The worst, most immediate impact of the US Supreme Court decision awarding the political process to corporations is that County Cockroach Cultivator Scott Walker’s chances of becoming governor are greatly, greatly enhanced.
Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category
That Supreme Court decision
Friday, January 22nd, 2010Massachusetts
Wednesday, January 20th, 2010The Democrats, faced with an absolutely critical race in Massachusetts to replace the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, start out by picking the wrong candidate: Martha Coakley.
Then they compound the error by running the worst major campaign in a long, long, long time.
Terrible.
Now will the Dems try to jam the health care votes in before Sen.-elect Scott Brown is sworn in?
And the Dems are craven, too
Tuesday, January 5th, 2010More proof that Congress, no matter what party its members belong to, does not represent regular people: its failure to reinstate the estate tax.
More loot for richest as everyone else scrambles for the inadequate crumbs.
From US News & World Report:
The tax, a levy on the wealthiest Americans, expired on the first of the year because Democrats were unable to find support for even a temporary continuation of the tax while they debated a longer-term solution. Despite assurances from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that the body will approve a retroactive fix when it returns to work next month, Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus called it “embarrassing” that the Democratic-controlled Congress could allow the tax to lapse.
Embarrassing? More like craven. This is a Congress that is spending billions to stave off a depression. That is the right thing to do, but guess what? That money has to come from somewhere and throwing away the revenue that comes from the estate tax is just plain stupid, if not worse.
The estate tax, just a week ago, exempted the first $3.5 million of a person’s estate (or $7 million for a couple) from the tax. Then a 45% rate kicked in, bringing in about 20 cents for every dollar of the estate’s worth. In 2008, that amounted to about $26.5 billion.
The tax is scheduled to return next year at a higher rate with a smaller exemption, but 1) that $26 billion or so Congress kicked away is gone, gone, gone and 2) who knows what Congress will do to the tax before 2011?
Meanwhile, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Congress’ dereliction of duty is leaving those who inherit lesser estates at risk of higher taxes and vastly more complex tax returns. That’s because those that inherit will have to pay capital gains on the value of assets from the time the decedents acquired them. Under the previous rules, the taxes are due only on the gains that accrue from the time the assets are inherited until the beneficiary disposes of them. The law exempts the first $1.3 million in unrealized capital gains (and an additional $3 million if the beneficiary is the surviving spouse) from eventual taxation. But, according to CBPP:
Many more people, and many more family-owned businesses and farms, would face new taxes as a result of the change in the capital-gains treatment of inherited assets that would accompany the disappearance of the estate tax than would benefit from the end of the estate tax itself.
- Few people — and even fewer small farms and businesses — will benefit at all from the disappearance of the estate tax in 2010. Tax Policy Center data show that the estates of only one-quarter of 1 percent of people who die — 5,490 estates nationwide — would owe any estate tax if the 2009 estate-tax rules were continued, and thus would benefit from the tax’s demise.Tax Policy Center data also indicate that only 100 small businesses and farm estates in the entire country would owe any estate tax in 2010 if the 2009 estate-tax rules were maintained.
- In contrast, the heirs of approximately 71,400 estates could face new capital gains taxes if the estate tax is allowed to disappear for 2010, according to an analysis by John Buckley, chief tax counsel for the House Ways and Means Committee. Moreover, at least 62,500 of these are estates that would not owe any estate tax if the 2009 rules were continued and that thus would be adversely affected by estate tax repeal. Farm and business estates would constitute a disproportionately large share of this group.
Not only would many estates face higher taxes, but nearly all large estates would face new administrative burdens, since their owners would have to know (or estimate) the original purchase price of every asset in the estate in order to calculate their capital gains tax liability. Under current law, in contrast, all assets in an estate are simply assessed for their value at the time of the decedent’s death.
This isn’t quite as ugly as health care reform that doesn’t really reform, but it is another sign that the wrong interests hold the power in those money-lined, off–limits-to-most corridors of power.
