Articles tagged as

Taxes

Smokes and Mirrors – What’s Up With Tobacco Taxes?

smoking - what about the tobacco taxes in New HampshireAll across the the Granite State Democrats have gathered in their secret underground lairs.  The unthinkable has happened.  Tobacco revenues were up last month.   (Audible Gasp!).  That’s right.  Revenues beat estimates.

This is, of course, a double edged sword for the liberal left.   When their grotesque estimates (overall) were forever coming in under target, how many times did they say, “it’s just one month, wait and see.  Give it time, they’ll come around.  We’re not that far off.” No such quarter for Republicans. ( Typical hypocrats.)   At the ugly end of the 2007 to 2010 Democrat “experiment” they were off by about a billion dollars which might suggest they have no clue what they are doing.

But when the Republican’s estimated revenues for their budget the Democrats cried and whined anyway as if they were suddenly experts; the religious left even gathered to pray for more spending.  I’m not kidding.  They prayed for more spending.  The left claimed repeatedly that Republican estimates were purposefully low to punish people.  That is what the left said.

But the overall estimates are close.  Very close.  This means the Democrats were wrong about Republicans underestimating revenue on purpose, which means they were themselves wrong about estimates again (no surprise there).  With revenue nearly in line with spending, bitching about it makes them look petty and just reminds everyone what wretched stewards they were of our tax dollars.

So left hanging without an economic axe to grind they have bet their rhetorical money on the cigarette tax cut.  But they may have lost that bet as well.

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This Slut Votes

The War on Women continues apace, and right here in the Granite State. According to ‘The New Hampshire,’ a UNH campus publication, on April 28th, 30 people “gathered outside of Thompson Hall to participate in a national rally for women’s reproductive rights in support of access to birth control, Plan B One-Step, Planned Parenthood, and abortions.”

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(Repost-Flashback!) Seth Marshall Discovers Property Taxes

As part of Remembering Democrat Rule – another post from the past…

Seth Marshall Discovers Property Taxes

Originally posted Saturday, May 15, 2010 at 09:04PM

Hat tip out of the gate to fellow NHI front pager Richard Olsen Jr. for this fine bit or wordsmithing on Democrat Rep Seth Marshall’s brief letter to the Nashua Telegraph about a pamphlet on the burden of property taxes.  Mr. Marshall (it appears) feels blessed as if the contents of said pamphlet revealed the answer to a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma (which he discovered in the shadow of some penumbra no doubt.)  What’s the revelation?  That New Hampshire relies more heavily on property taxes.

That’s quite a discovery for a General Court lurker from the Fish and Game committee whose been a rep for four years.  Just figured that out Seth?  Oh, but not by himself–he’s got a pamphlet.  Hard to believe it hasn’t come to his attention sooner.  Seems to me it would be all the rage on the left wing.  So I guess Nashua Rep Brian Poznanski doesn’t invite him to the House parties–where it probably comes up all the time.  You know, the deal, drinking with minors, writing laws to get minors off if they get caught drinking, talking about property taxes.  Did you know New Hampshire apparently relies heavily on them?  (Property taxes, not drunk underage State Reps–well, actually have you seen the budget?) Did you also know that New Hampshire still has one of the lowest tax burdens in the country because it relies more heavily on property taxes?  It’s true.  That wasn’t in the pamphlet was it?

Want to know why?

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See – I WAS right about taxes!

Finished them last night – between prepping for the NH GOP Annual Meeting and these despicable taxes, you now know why I’ve been AWOL here.  TMEW schlepped them off to Post Office this morning.  Done, mission accomplished, and fini.  Really – fini!  That’s it, I’m done. Really done.

Done doing them.  No mas!

For years, I have done my own taxes.  Did it before TMEW and I had our daycare center (just a wage earner), did it when we had the daycare center – afterward too.  And still do.  Rather simple: “regular” taxes with no dependents, a home office, and the ‘Grok (we do take in money, and we do spend money on stuff).  But for the last few years, I’ve  kept thinking “why am I doing this to myself”?  It just seems that each year, it just gets harder with more pages to read to figure out how to fill in the same number of pages and the same number of forms.  I have two scientific degrees – I may not be the brightest bulb in the box, but I’m not the dimmest one either.  Yet, I kept finding myself asking “what the heck does THAT mean?”.  In fact, I complained to some friends:

I did notice the “more cumbersome” – I have ALWAYS done our taxes, and the last few years the instruction manuals for the forms have kept getting longer and longer – this year, more pages and in a lot more places, far more technical.

