1) Policy Focus: Liberals are Going Hog Wild for Tax Increases
2) The David Strom Show
3) Congrats to the iPod nano winner!; Pocket Constitutions Still Available
4) Beware "Skilled Incompetence."
5) Help a good cause and get a tax deduction at the same time when you donate your laptop to the Free Market Institute!
1) Policy Focus: Liberals are Going Hog Wild for Tax Increases
A visitor to a Minnesota farm noticed a hog limping around on a makeshift leg fashioned from a broken broomstick. When he asked the farmer about it, the farmer replied: "Let me tell you about that hog.
"I was out plowing the field one day when I fell off the tractor and broke my leg. Well, when I didn't show up for feeding time, that hog searched me out and brought help. But that's not all. One day my little son Sven fell in the well. That hog pushed the bucket into the well with his snout, grabbed the rope in his teeth, and pulled Sven to safety. But that's not all. One night my whole family was sound asleep when the house caught fire. That hog rushed into the burning house, woke up my wife and me and helped us carry the kids outside."
"That's amazing," said the visitor. "But why does the hog have a broomstick for a leg?"
"Why," said the farmer, "when you have a hog that has done so much for you, you don't want to eat him all at once."
So it is with Minnesota tax policy: When legislators have productive Minnesotans spending their lives creating wealth and willing to work for a better Minnesota, it's not smart tactics to gobble them up all at once.
So following a 2-cent increase in the gas tax in April (the first installment on an 8-1/2-cent gas tax boost) the one quarter of 1 percent transit sales tax kicks in five metro counties - Ramsey, Hennepin, Anoka, Dakota and Washington kicks in on Tuesday. If follows the Hennepin county sales tax increase for the Twins stadium imposed by the 2007 legislature and precedes a potential three-eighths of 1 percent sales tax that came out of the 2008 legislative session. If voters approve a constitutional amendment to raise the sales tax to support the arts and outdoor recreation, the five county metro-area will sport sales tax rates above 7 percent with Minneapolis and St. Paul hovering near 8 percent.
In his Pioneer Press column this coming Wednesday, (http://www.twincities.com/westover) The Minnesota Free Market Institute's Craig Westover looks at "progressive tax policy" -- progressively paying more for a progressively lower standard of living. As valuable as we taxpayers are, progressive-minded legislators don't want to eat us all at once.
2) The David Strom Show
The David Strom Show sponsored by the Minnesota Free Market Institute is broadcast weekly on AM 1280 The Patriot Saturdays 9-11 A.M. Podcasts of the show are available at Townhall.com and also directly via iTunes. (See our radio show page for details). The show is now downloaded over 11,000 times a month!
Last week's (6/28) show David took calls and discussed energy and environmental policy. Note: We had originally scheduled Larry Solomon, author of The Deniers as a guest but technical difficulties prevented us from having him on the show. We plan to reschedule his appearance soon.
Audio highlights of the show are available here. For commercial-free show podcast downloads visit the show page at townhall.com or subscribe via iTunes. To find out ahead of time who the guests on the show will be, sign up for our action eList and check the RADIO box. (one email per week).
3) Congrats to the iPod Nano winner!; Pocket Constitutions Still Available
Brian Almleaf of White Bear Lake is the winner of the drawing for a free 4MB iPod Nano!
There is still time to register to receive email updates and get a free pocket Constitution/Declaration of Independence in time for the Fourth of July. Sara, who has been sending them out says we have about 15 left. We'll be mailing them out with each new registration until they are gone. If you have been getting the update but have never registered on our site, we probably don't have your address. If you add your address, we'll send you a constitution too! Just go to the Minnesota Free Market Institute website and click on the join tab.
These are our email lists:
- Updates: Get the weekly update on what's going on with new publications and events sponsored by the Institute. If you receive this email directly, you are already on this list.
- Columns: Get columns and essays from MNFMI fellows and President David Strom in your email box.
- Radio:Find out ahead of time who will be a guest on the David Strom Show this weekend.
- Media:Get the latest MNFMI press releases.
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4) Beware "Skilled Incompetence."
In an MPR story about Sen. Norm Coleman's stance on domestic drilling for oil and natural gas (http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/06/27/colemandrilling/?refid=0), the most revealing statement belongs to the Franken campaign.
"A spokesman for Coleman's Democratic opponent, Al Franken, said Franken is not opposed to increased offshore drilling if it doesn't damage the environment." (MPR quote, emphasis ours)
Dr. Chris Argyris, a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Business, coined the term "skilled incompetence" (http://www.winstonbrill.com/bril001/html/article_index/articles/51-100/article60_body.html ) to describe a statement like that attributed to the Franken campaign. Argyris contends that in a business setting (and we believe among policymakers or would-be policy makers) such ambiguous communication intended to avoid conflict invariably leads to decisions based on ignorance.
Everyone favors drilling off shore if it doesn't damage the environment. That's not the question. The question is should the United States allow drilling off shore considering risks to the environment? There is an objective answer to that question arrived at by looking at the cost of drilling versus the benefit of drilling versus the cost of environmental damage versus the likelihood of that damage occurring.
Franken's ambiguity basically punts and discourages researching the facts and arriving at that objective decision. It sends mixed messages to oil companies - should they or shouldn't they invest in off-shore exploration? Equally it sends a mixed message to so-called "green" industries that must make business decisions based on trends in the fossil fuel industry.
With policymakers and office seekers avoiding conflict instead of forcing decisions, is it any wonder there is confusion in the energy market?
Good politicians are skilled communicators. Unfortunately, most politicians (Ronald Reagan the notable exception) use their communication skill to conceal problems lest they offend a voting bloc.
A good rule of thumb - if a politician isn't offending someone, he's probably not telling the truth.
5) Help a good cause and get a tax deduction at the same time when you donate your laptop to the Free Market Institute!
In our never-ending quest to pinch pennies and make your donations go as far as possible here at the Minnesota Free Market Institute we have decided to forego purchasing one or two laptops and ask our loyal supporters for help in getting the hardware that we need. Any in-kind donations to the Institute can be written off your taxes at fair market value (stick it to the IRS and the Mn Dept. of Revenue!), and your donation will help us do our work more efficiently as we travel to meetings or the occasional conference.
What we need: a fairly late-model laptop (two, if possible) designed more for convenient travel than high-tech multimedia applications. Small, light, and capable of running the latest versions of Microsoft Office are the most important criteria. We are a Microsoft shop (running XP on our computers right now), but we are open to Apple products or Vista as long as we can edit our files in a cross-platform manner. We love working on widescreen, but these laptops will really just be workhorse computers for on-the-go editing and web usage, so we aren't picky.
Again, lightweight and capable of running the latest versions of Office are the most important criteria.
Any chance you can help us out and get a tax deduction at the same time? Lovers of liberty everywhere will owe you a debt of gratitude.
Previous issues of the weekly update are archived at the Minnesota Free Market Institute website here.
The Minnesota Free Market Institute conducts research and advocates for policy that limits government involvement in individual affairs and promotes competition and consumer choice. By analyzing the actions of the past and applying the enduring lessons of the free market, the Minnesota Free Market Institute creates policy options for the future. The Minnesota Free Market Institute accepts PayPal! To donate click here. Contributions are Tax Deductible!
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