by this amendment. It’s a ripoff. If the city streets and bridges are in disrepair, blame the cities for wasting the funds, don’t increase the sales tax to fund more wastage.

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Driving Mrs Jen

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Today is my turn to chauffeur my daughter on some errands. She can no longer drive due to a neurological condition that affects her right side. After a year of doctors, tests, consultations, she still hasn’t a clear diagnosis. At least it isn’t getting worse.

I’ll be back tomorrow. In the meantime, here’s a liberal wakeup call when the tax bills come due.

Liberal Austin homeowners surprised to find they have to pay all the taxes they voted for

posted at 9:31 pm on June 2, 2014 by Mary Katharine Ham

NIMBY, literally.

“I’m at the breaking point,” said Gretchen Gardner, an Austin artist who bought a 1930s bungalow in the Bouldin neighborhood just south of downtown in 1991 and has watched her property tax bill soar to $8,500 this year.

“It’s not because I don’t like paying taxes,” said Gardner, who attended both meetings. “I have voted for every park, every library, all the school improvements, for light rail, for anything that will make this city better. But now I can’t afford to live here anymore. I’ll protest my appraisal notice, but that’s not enough. Someone needs to step in and address the big picture.”

I’m really just bringing this to your attention for this quote alone. Voting and paying are different endeavors entirely. Often, when one has to pay for the things one has voted to fund, that decision becomes less flippant. This is a comment, less on the specifics of Texas’ or Austin’s tax system than the blaring disconnect between liberals in Austin who are voting for higher taxes and the actual paying of the taxes. Which, as it turns out, is painful, discouraging, and can be a detriment to the fabric of the city.

The article continues on Hot Air. Go there and read. It’s a hoot! Liberals actually paying the consequences of all their tax increases and the whining when the bills come due.

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Sneaky like a thief in the night

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My post is late today. Mrs. Crucis and I had an early appointment. On the way home we stopped at a local greasy spoon for an early lunch—breakfast for her, B & E, and a hot beef sandwich for me.  Usual stuff, quick, easy and cheap.

Well, maybe not cheap.

The subtotal for our “brunch” was $12.97.  When sales tax was added, the total rose to $15.12. That’s over two dollars tax for you democrats. When I asked for the tax rate, I  was told it was, roughly, 8.5%. I was surprised. I thought our sales tax total was around 6.5%.  So did a number of the waitresses and customers who overheard our discussion. When I later ran the math, the sales tax total really came to 16% or $2.15 on a $12.97 purchase.

That’s the problem with sales taxes…well all taxes basically.  There’s an increase here, another increase there. It’s like being nibbled to death by ducks. We had a 911 sales tax increase voted on in April…really an unfunded mandate from the feds. Taxes continue to increase bit by bit and we don’t take notice because it’s incremental. 

When an issue is put to a vote, it’s always for some miniscule amount, a half or quarter percent increase. We never hear what the new total will be.  If THAT was told, there’d never be another sales tax increase.

Eight and a half percent or sixteen percent total sales tax. whichever was correct it was raised incrementally like a thief in the night, taking your hard-earned wealth a half or quarter percent at a time until, to quote former Illinois Senator Everett Dirksen…

“[Think these are just] drops in the bucket? … A million here, a million there, and pretty soon you’re talking about real money.”

There are good, honest conservatives who think replacing the state and/or federal income tax with a sales tax is a good idea. They’ve never thought about the unintended consequences of such a consumption tax. No, they heard someone spout the idea and claimed it was the best thing since the Constitution was written. They’ve swallowed the idea hook line and sinker. More fools they for following, unthinkingly, a Pied Piper off into taxland.

Now just because I think the entire sales tax racket is a fraud from beginning to end does not mean that I like a progressive income tax. I don’t like progressivism in any form. A flat tax, on the other hand, impacts everyone and every entity equally.  That is a fair tax as long as the percentage is frozen. Be forewarned on any tax scheme, as soon as the libs get a majority, we’ll have both, a progressive income tax and a Valued Added Tax. It’s an easy step from a simple sales tax to a VAT. Next you know we’re Europe with all the same debt and chaos.

When the 911 sales tax increase was proposed, I listened to our Sheriff on the drivers for the tax.  The feds had passed another unfunded mandate. Our county was broke because our commissioners had been suckered in another federal program that would cost the county millions that it did not have.  I voted for the tax increase. 