I’m out of my league in doing this.  Laws should be few, short, and easily understood by all for intent if not for obscure outlier conditions (we all know – do not kill except in self-defense IF needed).  Taxes?  The opposite

And I had started it off with this:

This is the last year I do my own taxes – After getting about 1/4 of the way of processing through the AMT sheet to see if I had to file that way, I swore that our Legislators ought to have to do this for 5 small biz people a year just to put them through the pain of trying to figure out “er, what does THIS mean???”  And the way that the forms go “circular” (can’t finish this part until you do this other form, but that form almost needs you to finish the first form), I can understand why the IRS support folks can’t get it right either.   PLEASE!

  • Give us a straight consumption tax.  Failing that:
  • No more automatic deductions – every week, ya gotta send in a check for the Fed income tax and FICA
  • Move election day to the day after Fed income tax is due.

As was pointed out on TV yesterday on one of the talking head shows, isn’t there something wrong with this crap when the 2 page 1040-EZ instruction manual is 88 pages long?

Do those two things, manual-send-in-money and move the election date – you’d see smaller government pretty darn quick!  Then I saw this – and knew I was right:

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Pay As You Throw Had To Go – Revisited

In April of 2011 I wrote about trying to institute Pay As You Throw in Merrimack.  Seeing as this comes up every year, I figured it was time to re-post it.  One point I would add; If any division of the town government intends to continue making a case for costs/burden related to actual use they should be prepared for an all out assault on school taxes (you are still taxing the elderly, childless, and parents with kids out of school), Hydrant fees (we all pay them but who ever uses them), and much, much, more.

by Steve MacDonald – Originally posted on April 22,2011

trash bagThe Merrimack Town Council bent to the will of the voters and scrapped plans to institute a pay as you throw program.  That would have required residents to buy special bags for trash at $1.00 or $1.50 per bag, and you could only use those bags at the town dump.

But we’ve been warned.  This is an issue that will be revisited. Or so we have been told.

Well, screw that, let’s look at it now.

GSA, Clowns, Mindreaders and Sushi

 “I used to look down on the world for being corrupt, but now I adore it for the utter magnificence of that corruption.”  —Richard J. Needham

You cannot make this stuff up. The U.S. Office of Inspector General Released a  16-page report detailing the gross abuse and excesses in the use of taxpayer monies of the Obama Administration GSA Officials. Nothing says Hackarama like an expensive opulent junket like this. The report was released yesterday by the OIG.

In October of 2010, The U.S. Government Services Administration spent over $835,000 on a four-day “training” conference for 300 GSA employees…held at a luxury hotel outside Las Vegas.

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Our Bodies Ourselves…Your Tax Dollars (Updated)

This book has been around forever.   My first girlfriend in High School had it way back in the seventies.   And while it has had several new covers over the years,  given the current circumstances I took it upon myself to make a new cover art “suggestion” for the next printing.

 

Our Bodies Ourselves - Your Tax dollars

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I won’t even bill them for the copy writing.  Consider it a donation.

(Updated…)

It occurred to me that this might be a better option and I wanted to make sure everyone had a “choice.” (on the jump)

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Free market liquor stores coming

GOP Rep. John Hikel has sponsored a bill that will allow bottled spirits of all types to be sold in markets, grocery stores, convenience stores, and other outlets. This change in the law will obviously benefit the free market and consumers in New Hampshire, but it will also result in the creation of lots of jobs, and lots more work for truckers, delivery people, stockers, etc. A Commerce Committee hearing will be held this coming Tuesday, February 7th, at 2:15 p.m. in Room 302 of the Legislative Office Building in Concord. You should be there and testify in FAVOR of the bill. 

