Who Will Speak For The Middle Class?

It is with great amusement that I have followed the antics of the Indiana House Ways and Means committee. The overriding theme is one of protecting the status quo, looking out for the interests of government and special interest groups at the expense of the citizen taxpayers. The biggest loser in this farce is the average middle class taxpayer.

The middle class taxpayer, without reference to race, religion or any other demographic except economic status, has borne the burden of our ill-conceived tax system for far too long. It is the middle class taxpayers who are most endangered of loosing their homes due to the capricious assessment system. It is the middle class taxpayer that is being squeezed for every penny the government can get out of them. It is the middle class who are keeping the system afloat.

In 1965 President Johnson proclaimed the Great Society and declared War on Poverty. Has the cycle of poverty been extinguished over the last two generations since then?

Various Presidents have supported the so-called War on Drugs. Are illicit drugs any less available?

We are currently involved in a War on Terror. Will we ever be able to completely eliminate the threat of one group or another that objects so strongly to a political or religious viewpoint that they will unleash a series of guerrilla attacks to further there own cause?

Perhaps we should get our government to openly declare a War on the Middle Class so that it too might meet with the success rate of these other "Wars", for the undeclared war is killing us.

So, who will speak for the Middle Class?

We must learn to speak for ourselves. We must speak loudly and with conviction. We must let our government know that we are not afraid of them any longer and that those whom we elect should fear us.

Who will speak for the Middle Class?

I will, and I urge each of you to do so too.

These taxes are making me sick!

Well, at least something is. I'm currently in the hospital. I'll return to posting when I get out.

Ed

Update: I'm out and extremely busy trying to get caught up with events, life etc. I'll resume posting soon. I promise.

Irony

In 1215 AD a group of disgruntled Barons forced King John of England to sign The Great Charter, or Magna Carta, if you will. The Magna Carta restricted the King's powers forcing him to be more observant of the will of those he governed. There were many reason's for the Baron's dissatisfaction with the King. Among these were his excommunication by Pope Innocent III and disastrous defeats in his ongoing war with France, which resulted in the loss of the provinces of Brittany and Normandy, among others. Theses losses forced King John to continuously raise taxes. Finally, the Baron's had had enough. They revolted and forced John to sign away his some of his power. Thus, in many ways the signing of the Magna Carta was partially the result of a tax revolt.

The signing took place in a marshy piece of land near London, on the Thames, called Runnymede.

Now comes the irony.

In April of 2004, my wife and I were house hunting and looking for our first real home. We had looked at many houses, but none seemed appropriate. An acquaintance of my wife told her about an available house in the Cottage Home Neighborhood on the city's Near East Side. She went to see it and realized that it was what we'd been looking for. Thus, we came to reside at 1215 Polk St, a rehabilitated Victorian cottage built in 1893.

The gentlemen we purchased the house from were expatriate Britons. Having an appreciation for British history, they saw the connection between the street number and the year of the signing of the Magna Carta. Thus, they came to christen the house "Runnymede Cottage"

My wife and I now stand in danger of losing our "Runnymede" due to a system of outrageous taxation.

It is up to the the new Barons of Indiana, the people, to rise up with a unified voice and demand from our legislator's that this broken system be scrapped. The system of assessing and taxing property is damaged beyond repair. Repeal all property taxation.

It's on to the Statehouse and let's win there!

A paraphrase of the last public words of Robert F Kennedy. It was the day of the 1968 California presidential primary. Kennedy had just won that state's votes for the upcoming Democratic nominating convention in Chicago. He ended his victory speech by saying, "It's on to Chicago and let's win there." Minutes later he lie mortally wounded in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.

Yesterday, the people spoke and took back control of the city of Indianapolis from those who would use their positions of public trust to further their own enrichment and aggrandisement.

