I remember the year I eased the Barbie ban. It started with a lazy holiday shrug, and ended with a dozen naked plastic bodies strewn about the house.
I never bought a Barbie myself. Yet, a few years and a few children later, the Barbie population in our house surged beyond a hundred. Not that anyone has performed an actual census. You could take a sample count of a square-foot area of carpet and extrapolate from there. At one point I gathered them into three large plastic tubs and “lost” them in the basement. More Barbies quickly appeared to take their place.
I’ve overcome the impulse to rampage through the house forcing tiny shirts over those matted blond pony tails. In fact, I rarely notice the dolls anymore. I nudge wafer-thin naked bodies aside as I wade through the little girls’ bedroom in search of the last diaper in the house. I nonchalantly toss Barbies out of the shoe bin as I search for the other Tinkerbell tennis shoe.
The problems that bother me today are not the same ones that bothered me years ago. For example, I’ve grown accustomed to Barbie’s unattainable figure. At one time critics claimed the doll would be 5’-9” tall and 110 pounds if she were a real live woman.
In recent years, Mattel remodeled Barbie’s figure to look more like that of a teen. It’s not that they were concerned about the rates of anorexia on catwalks or in high schools, or the record number of adult women seeking breast augmentation. Rather, it was a response to the whims of fashion.
“In order for the hip-huggers to look right, Barbie needs to be more like a teen’s body,” Mattel spokesperson Lisa McKendall told Mother Jones magazine before the 1997 change. “The fashions teens wear now don’t fit properly on our current sculpting.”
That’s the nice thing about plastic bodies, I suppose. They can be re-sculpted to fit the clothes. Thus, Barbie’s breasts were pared down, her waist thickened a tad, and her hips made even narrower.
Barbie has become more diverse as well as (slightly) more realistic. The platinum blond hair has been varied with auburn, brown, black, and shades of gold. Various skin tones and even different facial features now adorn the dolls.
Before her recent conversion to a teen, Barbie ventured into careers that would make any feminist proud. She enjoyed stints as an astronaut, a doctor, a paleontologist, and a presidential candidate.
So what’s my beef with Barbie? I don’t think she’s very American. When 675,000 Barbie accessories were recalled due to lead paint applied in China, I picked up one those naked dolls and looked at the stamp on Barbie’s backside: Made in China.
Mattel, the maker of Barbie and owner of Fisher-Price, is the largest toy company in America. Lately Mattel has been in the news not because of a hot must-have Christmas toy, but because of tainted toys made in China.
So far, Mattel has paid $975,000 this year alone for failing to report safety hazards and recalled over ten million toys. The safety hazard, typically consist of lead paint or dangerous magnets.
One of the recalled toys is Barbie’s dog Tanner. Tanner eats and poops plastic-coated metal dog biscuits. Barbie picks them up with her magnetic pooper-scooper and deposits them into the trash can -- which is also the dog biscuit dispenser!
As if recycled poop biscuits were not enough reason to recall Tanner, the tiny magnets are a major safety hazard to young children who swallow them. When two or more magnets become lodged in different sections of the intestines, they may stick together to the point of perforating of the intestines. The recalled toys, including Barbie’s biscuit-eating dog, have frequently been of Chinese manufacture.
Barbie is not alone. Approximately 80% of the world’s toys are manufactured in China. One reason Chinese goods dominate the world market is that the Chinese government artificially devalues its currency to make its products the cheapest in the world. As China takes over whole industries, local manufacturers either outsource to China or go out of business, making those countries dependent on Chinese-made goods.
Just imagine the cycle. Every Christmas, American parents fill their children’s stockings with cheap plastic junk made in China. Meanwhile, many of these same parents are losing their jobs because they cannot compete with the cheap labor of China.
Outsourcing causes inflation-adjusted wages to fall here in America, further ensuring that Americans can only afford to put cheap plastic toys under the tree. Factor in the lead poisoning of our children -- which can lead to lower IQs, physical and mental disabilities and decreased career success long-term -- and you have the makings of a very ugly downward spiral.
What’s the antidote to Barbie poisoning? It starts with buying American-made toys. If “buy American” sounds passé, it is not just because Chinese toy makers have lulled us into a lead-paint stupor. The fact is that American-made goods are more expensive. A quick search online reveals that natural toys made with wood and non-toxic paint cost several times what we expect to pay for cheap Chinese junk.
It is time to remember the old adage, “You get what you pay for.” Opt for fewer gifts of higher quality. In the long run, quality gifts have more character and last longer.
The U.S. government has a responsibility to test every child in America for lead poisoning. There are now so many tainted toys in so many millions of homes, that recalls cannot possibly be effective in getting the lead out of America’s nurseries.
Testing is urgent because lead poisoning is cumulative. The longer the duration of the exposure, the greater the brain damage will be. There are medications to treat lead poisoning, but the most important aspect of treatment is removing the lead source.
Health departments, schools and daycares should provide the venue for free screening to determine which children need treatment and which toy boxes need to be purged. Mattel and other violators should pay for the cost of the testing and treatment.
Finally, the importers must be held accountable. We cannot regulate Chinese companies, but we can regulate Mattel. Importers should be required to prove their goods meet the same standards as American-made goods.