"The Feast of Spending Fools in Concord," by Bruegel

But wait! There’s a problem! To understand it, consider the famous picture above. You thought it was a raucous party of drunks in Concord, right? What might result if we allow expanded consumer choice and convenience in New Hampshire, and pass Rep. Hikel’s bill? No, you idiot. Read on to find out what the real problem will be….

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Sylvia Larsen – Zipper head

Not much left when it comes to tobacco taxes...I suppose you’ll want some context for that headline.  Back in December (12/9/2011) I explained why New Hampshire should continue lowering tobacco taxes.  I suggested we adopt some kind of schedule by which we would sunset tobacco taxes over the next decade based of the long term decline in sales.  Why, after all, would you risk the states ability to invest in anything, including the left’s rhetorical “neediest residents in their most desperate hours (or something),” using an unreliable source of revenue in decline?

OK, what I actually said was

“Only a progressive zipper-head would rely on more revenue from something they want to get rid of.  Increasing the tax on a declining market will only accelerate the unreliability of the revenue stream.  That  creates the opportunity for bigger budget holes that must then be filled on the fly.”

As if by magic, Sylvia Larsen, Democrat super-minoirty leader of the New Hampshire State Senate, in the face of declining unit sales, as fewer people smoke, after a decades long trend indicating that tobacco purchases will likely continue to decrease in the future, thinks we should increase our reliance on cigarette taxes in New Hampshire.

Zipper head. (doofus, goofball, goober, dunderhead, maroon, doh!) see note#2 below

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Warren Buffett’s Secretary Might Be a One Percenter

Has the sweet milk of Obama’s class warfare rhetoric taken another sour turn?  I’m talking about Warren Buffett’s secretary.  How could a woman who is only paid $60,000.00 per year (according to her boss) be able to afford two homes while somehow amassing enough annual wealth to put her in a tax bracket that doesn’t even exist for the top1%?

Is Warren Buffett's Secretary a One Percenter?
Is Warren Buffett's Secretary a One Percenter?

That’s the question posed in an editorial in yesterday’s Investors Business Daily: Is Buffett’s Secretary a One Percenter?

An ABC News report, for example, says she “pays a tax rate of 35.8%,” in contrast to Buffett’s 17.4%  The very top federal income tax bracket is 35%, not 35.8%, and that doesn’t kick in until a taxpayer has adjusted gross income above $379,150.

Does that mean Bosanek is among the 0.4% of taxpayers whose income hits the top federal bracket? You know, the “1%” Obama and his pals always rail about?

Good question.

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Why Has The Granite State Fair Tax Coalition Changed Its Name?

GSFTC has a new name- Granite State Prioroites- I mean Pick PocketsExposing the Granite State Fair Tax Coalition (GSFTC) as just another left wing front group for Christian Socialism and the Democrat party tax and spend agenda was easy. (Here, here, here, here, here, maybe here,  here as well, and don’t forget here.)

But will it be any easier to unmask their newest facade?  That’s right, the GSFTC is dead but not gone.  It has been replaced by the exact same organization, all the same Liberal/Progressive players, but with a shiny new name.  GSFTC is now Granite State Priorities (GSP).

How do I summarize this transition in a nut shell?  Same old whore, new dress.

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Data Point – Once again, “who pays the taxes”? Where’s the Press on this?

Wall Street Journal - Who pays Federal taxes - income and other
Wall Street Journal - Who pays Federal taxes?

From the Wall Street Journal:

“This all-too-conveniently confuses the incidence of a tax with the burden of a tax. The marginal tax rate on every additional dollar of capital gains and dividend income from corporate profits can reach as high as 44.75% at the federal level (assuming a company pays the 35% top corporate rate), not 15%.

The Congressional Budget Office recently examined the distribution of federal taxes on various income groups. The report was ballyhooed by liberals as proof of rising income inequality, but that argument is for another day. What everyone has ignored is what CBO found about the relative taxes paid by different groups. And, lo, the rich pay more, which is probably why the press didn’t report it.”

Indeed” “why the press didn’t report it.”  All we have heard from the Left is the inequality, a la Warren Buffet, is the inequality of who pays what for taxes.  What they seldom report to the public, and what Warren Buffet absolutely doesn’t mention, is exactly the important info laid out above: double taxation.  The money that Buffet receives has already been taxed once at the corporate rate (35% before legal deductions) and as an owner of the corporation (as that’s what shareholders are – owners) he gets taxed a second time on that income – referred to as dividends.

