Only The Little People Pay Taxes

Proposal Cuts Taxes for 1%

A group of big business lobbyists is pushing a radical change to Wisconsin’s tax structure — one that would give huge tax cuts to the wealthy and powerful while shifting the responsibility of paying taxes to people with lower incomes. The change would also require significant cuts to the critical services that Wisconsin businesses, schools, and communities need to thrive. This one-two punch would make it more difficult for Wisconsin families to get by, while funneling additional resources into the pockets of the top 1%.

Income Tax Around The World

The U.S. is not a high-tax country. Our wages are low. We have extreme income inequality. And, our infrastructure is crumbling. Yet, we keep voting dipshits into office whom continue to cut taxes for the wealthy and big corporations. 

[source]

The Robot That Takes Your Job Should Pay Taxes, Says Bill Gates

Robots are taking human jobs. But Bill Gates believes that governments should tax companies’ use of them, as a way to at least temporarily slow the spread of automation and to fund other types of employment. 

It’s a striking position from the world’s richest man and a self-described techno-optimist who co-founded Microsoft, one of the leading players in artificial-intelligence technology. 

In a recent interview with Quartz, Gates said that a robot tax could finance jobs taking care of elderly people or working with kids in schools, for which needs are unmet and to which humans are particularly well suited. He argues that governments must oversee such programs rather than relying on businesses, in order to redirect the jobs to help people with lower incomes. The idea is not totally theoretical: EU lawmakers considered a proposal to tax robot owners to pay for training for workers who lose their jobs, though on Feb. 16 the legislators ultimately rejected it. 

“You ought to be willing to raise the tax level and even slow down the speed” of automation, Gates argues. That’s because the technology and business cases for replacing humans in a wide range of jobs are arriving simultaneously, and it’s important to be able to manage that displacement. “You cross the threshold of job replacement of certain activities all sort of at once,” Gates says, citing warehouse work and driving as some of the job categories that in the next 20 years will have robots doing them. [source]

The IRS

Evil Socialism At Work

President Barack Obama's Inaugural Address

Weekend Reading

The Addiction
Inequality Is Holding Back The Recovery
Manufacturing Jobs Use To Pay Well. Not Anymore
More Bogosity From Michelle Rhee
This Is Why You're Fat, America
12 Scientific Reasons Humans Are Irrational
2nd Amendment Ratified To Preserve Slavery
What We Know About Video Games & Violence
When Public Outperforms Private In Services
Where The U.S. Imports Its Oil From
World Needs $57 Trillion Infrastructure By 2030

Republican Shrinkage

Republicans often repeat the line, "Most Americans want a smaller government."

A classic example of Republicans getting an inch and taking a mile.

Most people simply want efficient provision of services. The number of public workers is not important to most taxpayers. The quality of service per tax dollar is what concerns taxpayers most.

The idea that simply shrinking government for the sake of shrinking government is wanted and/or somehow optimal is false. Taxes, as a share of income, are at their lowest point in 60 years. It's difficult to argue government is wasteful when they have been continually doing more with less decade after decade.

And, whether the service is administered at the federal or state/local level doesn't really matter to most taxpayers. This distinction matters most to the politicos trying to maintain their fiefdoms. Taxpayers just want the service/program - regardless of which agency (state or federal) provides it.

Social Security, Medicare, police and fire protection, sewers, water, garbage collection, snow removal, roads and highways, trains, unemployment insurance, the court and judicial system - people want these services provided fairly and efficiently, they don't care which level of government performs the service. (Today - Thanksgiving - would be a good day to reflect on these programs which we collectively provide for each other.)

Republicans merely cling to this talking-point (we must shrink government) because it positions well alongside their never-ending "bad government" war chant. When it comes to the public sector, according to Republicans, less is always better.

Yet, for most citizens, less government means more inequality. Remember this the next time you hear some conservative blathering on about big bad government. The more government declines, the less services and programs (listed above) they can provide, and thus the quality of life of most citizens also declines.

Is There Anything A Stadium Can't Solve?

We're broke. (Well, at least that's what Scott Walker keeps telling us.)

What better time to build a few hundred million dollar stadium?

Yes, we're no longer just considering upgrading the Bradley Center.

The power brokers and urban growth coalition of Milwaukee are scheming to build a completely new stadium on vacant Park East land.