Since the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) does not have access to Chinese manufacturers, accountability must happen within our borders. Importers should be required to submit to independent testing on a regular basis. The CPSC, which has been rendered somewhat toothless by Republican administrations, should have authority (and funding) to drop in at any store or distribution point, and test at random. The CPSC should impose penalties that serve not only to punish and deter, but also to clean up and compensate for violations.
A side benefit of import compliance is that it will somewhat neutralize the cost differential between imports and domestic goods. Apparently lead paint, antifreeze, and other toxic ingredients are cheap and plentiful in China. Currently American manufacturers must spend more than Chinese manufacturers to comply with safety regulations. Holding importers to the same standards will level the playing field.
When China is no longer so much cheaper, manufacturing jobs will return to America. Perhaps even Barbie will come home.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
It's called democracy
A group of men sat down to fire off a letter to some politicians who were overstepping their bounds. Searching for the perfect phrase, Benjamin Franklin borrowed the words of his Italian friend, Phillip Mazzei. He wrote, “All men are created equal.”
The Declaration of Independence was not merely a letter from a colony to her mother country. It was a rallying cry for justice to the oppressed. What is remarkable is that the men who wrote it were hardly oppressed. These individuals had in fact enjoyed the privilege of money and status, both in England and in colonial America. It was their own rights they were laying down. In declaring independence from England, they were not so much seeking equality as offering it.
Some speculate that they did not fully appreciate the import of their statement. Did they really understand that some of their own offspring would find these very words used against them, to dismiss their black slaves and scatter their fortunes?
Did any of them guess that their granddaughters would someday see their own destiny in these documents and demand the right to vote? We can only guess.
The women’s movement and the abolitionist movement were born in that pen stroke, but it would be over a hundred years before every American adult acquired voting rights. It would be even longer before non-white children were granted equal access to education. Women are still not guaranteed equal rights under the law.
Since the framers of America first put pen to paper, our country has continued toward the dream of democracy – but the progress is not linear. There are fits and starts. Certain forces propel us forward, even as certain constraints yank us backward. At the heart of those opposite pressures, there is always a vision – a vision for democracy, or a vision for elitism and inequality.
We see these opposing forces on local, state, and national levels. Locally, the forces of progress want to see our counties and municipalities grow, expand and move forward. We want our children to have theatre opportunities. We want the student who drops out of school because of poverty or pregnancy to have another chance through GED programs. We want abundant libraries, strong health departments, and adequately funded fire and police departments.
Then there are the conservative curmudgeons. They would prefer to play politics with the futures of our police officers and firefighters, tax the YMCA, and de-fund the learning center. They especially hate every vestige of fine arts or culture, such as the Colonnade, Catoosa County’s theatre and banquet hall. They talk about stripping the Colonnade of funds, but the gleam in their eye makes me think they would prefer to burn it to the ground.
They do not appreciate the value these entities bring to our community, and they certainly do not think that ten or twenty dollars of their property taxes should go to support such a thing! After all, they can afford a private gym. They don’t use the library or the health department and they certainly have no need for a learning center.
The same divide exists at the state level. From the time of the Reconstruction until the turn of the Millennium, Democrats lead Georgians to greater freedom and greater opportunity. Democrats worked to make Georgia a leader among the Southern states. They brought rural regions into the modern era through the power of electricity. They built health departments and hospitals. They supported local governments and focused resources on education. Democrats instituted the HOPE Scholarship, and they fight every year to protect it from Republican raids.
As a result of these efforts, economic opportunities abounded, education improved and was offered to all, and average Georgians began to live the American Dream. They finished school. They bought homes. They found rewarding work. They started businesses.
For a while, the forces of progress propelled Georgia forward. As a result, our strong schools and good job market lured more people to the state. These people brought their own ideas, including their own politics. Soon the tide turned and Republicans were in control of Georgia for the first time since Reconstruction. Ever the enemies of progress, Republican leaders cut funds for education, tossed children off PeachCare, brought back gerrymandering, and passed laws to take away the homes of the elderly on Medicaid.
The contrast between democracy and the GOP is seen clearly at the national level. If you’re not sure what the Republican vision is, just take a look at the places where they have forcibly taken control. Look at Iraq and Afghanistan. Their vision resembles oligarchy more than democracy. A few powerful people or corporations reign over a huge population of poverty-ridden little people with no hope, no future, and no opportunity.
You can predict the Republican stance on most any issue simply by asking, “Who does this policy benefit, Big Business or the common citizen?” At every turn, the GOP protects the interests of “the haves” at the expense of “the have-nots.”
It’s not that Republican leaders hate the poor. Actually, they love poor people – the same way hawks love crunchy little squirrels. They need a steady supply of desperate families to rent their slums, take out their high-interest payday loans, supply property for their foreclosure mills, and otherwise support Republican nobility.
But we Democrats have a different vision for America. We can imagine living in a land where no child ever dies from an abscessed tooth. We believe that the heritage of every American child should include healthcare, education and opportunity – not national debt, trade deficits and lead-tainted toys.
It is because of this vision Democrats founded the Department of Education and the school lunch program. Democrats also implemented the State Children’s Health Insurance (SCHIP) program that provides health care for millions of children -- and Democrats continue to fight valiantly for the program in the face of repeated vetoes by President Bush.
It was the Democrats who instituted Medicare and Social Security to provide a safety net for the elderly and the disabled. Democrats launched the GI Bill to provide educational and economic opportunities to returning servicemen. Democrats also started Medicaid, interest-free student loans, and low-interest home loans.