I think that was the first tax increase I voted for in well over a decade.  I didn’t do it because I thought it was a good idea.  I didn’t. I didn’t vote for it because I was a blind follower of the party. I’m not. I voted for it because I hoped it would slow the county’s slide towards bankruptcy. Given that we have two tax ‘n spend Commissioner appointed by our democrat governor the composition of the county commission provides no confidence we’ll escape bankruptcy.

If I’d know what the total sum of our sales tax exposure, I would have voted no.  It’s a lesson for us all—truth in advertising.  An untold truth is as great a danger, a falsehood, as a spoken lie. In the future, let’s not lie to ourselves nor our constituents.  Tell the whole story and let us, the voting public, make our decisions based on facts, all the facts, and then abide by a reasoned votes.

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All politics is local

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“All politics is local,” is a phrase attributed to former House Speaker Tip O’Neill.  According to wiki, the phrase can be defined as…

…a common phrase in U.S. politics. The former U.S. Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill coined this phrase which encapsulates the principle that a politician’s success is directly tied to his ability to understand and influence the issues of his constituents. Politicians must appeal to the simple, mundane and everyday concerns of those who elect them into office.  

It the dems in Washington truly believed this, we wouldn’t be in our current mess caused by the massive overspending and debt.

Be that as it may, there is an element of truth in it.  Witness the ‘Pub resurgence in the 2010 election.  

It is also a truism at the local level. For instance, a proposal by Jackson County, MO, to increase the KC Zoo revenues by a sales of half to an eighth of a cent (the actual amount is still undetermined.) How does that affect Cass County, which is broke by the way?  Jackson County wants Cass County to join them with a similar tax.  In fact, Jackson County operatives, one whom is Pat Gray a KC democrat consultant, is about to submit a proposal for the tax to appear on a ballot next fall.  The idea is that if the tax issues passes in Jackson County, and Cass County, both counties would provide revenue to support the Zoo.  Cass County isn’t alone, the KC operatives will also work to have the tax issue added in other neighboring counties.

How does this work as “all politics is local?”  Well, it’s a continuation of the usual democrat tactic—get other people to pay for democrat mismanagement.

You see, Jackson County is a democrat stronghold.  It has been for decades, maybe even a century or more.  And it has all the faults of democrat management: waste, fraud and corruption.  Jackson County has tried before and with some success to get other counties to pay for Jackson County institutions.  Some years ago it was a bi-state tax to support the major-league sports complex owned by Jackson County.  Now it is the Zoo.

I don’t have anything against the Zoo.  It’s a nice Zoo.  When our daughter was young, we took her there (I can still remember the heat.)  Our daughter is now married with children of her own and they’ve been to the Zoo as well.  I have no doubt they would be willing to support the Zoo although perhaps not via a tax.

The difference is that my Daughter, Son-in-law and our three grandkids live in Jackson County.  My wife and I do not.  I have no issue to paying a fee for access to the Zoo.  I have contemplated joining the Friends of the Zoo, the private organization that operates the Zoo, in times past.  I like the Zoo.  I do not, however, support being forced to support a privately operated Zoo through a new sales tax. 

However, the real issue for me, and others here in Cass County, isn’t the sales tax.  It’s the election required to pass the tax.

You see, as I said above, Cass County is broke.  We have given up the ability to tax property and assets in favor of a county sales tax.  Given the current economic climate, we have just enough revenue to get through the end of the year—if no additional, unplanned expenses occur.  

Like an election.

If the Zoo sales tax gets on the ballot, it will be the only item there.  An election for a single issue, the Zoo sales tax.  It will cost Cass County an estimated $100,000. A sum the county does not have.

If an election occurs, for the Zoo tax or for anything else this year, Cass County does not have the money to pay for it.  That means someone, several someones perhaps, will lose their job.  The county workforce has already been cut to the bone. (Thank our democrat predecessors for ruining the county budget and committing the county to outlays it does not have, i.e., the Federal Broadband Initiative.)

So, this sales tax is a local issue.  Jackson County has mismanaged their funds and wants Cass and other surrounding counties to bail them out.  The liberal agenda of spending other peoples money continues at the local level as it does at the federal level. 

I thank God that our state has a balanced budget requirement. Too bad the dems fail to understand the need in Jackson County and in Washington.