No one would love to see development along this corridor more than me, but as I (and much more rigorous analysts before me) have written many times, stadiums are not economic catalysts.

We have no money for public workers, parks, trains, schools, green energy, or numerous other projects that would benefit the majority of citizens. But we have more than enough cash for tax cuts, bailouts, stadiums, and any other scams well-connected private-sector actors can imagine.

You may be out of work, but at least the Bucks will have a shiny new stadium to play in. Hooray!

For Further Reading:
Basket Case
Buck The System
Buck You
Economic Engine Or Albatross?
Overblown Bradley Center Impacts
Stadium Rip-off(s)
Stadium Swindle 
The Time Is Now?

The Time Is Now?

Are you kidding me?

On the list of priorities for public dollars - where public investment should be steered - building a new basketball stadium shouldn't even make the list.

But Michael Hunt, of the Journal Sentinel, feels the time is now to address a new arena for the Bucks.

The article notes:

"Marotta, a former Marquette basketball player, is getting it started by evoking the name of former Wisconsin state Sen. George Petak, whose vote saved Miller Park.

"Where would we be without a guy like Petak? Here was a guy who cared more about doing the right thing than being re-elected," Marotta said.

"He lost his seat, but if he hadn't taken that vote, we wouldn't have the Brewers here. And Milwaukee would be a significantly diminished town. We do have a lot of challenges. There's no denying that. We have significant economic challenges within the city. We've got public infrastructure needs. We've got libraries that need to be funded.

"The way to continue to do that and grow as a community is to invest in our entertainment, cultural and sports assets. That's what attracts business to come and expand here. It makes it a great place to live and work."

Entertainment, cultural and sports assets sure do make a city more tolerable. But Milwaukee isn't Las Vegas - lets not pretend these are the economic engines of Milwaukee's economy. We may have tourist attractions, but our economy isn't driven by the tourism industries. Manufacturing; trade, transportation, and utilities; information; financial activities; professional and business services; and education and health services all employee more people than our leisure and hospitality industry.

It's fine to look at our stadiums and conventions centers at some point. Preferably, when our economy is on better footing, and taxpayers may be more receptive to such public investment. But, as far as bang-for-the-buck investments are concerned, in helping to get our economy growing again, stadium subsidization has a poor return on investment. 

The time is now for public investment in infrastructure. But it should be in public transportation, energy, water, and education, not sports stadiums.

We Must Save The Trust Fund Babies

We actually have empirical evidence that shows higher tax rates, than we currently have, result in increased revenues and a better quality of life for the majority of Americans.

We also have empirical evidence demonstrating that lowering taxes simply increases income inequality whilst simultaneously diminishing revenues for schools, infrastructure, and research - thus lowering our quality of life.

Yet, in the Republican fantasy world, when faced with the policy option of increasing taxes, they scream class warfare.

Destroying pensions, laying off teachers and police officers, allowing health care costs to be the largest cause of bankruptcy, decreasing Social Security and Medicare payments, increasing the retirement age, etc. Where are the Republicans screams of class warfare when this is going on?

Everything Must Go

Is Goldman Sachs Buying Your City?

Snow Job

Courtesy of Crooks & Liars.

Don't Be A Jackass

The Rarest Creatures

The Cost of Quality

There is a wolf at the door. But not the County budgetary wolf the Journal Sentinel invokes. The wolves are the scofflaws who refuse to pay their fair share of taxes.

We've cut ourselves into diminished services leading to pothole-filled roads, fewer libraries and parks, and fewer public transportation routes. Thus a lower quality of life for residents, and a less attractive environs for potential businesses and homeowners.

It would be nice if the largest newspaper in the state and the conservative politicians could come to grips with the fact that a decent life costs money. Services cost money. Maintenance of infrastructure costs money. And, well-paid public jobs with the promise of a stable retirement are not part of the problem nor a 'bad thing' for a community.

If only our media and the conservative pundits would investigate tax evaders and the inequity of taxation with the vigor they push for more and more tax cuts, we'd all be better off.

For Further Reading:
Change?
Obliged To Avoid Taxation
Paranoia Overdose
Selling Our Soul To The Company Store
Tax Burden Illumination
Torinus' Taxed Reality