Democrats instituted the minimum wage. Under Republican national leadership, the minimum wage stagnated for ten years, even as the cost of living soared. Only when the balance of power tipped back to democracy did the working poor find relief through a Democrat-lead minimum wage increase.
Democrats have always been the ones to stand up to social injustice, demand political accountability, champion education and healthcare, regulate the industry giants who would exploit children for profit, fight for the common people, and balance the checkbook. Democracy made this country great.
We believe in government of the people, by the people, and for the people. We stand with Benjamin Franklin and say “all men are created equal.” Republicans may call us “socialists” or “communists” for such ideals, but we remember that we are in good company. No new label is needed for the sentiment that Benjamin Franklin expressed. It’s called democracy.
The Declaration of Independence was not merely a letter from a colony to her mother country. It was a rallying cry for justice to the oppressed. What is remarkable is that the men who wrote it were hardly oppressed. These individuals had in fact enjoyed the privilege of money and status, both in England and in colonial America. It was their own rights they were laying down. In declaring independence from England, they were not so much seeking equality as offering it.
Some speculate that they did not fully appreciate the import of their statement. Did they really understand that some of their own offspring would find these very words used against them, to dismiss their black slaves and scatter their fortunes?
Did any of them guess that their granddaughters would someday see their own destiny in these documents and demand the right to vote? We can only guess.
The women’s movement and the abolitionist movement were born in that pen stroke, but it would be over a hundred years before every American adult acquired voting rights. It would be even longer before non-white children were granted equal access to education. Women are still not guaranteed equal rights under the law.
Since the framers of America first put pen to paper, our country has continued toward the dream of democracy – but the progress is not linear. There are fits and starts. Certain forces propel us forward, even as certain constraints yank us backward. At the heart of those opposite pressures, there is always a vision – a vision for democracy, or a vision for elitism and inequality.
We see these opposing forces on local, state, and national levels. Locally, the forces of progress want to see our counties and municipalities grow, expand and move forward. We want our children to have theatre opportunities. We want the student who drops out of school because of poverty or pregnancy to have another chance through GED programs. We want abundant libraries, strong health departments, and adequately funded fire and police departments.
Then there are the conservative curmudgeons. They would prefer to play politics with the futures of our police officers and firefighters, tax the YMCA, and de-fund the learning center. They especially hate every vestige of fine arts or culture, such as the Colonnade, Catoosa County’s theatre and banquet hall. They talk about stripping the Colonnade of funds, but the gleam in their eye makes me think they would prefer to burn it to the ground.
They do not appreciate the value these entities bring to our community, and they certainly do not think that ten or twenty dollars of their property taxes should go to support such a thing! After all, they can afford a private gym. They don’t use the library or the health department and they certainly have no need for a learning center.
The same divide exists at the state level. From the time of the Reconstruction until the turn of the Millennium, Democrats lead Georgians to greater freedom and greater opportunity. Democrats worked to make Georgia a leader among the Southern states. They brought rural regions into the modern era through the power of electricity. They built health departments and hospitals. They supported local governments and focused resources on education. Democrats instituted the HOPE Scholarship, and they fight every year to protect it from Republican raids.
As a result of these efforts, economic opportunities abounded, education improved and was offered to all, and average Georgians began to live the American Dream. They finished school. They bought homes. They found rewarding work. They started businesses.
For a while, the forces of progress propelled Georgia forward. As a result, our strong schools and good job market lured more people to the state. These people brought their own ideas, including their own politics. Soon the tide turned and Republicans were in control of Georgia for the first time since Reconstruction. Ever the enemies of progress, Republican leaders cut funds for education, tossed children off PeachCare, brought back gerrymandering, and passed laws to take away the homes of the elderly on Medicaid.
The contrast between democracy and the GOP is seen clearly at the national level. If you’re not sure what the Republican vision is, just take a look at the places where they have forcibly taken control. Look at Iraq and Afghanistan. Their vision resembles oligarchy more than democracy. A few powerful people or corporations reign over a huge population of poverty-ridden little people with no hope, no future, and no opportunity.
You can predict the Republican stance on most any issue simply by asking, “Who does this policy benefit, Big Business or the common citizen?” At every turn, the GOP protects the interests of “the haves” at the expense of “the have-nots.”
It’s not that Republican leaders hate the poor. Actually, they love poor people – the same way hawks love crunchy little squirrels. They need a steady supply of desperate families to rent their slums, take out their high-interest payday loans, supply property for their foreclosure mills, and otherwise support Republican nobility.
But we Democrats have a different vision for America. We can imagine living in a land where no child ever dies from an abscessed tooth. We believe that the heritage of every American child should include healthcare, education and opportunity – not national debt, trade deficits and lead-tainted toys.
It is because of this vision Democrats founded the Department of Education and the school lunch program. Democrats also implemented the State Children’s Health Insurance (SCHIP) program that provides health care for millions of children -- and Democrats continue to fight valiantly for the program in the face of repeated vetoes by President Bush.
It was the Democrats who instituted Medicare and Social Security to provide a safety net for the elderly and the disabled. Democrats launched the GI Bill to provide educational and economic opportunities to returning servicemen. Democrats also started Medicaid, interest-free student loans, and low-interest home loans.
