Mark Twain was famously quoted as saying that “No Man’s Life Liberty or Property is Safe While the Legislature is in Session.” The House Democrats in Concord seem determined to prove him right. Having pledged not to raise taxes they immediately ran up a $500 million deficit. Now with the severe recession upon us they are determined to make things worse by raising taxes. In the last session of the House they passed no less than 23 fees and tax increases. Taxes were raised on everything from boat fees (HB205), the establishment of recreational saltwater fishing fees (HB481), attraction signs (HB 671), and a raise in gasoline taxes (HB644) even as Washington is poised to similarly raise gasoline taxes.
In this session, they have already passed eight more increases. Of course they could not stop there; having resolved that they would increase the tobacco tax (HB 608), could not help themselves and attached eleven more tax provisions to the core bill. The list of new tax targets seems endless: taxes on charitable gambling winnings, an increase in room and meals taxes, new fees on health facilities and community living facilities, a fee for review and permit reviews and inspections, motor vehicle inspection and fees, subdivision fees, environmental services and subsurface programs, as well as several other filing fees. For “good measure”, they have also decided to throw in a capital gains tax (5%) and inheritance tax (8%) which they have added to HB2. Why not?
Tag Archives: financial storm
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Understanding the Current Financial Crisis - The Perfect Financial Storm
One of the tragedies of the financial storm that reached major hurricane proportions in September of 2008 is the fact that it has been very poorly explained to the average citizen. A tremendous amount has been written about it in the past several months, much of it highly technical or politically charged, but little has been truly communicated. Washington in particular has done an unusually poor job in explaining the problem even as they have appropriated trillions of dollars to the various recovery packages.
The result has been a backlash of anger and a sharp drop of consumer confidence that has certainly made the economic pull back that much worse. The country is thus parched for good information on what is happening and why. As true as this is here at home, it is just as true abroad. The crisis is being fed by the uncertainty of what lies ahead in terms of regulatory structures, tax rates, and regulations not to mention the general macro-economic conditions we will face.
There is no denying the gravity of the current situation. The financial crisis is real, it is global, it is serious and it is growing. With the cream of the nation’s financial institutions such as AIG, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, Wachovia, Citibank, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and others in various stages of collapse, it is an understatement to say that this is the worse financial crisis in the past seventy years. Day by day, the economic panic is growing and is digging deeper wounds into Main Street. We tend to think of this as a financial crisis but the Main Street economy is already in worse shape than the financial markets.