Sullivan comes out swinging
Thursday, June 25th, 2009From State Sen. Jim Sullivan (D-Wauwatosa) on challenger Leah Vukmir (R-Wauwatosa):
It looks like I will be running against one of Wisconsin’s most extreme and divisive politicians once again. Rep. Leah Vukmir has a long history of putting her own partisan agenda ahead of the needs of the district – It is no wonder that she was recently named one of the Worst Legislators in Wisconsin by Milwaukee Magazine.
The people of the 5th Senate District deserve much better than that.
Over the last two years I have championed the development of new biotech and medical research industries, and the new high-paying jobs that they bring. I have supported small businesses, and ensured that tax breaks are targeted towards creating jobs and investment in our community. And, most importantly, I have worked to keep our families safe by cracking down on drunk drivers, working to fix the DNA Crime lab backlog, and voting to institute GPS tracking of child sex predators.
I have lived up to my promise to be a strong, independent voice for the people of the 5th Senate District. Just last week I was the only Senate Democrat to vote against the state budget bill. While this did not make me very popular with my Democratic colleagues, it was the right thing to do for the district.
Rep. Vukmir, on the other hand, is incapable of putting aside her extreme partisanship to do what is right. Last year, when she had the chance to break with her party and support much needed funding for employers in our district, she refused.
Her partisanship was again on display when she voted against the “Compassionate Care for Rape Victims Act”, against fixing the DNA backlog at the state crime lab, and against a bill that would have prevented the state from contracting with companies that export American jobs overseas.
The differences could not be clearer.
I look forward to running a strong, issue based campaign over the next two years. I am confident that when the voters of the 5th Senate District compare my record of creating jobs, growing our local economy, and protecting our families with Rep. Vukmir’s record of extreme partisanship, they will make the right choice.
Walker, Holloway think wrong thoughts
Saturday, January 30th, 2010The attitude of County Cockroach Cultivator Scott Walker and County Board Chairman Lee Holloway toward a bill that would return 17-year-old offenders to the tender mercies of juvenile court is highly disturbing.
But then, so is the screw job the state, through that same bill, might visit upon counties.
State Rep. Fred Kessler introduced the bill this week, and Walker and Holloway were all over it on fiscal grounds.
County Executive Scott Walker and County Board Chairman Lee Holloway are
reiterating their opposition to a bill proposed in the State Legislature to return 17 year-old offenders to the jurisdiction of juvenile court. If enacted, this change could cost Milwaukee County at least $24 million.
“Counties cannot afford any more unfunded mandates from the state,” said Walker. “This mandate could cost local taxpayers more than $24 million each year. The new revenue streams they propose will not cover the cost, and our 2010 Milwaukee County budget does not have a provision to handle the additional costs associated with this legislation.”
“It’s time for the state to get serious about juvenile justice and fund any reforms to our current system. The State of Wisconsin should be financially responsible for any changes to current correctional policy, because our property tax payers already bear too much of a burden for under-funded state mandates. They simply can’t afford a $24-30 million increase in costs,” Chairman Holloway said.
There is something simply grotesque about arguing that children should be kept in adult prisons because counties can’t afford a better alternative. It’s an argument that should not have been made.
Walker and Holloway are totally right, though, in their contention that the potential $24 million cost shift to the county is unacceptable and the state, if it is going to move 17-year-olds from adult court to juvenile court, needs to pick up some of that cost.
It doesn’t compute that Kessler is seeking to return 17-year-olds to juvenile court, (which would reverse the 1996 law that sent them to adult court) to save the state some money.He’s just not that kind of guy. It does compute, though, that some of his legislative colleagues would do the math and come to the happy realization that they could make the state’s horrid budget situation just a bit better by making the county’s really, really horrid budget situation even worse.
The existing law needs to be changed. Counties need to be treated fairly when it is.
Posted in Commentary, Politics, Scott Walker, State Government, State Legislature, crime | 2 Comments »