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New Hampshire Advantage Strikes Again

“New Hampshire is a very cost-effective opportunity for us to build out and grow the company,” he said. “Definitely that facility, NH Advantage - Freedom, low taxes, low crime, low poverty, high quality of life, high average income, and more.staying in the area where we’re at, provided the most business advantages for us and that growth.”

-Enterasys President and CEO Chris Crowell in the Union Leader.

Enterasys is moving 540 jobs to Salem New Hampshire from Massachusetts and adding about 80 more as part of the move.  They want to stay in New England, and New Hampshire offers them the best growth opportunity to do that.   Hell yeah, it does.

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GrokTV Event: Ron Paul – Q6 & Q7: Abolishing the Dept. Education and will lowering corporate taxes bring jobs back to US?

Still trying to play catch up here: Intro Ceremonies and Question 1, Questions 2 & 3, and Questions 4 & 5.  Now, Questions 6 and 7!

Question 6 (which was asked by a young girl): you are going to abolish 3 Departments including the Department of Education; how are you going to replace them?  I believe the underlying “gotcha” question was “and how will I get a decent education if the Feds are not involved?” (an adult formulated question, I presume):

Question 7: How will lowering corporate taxes bring back jobs to the US where many corporations already don’t pay [income] taxes?

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Welcome To New Hampshire…Now Go Home

As New Hampshire plays it’s traditional “First In The Nation Primary” role for the  next few days, I am reminded of two things.  First, as the Live Free or Die state, no matter who ends up as either the GOP nominee or the next president, we’ll still have to act like the sovereign Republic that we are and repel the borders from progressives and big government, both inside and out, for years to come.   Second, there is what has to be my favorite New Hampshire bumper sticker; “Welcome to New Hampshire, Now Go home.” To which I would add,” unless you’d like to just move here.”

There are conditions for moving here, of course.  We consistently have some of the lowest poverty, lowest crime, and the best standard of living for a reason.  And as people speculate about our reasonably low unemployment as well, let me point out that these things are all related.   It is the secret ingredient.  It is what makes all the great things about New Hampshire possible.  The answer;  reduce the incentive for bad behavior.

If you don’t pay people a livable wage to remain unemployed, for some strange reason progressives cannot grasp, those people go find a job.  And believe it or not, this works everywhere it is tried.

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Is President Obama a “ruthless, uncaring S.O.B.”?

To the Editor: Henry Osmer objects to calling our President a “ruthless, uncaring s.o.b.”. I would not call him that, but I wonder about others. If my brother were a multi-millionaire but wouldn’t help me when I live in a hut on $20 per month, how caring might I consider my brother? If I had … Read more

Making ‘Cents’ To Democrats

Getting Pennies while we can - sunsetting the cigarette taxRep Ken Wyler, R-Kingston NH, took the Portsmouth Herald to task, in Fosters Daily Democrat, (Fosters.com) for its recent editorial on the cigarette tax decrease.  The Herald would like us to continue raising tobacco taxes every year, just like when the Democrats were in power, essentially pimping the Democrat party argument that we need the revenue, and that the tax decrease was pointless.

I’ve been arguing for a much larger decrease of the cigarette tax than the Republican House settled on for years.  It seemed obvious to me.    We make a hell of a lot more on Rooms and Meals taxes and that revenue is shared with towns–(ironic considering how Democrats pilfered that tax for reasons that will become obvious in a moment.)    Increased commerce overall is a benefit to the business community, profits, employment, wages, and the business tax revenue that grows as a result.  Cigarettes are a draw, even as sales drop.  Why don’t Democrats see it?

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The statist game plan: It’s just so simple….

Victor Davis Hanson nails it, as always, with just a few words (from a column at PJ Media): [A]lways higher taxes fuel bigger government, which fuels an expanding recipient class which pays homage by reelecting more big-government statists who further fuel government for sympathetic dependent voters. For the conservative, who sees dependencies and overregulation everywhere, … Read more

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