Now comes the true test of our resolve, confronting the state legislature. We must begin again the long and arduous task of ensuring that these elected public servants realize that it is the people that they serve and it is to the people they must answer. If we are to win permanent release from the burden of unbearable property taxes, then we must be deserving of that victory. We must fight for our cause. We must gather together and petition the legislature. We must organize and demonstrate our resolve.

We can begin this task on Nov. 20th when the legislature meets to organize for the upcoming legislative session. These are the points I suggest we focus upon:

1. The consolidation of township government with county government, i.e. the elimination of the township structures.
2. A constitutional amendment repealing, once and for all, the taxing of property in Indiana.
3. The replacement of property taxes with a 2% increase in sales tax, a 2% increase in personal income tax, and a 2% increase in the corporate income tax. (Dr. Styring's plan)
4. Mandatory referendums for capital spending projects.
5. Moving school board elections to the fall general election.

I welcome other viewpoints and suggestions for this list, but let us not be lax, time moves quickly and Nov. 20th will arrive without our adequate preparation. Therefore, I call upon all good Hoosiers, who in this time of need recognize that danger that the current taxation system poses to our state, to gather on the 20th of November, 2007 at the Statehouse to welcome our elected officials back to Indianapolis with the reminder that they can ignore the will of the electorate only at the peril of their political careers.

The Beast Will Still Get Fed

On this morning's broadcast, one of Abdul's callers brought up the issue of sheriff's sales and foreclosures not being included in process to determine the "Fair Market Value" for property tax reassessments. This got me to pondering whether or not this would have made an overall difference. The answer is, no, it would not.

Take for example my immediate area. There have been virtually no foreclosures or sheriff's sales (that could well change next April). Thus, there would be no change in assessed values. In areas that have experienced these events, assessed valuation would decrease.

Now here's the rub. The beast still must be fed. The total tax levy will not change. Therefore, to make up for the loss in property values, the tax rate must increase. Home owner's living in areas where everyone is making their mortgage payments and doing that which is right will end up with an even larger bill than before to compensate. Fair? No.

The only solution to the inequities that the system introduces is the elimination of the system and its replacement with a combination of sales and income taxes.

Goose and Gander

The new ads by the local Democratic Machine raise some interesting questions. These ads are being classified as attack ads by many observers not affiliated with the Dems. However, Peterson's campaign has gone to great length to declare that these are not attack ads. Witness the following quote which appeared in this morning's Indy Star.

"It's not a negative ad," said Michael O'Connor, Peterson's campaign manager. "We don't attack character. There's nothing in the ad that isn't a direct quote from the Star endorsement."

Since the Peterson Campaign believes so strongly in the gospel according to Ryerson, one must assume that they are quite happy with the Star's endorsement of a Republican controlled City-County Council.

Same Old Song and Dance

The Indianapolis Star has completed their endorsements for the 2007 Mayoral and City-County-Council races. Sadly, there are no surprises in their selections. Overall, the theme is one of maintaining the status quo through the re-election of 21 out of 29 incumbents in the CCC races. They do propose a shift from a Democrat controlled council to one under Republican control, but fail to endorse any candidate that is not representing one of the two traditional parties. The biggest insult in their recommendations is the endorsement of Ron Gibson over other more deserving, more morally sound and more fiscally responsible candidates.

One such candidate is Libertarian Tim Maguire. You can read his position on the issues of importance to the citizen taxpayers of Marion Co at his website: http://www.timothyjmaguire.com

The fact that the Star did not even list the names of the other candidates running for the At-Large seats, as they did for the district candidates, is an affront to the voters of Marion Co. It's as if the Star was saying, "These are the candidates we endorse and you don't even need to consider any others." The unfortunate thing is that there are enough uninformed voters who rely on these type of endorsements to make them relevant.

I will not call on a total boycott of the Star's endorsed candidates, that would serve no useful purpose as some of the candidates are indeed worthy of election. However, I would urge everyone to think for themselves and not follow the herd. Vote your conscience and regardless of the outcome you'll be able to say, "I did what I thought was right."