Democrats instituted the minimum wage. Under Republican national leadership, the minimum wage stagnated for ten years, even as the cost of living soared. Only when the balance of power tipped back to democracy did the working poor find relief through a Democrat-lead minimum wage increase.
Democrats have always been the ones to stand up to social injustice, demand political accountability, champion education and healthcare, regulate the industry giants who would exploit children for profit, fight for the common people, and balance the checkbook. Democracy made this country great.
We believe in government of the people, by the people, and for the people. We stand with Benjamin Franklin and say “all men are created equal.” Republicans may call us “socialists” or “communists” for such ideals, but we remember that we are in good company. No new label is needed for the sentiment that Benjamin Franklin expressed. It’s called democracy.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Say no to the GREAT big tax
Georgia GOP House Speaker Glenn Richardson was upset when he saw his property tax bills, which totaled over $13,000. Richardson has a plan to avoid paying those taxes. He calls it the GREAT Plan, which stands for Georgia Repeals Every Ad Valorem Tax. (No one said he could spell.)
Currently the county collects ad valorem taxes on the value of our homes, cars, boats, barns, trailers and other big valuables. Those who drive a BMW and live in a mansion pay more than those who drive a Geo and own a 3-bedroom house. These taxes support our local government and schools.
Richardson’s proposal strips these funds from the county. Schools and local governments will have to go to Atlanta for every dime. The state will raise the funds through a sales tax on everything imaginable. Not only will we pay sales tax for fuel, clothes, cars and houses. We will also pay tax on bread, milk, medicine, and doctor visits.
The additional sales tax will cost Georgia businesses their competitive edge. Shops located near state lines will be impacted first. The revenue we currently enjoy from Tennessee, Alabama and Florida residents will evaporate.
Even Georgians will try not to buy here. No one wants to pay more when they can simply cross the state line (or log onto the Internet) to save money. People with means will buy everything from auto parts to clothing from out-of-state companies. The poor, who must buy locally, will be cut deepest by Richardson’s scheme.
As sales fall, the legislature must raise the tax rate to replace the lost revenue. As the tax rises, sales will fall more, and the tax must be raised higher – which will cause sales to fall even more, and so on. It’s a death spiral for the economy.
Even if the legislature holds the state sales tax at 4%, we end up paying a much higher tax because each item is taxed multiple times as it moves through manufacturing and distribution channels. You see, goods for resale will no longer be tax exempt.
The GREAT big tax deals Georgia manufacturers a devastating blow. Manufacturers who pay sales tax for raw materials and supplies cannot possibly compete with untaxed manufacturers in other states. Many will limp across state lines and reestablish business there – leaving behind empty buildings and thousands upon thousands of lost jobs.
Businesses that remain in Georgia will source their goods from manufacturers in other states, unless Richardson figures out how to tax interstate commerce. This will further boost the economy in surrounding states and further depress Georgia.
We can speculate that Richardson will issue exemptions to companies who have his favor. He is already wavering on whether raw materials will be taxed. Last week, Richardson announced that there would be a cap on sales tax charged for business-to-business transactions. The cap may be anywhere from $100,000 to $500,000 per vendor. The caps will give large Georgia businesses an edge over their smaller competitors, since smaller businesses pay sales tax on every purchase.
Expect to see sales tax incentives offered to foreign manufacturers as enticement to locate in Georgia, selling out our heritage to other countries.
Lt. Governor Casey Cagle (a Republican who is actually conservative) opposes the hare-brained GREAT tax. “This is not a tax cut,” Cagle recently noted.
In fact, it is a tax increase. Richardson is already claiming that there will be a 10% surplus over current tax revenues. That means his plan is a 10% tax increase.
Cagle says, “It is a tax shift, as it has been represented. And so the question becomes now, who are you shifting the tax burden to?”
The GREAT big tax shifts the burden onto the elderly, renters, college students, and small and medium businesses. It provides relief for millionaire property owners like Richardson and for large businesses.
Under the current tax system, the elderly are exempt from the school tax, reducing their tax burden to less than a third. Under the GREAT big tax, there are no tax breaks for the elderly. They shoulder an unfair proportion of the taxes on prescriptions and doctor visits. They also pay taxes on bread, milk and lawn services.
Renters also bear an unfair burden. Renters currently pay property taxes through their rent. Although the GREAT tax supposedly eliminates property taxes, out-of-state renters will pay a property tax of up to $2,000. Richardson disingenuously calls it a “fee” rather than a tax.
The fee-payers may include thousands of college students. This will discourage out-of-state students from enrolling in our colleges. Since these students pay higher tuition rates, the loss of this income could devastate our colleges.
Cagle goes on, “And it appears, under the current proposal, that there would be winners and losers in that structure, but more importantly, potentially it would put Georgia in a competitive disadvantage for businesses versus other states. And that gives me great heartburn.”
Cagle says businesses tell him the GREAT plan will increase their tax burdens at least 25%, and as much as 62%. That’s a very steep rate of inflation which will be passed along to Georgia consumers.
When you penalize consumers for buying Georgia goods, they respond by spending less money in this state. The economy stagnates, and jobs are lost. Bankruptcy courts will be bloated. Houses will be foreclosed on every street. People with education and opportunity will leave Georgia to find work elsewhere – leaving behind only the richest Georgians, and a class of working poor. This is the vision some Republicans have for Georgia.
