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Why government spending is (mostly) bad
Read more: Why government spending is (mostly) badGovernment spending replaces the judgment of the market with the judgment of politicians. The judgment of the market refers to the billions of decisions that we collectively make each day, decisions that we freely make, that we believe will advance our self-interest. That is to say, the market is characterized by mutual agreement and voluntary…
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TABOR Criticism Analysis
Read more: TABOR Criticism AnalysisFrom the introduction to an analysis by the Tax Foundation: The state of Colorado is under assault. Opponents of Colorado’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) are waging a well coordinated but misleading attack on Colorado’s reputation. This attack takes the form of a number of rankings and statistics that purport to show that the Taxpayer…
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Taxed Out of Business
Read more: Taxed Out of BusinessFrom the Junction City Daily Union, March 24, 2005 By Kay Blanken Special to The Daily Union Friday evening, many of us in Junction City opened our newspaper to the headline, “Local Alco Closing Its Doors.” The Kansas City Star reported that 20 Alco stores across Kansas were closing their doors. This is a Kansas…
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Frisky Flunkies in Atchison County
Read more: Frisky Flunkies in Atchison CountyFrom Karl Peterjohn, Kansas Taxpayers Network The Wall Street Journal’s “Tony & Tacky” section mentioned one Kansas school district on the day the Kansas senate was debating the largest one-year state spending hike for public schools in this century and according to one legislator, in state history. The $127 million increase in state spending would…
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Clunker law epealed, surliness not
Read more: Clunker law epealed, surliness notI received this message from someone who applied for the refund of overpaid sales tax that many in Kansas paid as part of the “clunker law.” That law attempted to prevent cheating on sales tax by those who self-reported the price they paid for a car. Some people lied and paid less sales tax than…
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Senator Ruth Teichman, Republican in Name Only?
Read more: Senator Ruth Teichman, Republican in Name Only?This is an interesting analysis that I received from Karl Peterjohn, Executive Director Kansas Taxpayers Network. What Karl doesn’t mention is that Senator Teichman is a Republican. Bob, This response is so interesting and the timing is so remarkable that I want to submit it for Wichita Liberty. Sen. Teichman responds to my mid-February email…
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A better way to pick judges
Read more: A better way to pick judgesElection of judges invites corruption because attorneys and other special-interest groups contribute money to judges’ election campaigns. It is doubtful whether one voter in 10 could even name two of the 25 judges currently on the court. And if they could name two judges, would they have any idea regarding their job performance? Thus it…
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Sedgwick County Arena Sales Tax Ready to Pass
Read more: Sedgwick County Arena Sales Tax Ready to PassFollowing is a message from Karl Peterjohn, Executive Director Kansas Taxpayers Network, regarding the debate over SB 58, allowing Sedgwick County to raise its sales tax to pay for the downtown Wichita arena. I listened to the (as Karl rightly characterises it) “debate.” Karl’s reporting of the legislative action and the effects the sales tax…
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HCR 5009: An attempt to drive down property taxes
Read more: HCR 5009: An attempt to drive down property taxesFrom Representative Frank Miller The Kansas Legislative Research Department provided information substantiating that property taxes increased by 126 percent since 1993, yet the inflation rate adjusted for population growth increased only 43 percent! I don’t see how the appraised value of residential property could have risen 2.75 times faster than inflation adjusted for population growth!…
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Letter to County Commissioners Regarding AirTran Subsidy
Read more: Letter to County Commissioners Regarding AirTran SubsidyMy primary reason for opposing this subsidy is that it distorts the market process through which individuals and businesses decide how to most productively allocate capital. Aside from that, it seems to me that the argument that many Fair Fares supporters make is flawed. They are grossly — I would say even speciously — overstating…
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Affording Tax Cuts, or Whose Money Is It, Anyway?
Read more: Affording Tax Cuts, or Whose Money Is It, Anyway?The logic of paygo for taxes is backward, in that it starts from the assumption that all tax revenue is Washington’s in the first place and thus any tax cuts must be “offset” so Congress can be made whole. But of course the money belongs to the taxpayers who earned it, and the burden ought…
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Americans for Prosperity Day in Topeka, March 14, 2005
Read more: Americans for Prosperity Day in Topeka, March 14, 2005I had the pleasure of driving John Todd, Benny Boman, and Bill Davitt to Topeka for the Americans for Prosperity Day in Topeka on Monday March 14, 2005. We started the day at the AFP office, and then drove to the Kansas Statehouse. I met with several legislators including Representatives Bonnie Huy of Wichita, Ted…