There is a better solution for rising property taxes. According to Alan Essig, executive director of the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, property taxes for local governments have been essentially flat (as a percentage of income) for the last fifteen years. There is one exception: school districts’ tax rates have grown rapidly.
The school tax increase goes right back to Republican policies. Over the past several years, Republicans have robbed Georgia schools of over $1.5 billion. In areas where education is valued, local school boards respond to the cuts by requiring more from local property owners. As Essig says, “The locals have been reacting to what the state has done.”
The solution to property tax growth is quite simple: Make the Republicans give the school money back to the schools. Every dollar our schools receive from the state budget is a dollar that we do not have to pay in property taxes.
The GREAT big tax is a potential disaster for the elderly, renters, small and medium businesses, Georgia colleges, and employees. The good news is: We can stop it! The GREAT big tax cannot be implemented without an amendment to the Georgia Constitution. Amendments require approval by two thirds of the General Assembly, and then a majority vote at the next election.
If our legislators are foolish enough to pass this amendment, Georgia citizens can still vote NO to the GREAT big tax – and then vote out the legislators who favored it.
Currently the county collects ad valorem taxes on the value of our homes, cars, boats, barns, trailers and other big valuables. Those who drive a BMW and live in a mansion pay more than those who drive a Geo and own a 3-bedroom house. These taxes support our local government and schools.
Richardson’s proposal strips these funds from the county. Schools and local governments will have to go to Atlanta for every dime. The state will raise the funds through a sales tax on everything imaginable. Not only will we pay sales tax for fuel, clothes, cars and houses. We will also pay tax on bread, milk, medicine, and doctor visits.
The additional sales tax will cost Georgia businesses their competitive edge. Shops located near state lines will be impacted first. The revenue we currently enjoy from Tennessee, Alabama and Florida residents will evaporate.
Even Georgians will try not to buy here. No one wants to pay more when they can simply cross the state line (or log onto the Internet) to save money. People with means will buy everything from auto parts to clothing from out-of-state companies. The poor, who must buy locally, will be cut deepest by Richardson’s scheme.
As sales fall, the legislature must raise the tax rate to replace the lost revenue. As the tax rises, sales will fall more, and the tax must be raised higher – which will cause sales to fall even more, and so on. It’s a death spiral for the economy.
Even if the legislature holds the state sales tax at 4%, we end up paying a much higher tax because each item is taxed multiple times as it moves through manufacturing and distribution channels. You see, goods for resale will no longer be tax exempt.
The GREAT big tax deals Georgia manufacturers a devastating blow. Manufacturers who pay sales tax for raw materials and supplies cannot possibly compete with untaxed manufacturers in other states. Many will limp across state lines and reestablish business there – leaving behind empty buildings and thousands upon thousands of lost jobs.
Businesses that remain in Georgia will source their goods from manufacturers in other states, unless Richardson figures out how to tax interstate commerce. This will further boost the economy in surrounding states and further depress Georgia.
We can speculate that Richardson will issue exemptions to companies who have his favor. He is already wavering on whether raw materials will be taxed. Last week, Richardson announced that there would be a cap on sales tax charged for business-to-business transactions. The cap may be anywhere from $100,000 to $500,000 per vendor. The caps will give large Georgia businesses an edge over their smaller competitors, since smaller businesses pay sales tax on every purchase.
Expect to see sales tax incentives offered to foreign manufacturers as enticement to locate in Georgia, selling out our heritage to other countries.
Lt. Governor Casey Cagle (a Republican who is actually conservative) opposes the hare-brained GREAT tax. “This is not a tax cut,” Cagle recently noted.
In fact, it is a tax increase. Richardson is already claiming that there will be a 10% surplus over current tax revenues. That means his plan is a 10% tax increase.
Cagle says, “It is a tax shift, as it has been represented. And so the question becomes now, who are you shifting the tax burden to?”
The GREAT big tax shifts the burden onto the elderly, renters, college students, and small and medium businesses. It provides relief for millionaire property owners like Richardson and for large businesses.
Under the current tax system, the elderly are exempt from the school tax, reducing their tax burden to less than a third. Under the GREAT big tax, there are no tax breaks for the elderly. They shoulder an unfair proportion of the taxes on prescriptions and doctor visits. They also pay taxes on bread, milk and lawn services.
Renters also bear an unfair burden. Renters currently pay property taxes through their rent. Although the GREAT tax supposedly eliminates property taxes, out-of-state renters will pay a property tax of up to $2,000. Richardson disingenuously calls it a “fee” rather than a tax.
The fee-payers may include thousands of college students. This will discourage out-of-state students from enrolling in our colleges. Since these students pay higher tuition rates, the loss of this income could devastate our colleges.
Cagle goes on, “And it appears, under the current proposal, that there would be winners and losers in that structure, but more importantly, potentially it would put Georgia in a competitive disadvantage for businesses versus other states. And that gives me great heartburn.”
Cagle says businesses tell him the GREAT plan will increase their tax burdens at least 25%, and as much as 62%. That’s a very steep rate of inflation which will be passed along to Georgia consumers.
When you penalize consumers for buying Georgia goods, they respond by spending less money in this state. The economy stagnates, and jobs are lost. Bankruptcy courts will be bloated. Houses will be foreclosed on every street. People with education and opportunity will leave Georgia to find work elsewhere – leaving behind only the richest Georgians, and a class of working poor. This is the vision some Republicans have for Georgia.
There is a better solution for rising property taxes. According to Alan Essig, executive director of the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, property taxes for local governments have been essentially flat (as a percentage of income) for the last fifteen years. There is one exception: school districts’ tax rates have grown rapidly.
The school tax increase goes right back to Republican policies. Over the past several years, Republicans have robbed Georgia schools of over $1.5 billion. In areas where education is valued, local school boards respond to the cuts by requiring more from local property owners. As Essig says, “The locals have been reacting to what the state has done.”
The solution to property tax growth is quite simple: Make the Republicans give the school money back to the schools. Every dollar our schools receive from the state budget is a dollar that we do not have to pay in property taxes.
The GREAT big tax is a potential disaster for the elderly, renters, small and medium businesses, Georgia colleges, and employees. The good news is: We can stop it! The GREAT big tax cannot be implemented without an amendment to the Georgia Constitution. Amendments require approval by two thirds of the General Assembly, and then a majority vote at the next election.
If our legislators are foolish enough to pass this amendment, Georgia citizens can still vote NO to the GREAT big tax – and then vote out the legislators who favored it.
Monday, November 5, 2007
GREAT big sales tax, GREAT big power grab
Remember when Republicans were against big government? At least that’s what they said. Georgia GOP House Speaker Glenn Richardson is revising our tax system to centralize power into the hands of Big Government. This power grab will be funded by a high sales tax that will drive business out of Georgia, hike up the cost of living, and tax the daylights out of everything that breathes.
This week, I’ll explain how Richardson’s plan hurts taxpayers and local governments. Next week, we’ll look at the effect on Georgia businesses and unemployment.
Richardson calls it the GREAT Plan: Georgia’s Repeal of Every Ad valorem Tax. (The acronym should be GREAVT, but perhaps that sounded too much like grave or gravy.) He says he will make it illegal for counties to tax property, automobiles and boats. He says he will make up for lost county revenue with sales tax. Of course, that’s not mathematically possible without either raising the sales tax rate outright (which he claims he won’t do) or hiding additional sales taxes other places. By focusing on the repeal, Richardson hopes you won’t notice his funny math, and all the tax he’s adding elsewhere.
Richardson wants to expand the sales tax to cover anything that can be bought and sold, including services. Imagine paying sales tax for groceries, prescriptions, yard work, and even doctor visits.
But that’s still not enough revenue. In order to replace $9 billion in property taxes, Richardson must squeeze an extra $1,000 out of every man, woman and child in Georgia. At 4%, each Georgian would have to spend $25,000 in services per year. It just won’t work. Georgians only average $24,000 total spending per person. They can’t spend more on services alone than they spend altogether.
Rest assured, Richardson is not willing to give up one dollar of tax revenue. Georgia’s big government still has the same bills as before, and Richardson claims that local schools and municipalities will not be short-changed by the new system. All of the funds to operate Georgia will still come from taxes – that is, from us taxpayers.
Richardson has creative ways to extract these funds from you: multiple sales tax charges on every item. Currently the consumer pays sales tax just once, when an item is purchased at the store. Under the GREAT big tax, business-to-business transactions and raw materials will also be charged. Although he claims he will hold the line at 4%, the sales tax is much higher than that when you factor in the multiple instances of taxation before a product reaches the end user.
Imagine, for example, a loaf of bread. Under the GREAT big tax, bread and other groceries are no longer exempt from sales tax. Neither are raw materials or freight. The bakery will pay sales tax on the flour, the yeast, the packaging, and also the freight to get those goods to the bakery. Then the retail store will pay sales tax when purchasing the bread from the bakery. The same loaf of bread will get taxed at least three times. With most products, there are even more distribution and manufacturing layers.
All of this additional sales tax ends up tacked onto the final retail price – and taxed again at the checkout. Business-to-business taxes do not escalate in a straight line because of the tax on tax. When a product goes through several steps to reach the consumer (as nearly everything does), a so-called 4% sales tax may cost the consumer 20%.
Still other new taxes are concealed in the loaf of bread. What about the sales tax paid through the marketing firm who wrote the advertising campaign, and the sales tax paid through the newspaper who ran the ad? The store will also pay sales tax through the companies that clean its rugs and trim its lawn. All of these additional taxes end up in the price of a loaf of bread, where they are taxed yet again.
GOP House Speaker Glenn Richardson may not be trying to bankrupt consumers. His real goal is to take the reigns from local government. By eliminating property taxes, the Speaker can micro-manage every county.
Property taxes are paid to the county and used in the county. Property taxes support our local government and our county schools. Under the new plan, counties and municipalities lose the ability to set, collect, and disburse property tax monies. Instead, the lost revenue will be replaced with sales tax collected by the state. And guess who’s holding the purse strings? The Georgia House of Representatives, which Richardson rules with an iron fist.
In other words, Richardson wants to eliminate a tax which is locally controlled and replace it with a tax that he controls. The state gives up nothing, and gains control over everything. Counties, municipalities, and schools will have to go begging to the General Assembly for every dime. The goal of local elections will be finding Richardson cronies who can stay on the volatile Speaker’s sunny side.
The GREAT big sales tax does not eliminate programs like SPLOST which add local sales tax on top of state sales tax. In fact, Richardson wants to expand local option sales tax so that counties can use the money for maintenance and operation. Now, why would counties need operating funds if he were really going to make sure that local governments receive the same funds as before?
It is easy to see what will happen. As local governments and schools cower at Richardson’s feet begging for funds, they will be forced to cover shortfalls. Since property taxes will be illegal, local governments will demand even more local option sales tax on the top of the GREAT big sales tax. By this time consumers may not be able to afford a cup of coffee.
Understandably, local government officials all over Georgia oppose the plan. In fact, many of them dispute the figures. Tom Gehl, spokesman for the Georgia Municipal Association put it like this, “The speaker has a right to his own opinion, but he doesn’t have a right to his own math.”
Citizens should oppose the plan, too. We may not agree with every decision that our local officials make, but we elected them. They work right here in our county, where we can drop in to talk to them about problems, stand up to speak at a local public meeting, and tell our friends to help us boot them out if they do us wrong. That is more difficult to do with state officials who have a broad voter base, work in Atlanta and often operate beneath a veil of secrecy.
State Reps Ron Forster (Catoosa/Whitfield) and Martin Scott (Dade/Walker) seem to be caught in the Speaker’s spell. State Senator Jeff Mullis is more lucid, even citing the local control issue -- yet he also praises Richardson for introducing the proposal.
The GREAT big sales tax is a great big disaster looming in Georgia’s future. It will strip local sovereignty and put entirely too much political power in the hands on one man.
Stay tuned next week to learn how Richardson’s GREAT big tax will result in a mass exodus of Georgia jobs.
Jeannie Babb Taylor
This week, I’ll explain how Richardson’s plan hurts taxpayers and local governments. Next week, we’ll look at the effect on Georgia businesses and unemployment.
Richardson calls it the GREAT Plan: Georgia’s Repeal of Every Ad valorem Tax. (The acronym should be GREAVT, but perhaps that sounded too much like grave or gravy.) He says he will make it illegal for counties to tax property, automobiles and boats. He says he will make up for lost county revenue with sales tax. Of course, that’s not mathematically possible without either raising the sales tax rate outright (which he claims he won’t do) or hiding additional sales taxes other places. By focusing on the repeal, Richardson hopes you won’t notice his funny math, and all the tax he’s adding elsewhere.
Richardson wants to expand the sales tax to cover anything that can be bought and sold, including services. Imagine paying sales tax for groceries, prescriptions, yard work, and even doctor visits.
But that’s still not enough revenue. In order to replace $9 billion in property taxes, Richardson must squeeze an extra $1,000 out of every man, woman and child in Georgia. At 4%, each Georgian would have to spend $25,000 in services per year. It just won’t work. Georgians only average $24,000 total spending per person. They can’t spend more on services alone than they spend altogether.
Rest assured, Richardson is not willing to give up one dollar of tax revenue. Georgia’s big government still has the same bills as before, and Richardson claims that local schools and municipalities will not be short-changed by the new system. All of the funds to operate Georgia will still come from taxes – that is, from us taxpayers.
Richardson has creative ways to extract these funds from you: multiple sales tax charges on every item. Currently the consumer pays sales tax just once, when an item is purchased at the store. Under the GREAT big tax, business-to-business transactions and raw materials will also be charged. Although he claims he will hold the line at 4%, the sales tax is much higher than that when you factor in the multiple instances of taxation before a product reaches the end user.
Imagine, for example, a loaf of bread. Under the GREAT big tax, bread and other groceries are no longer exempt from sales tax. Neither are raw materials or freight. The bakery will pay sales tax on the flour, the yeast, the packaging, and also the freight to get those goods to the bakery. Then the retail store will pay sales tax when purchasing the bread from the bakery. The same loaf of bread will get taxed at least three times. With most products, there are even more distribution and manufacturing layers.
All of this additional sales tax ends up tacked onto the final retail price – and taxed again at the checkout. Business-to-business taxes do not escalate in a straight line because of the tax on tax. When a product goes through several steps to reach the consumer (as nearly everything does), a so-called 4% sales tax may cost the consumer 20%.
Still other new taxes are concealed in the loaf of bread. What about the sales tax paid through the marketing firm who wrote the advertising campaign, and the sales tax paid through the newspaper who ran the ad? The store will also pay sales tax through the companies that clean its rugs and trim its lawn. All of these additional taxes end up in the price of a loaf of bread, where they are taxed yet again.
GOP House Speaker Glenn Richardson may not be trying to bankrupt consumers. His real goal is to take the reigns from local government. By eliminating property taxes, the Speaker can micro-manage every county.
Property taxes are paid to the county and used in the county. Property taxes support our local government and our county schools. Under the new plan, counties and municipalities lose the ability to set, collect, and disburse property tax monies. Instead, the lost revenue will be replaced with sales tax collected by the state. And guess who’s holding the purse strings? The Georgia House of Representatives, which Richardson rules with an iron fist.
In other words, Richardson wants to eliminate a tax which is locally controlled and replace it with a tax that he controls. The state gives up nothing, and gains control over everything. Counties, municipalities, and schools will have to go begging to the General Assembly for every dime. The goal of local elections will be finding Richardson cronies who can stay on the volatile Speaker’s sunny side.
The GREAT big sales tax does not eliminate programs like SPLOST which add local sales tax on top of state sales tax. In fact, Richardson wants to expand local option sales tax so that counties can use the money for maintenance and operation. Now, why would counties need operating funds if he were really going to make sure that local governments receive the same funds as before?
It is easy to see what will happen. As local governments and schools cower at Richardson’s feet begging for funds, they will be forced to cover shortfalls. Since property taxes will be illegal, local governments will demand even more local option sales tax on the top of the GREAT big sales tax. By this time consumers may not be able to afford a cup of coffee.
Understandably, local government officials all over Georgia oppose the plan. In fact, many of them dispute the figures. Tom Gehl, spokesman for the Georgia Municipal Association put it like this, “The speaker has a right to his own opinion, but he doesn’t have a right to his own math.”
Citizens should oppose the plan, too. We may not agree with every decision that our local officials make, but we elected them. They work right here in our county, where we can drop in to talk to them about problems, stand up to speak at a local public meeting, and tell our friends to help us boot them out if they do us wrong. That is more difficult to do with state officials who have a broad voter base, work in Atlanta and often operate beneath a veil of secrecy.
State Reps Ron Forster (Catoosa/Whitfield) and Martin Scott (Dade/Walker) seem to be caught in the Speaker’s spell. State Senator Jeff Mullis is more lucid, even citing the local control issue -- yet he also praises Richardson for introducing the proposal.
The GREAT big sales tax is a great big disaster looming in Georgia’s future. It will strip local sovereignty and put entirely too much political power in the hands on one man.
Stay tuned next week to learn how Richardson’s GREAT big tax will result in a mass exodus of Georgia jobs.
Jeannie Babb Taylor
Friday, November 2, 2007
Local government runs over produce stand
Nine years ago, Catoosa County residents Brenda and Ronnie Norris had a bumper crop of tomatoes. In a stroke of inspiration, Brenda set up two tables underneath a big shade tree on the corner of Three Notch and Poplar Springs.
“Do you have any squash?” customers would ask. Brenda would run over to the garden to see what she could find. “What about okra? Can you get any okra?”
Soon Shadetree Produce became a frequent stop for many Catoosa and Walker residents who pass that way. Ikey Land helped the Norrises construct a shelter of PVC and tarps. Ronnie Norris purchased the fruits and vegetables they could not grow, and the little business developed a loyal customer base. Many Shadetree customers are elderly and depend on the produce stand for fresh foods close to home.
Then someone decided that Shadetree Produce was in the way. The Norrises say they were informed by the county that a turn lane would be installed along the right-of-way in about three weeks. One week later, the roadwork team appeared, paving an 18-foot turn lane right over their driveway.
Ronnie Norris was at the market when they came, buying $700 of produce. All of it spoiled. In fact, the Norrises say they lost approximately $6,000 in revenue while the county was installing the turn lane. Brenda says the county would not let customers stop at the produce stand. “They were just waving them past.”
The workers left behind a black stretch of asphalt where the parking lot had been, with a guard rail nearly blocking entrance to the produce stand. “People started coming by, asking ‘Who’d you make mad?’” Brenda recalls.
Eva Hatcher, who lives on Poplar Springs Road and works at the produce stand, says that traffic is much worse now than before the turn lane was installed. Another possibility existed for the county – that of buying a nearby house that is for sale directly across from the Poplar Springs and Three Notch intersection, and accessing the new Heritage schools through that piece of property. This is a natural place to install a traffic light.
This is just another tale of how the county government walks on those it ought to serve. Rather than working with the Norrises to complete the turn lane without damaging their income, the county simply bulldozed them. They were not consulted – just as the fire departments were not consulted before Catoosa County Commissioners voted to advertise for a consolidated fire chief. They were merely informed, and not in time to react.
Fortunately, that’s not the end of the story for Ronnie and Brenda Norris. Shadetree Produce customers rallied to their support, encouraging them to revamp rather than close the stand. They took down the old PVC-and-tarp structure, and bought a metal building to replace it. Bobby Swanson Construction made them a good deal for construction of a small parking lot. Johnny Coots and Charles Simerley provided doors and windows for the new building.
Commissioner Bobby Winters, a frequent customer, brought in gravel to set the new building, and put in a Poplar Springs access drive. But when Ronnie suggested the Catoosa County should reimburse Shadetree for part of the business loss and cost of moving, he says Winters smiled and asked, “How would you prove it?”
Shadetree Produce is open seven days a week. Pumpkins are of course in season, as well as a variety of crunchy apples trucked in from Virginia due to the Georgia drought. They also have oranges and honeybells, which are a type of tangelo. The bell peppers were especially good last week. I served mine stuffed with corn chips, ground beef, tomato paste and rice, topped with parmesan and croutons.
Take some time this week to stop at a local produce stand. Eat in a restaurant where the name is not printed on the napkins, and where the woman who sets your plate on the table is likely the owner, or at least a cousin or a friend.
Buy a gift at a locally-owned shop, where the owner selects every item and places it lovingly on the shelf. The extra dollar you may spend builds up your county and makes it a better place to live. When we buy locally, we support our friends and neighbors instead of shifting jobs to underpaid workers in foreign countries. When we support local businesses, we are really giving back to ourselves.
“Do you have any squash?” customers would ask. Brenda would run over to the garden to see what she could find. “What about okra? Can you get any okra?”
Soon Shadetree Produce became a frequent stop for many Catoosa and Walker residents who pass that way. Ikey Land helped the Norrises construct a shelter of PVC and tarps. Ronnie Norris purchased the fruits and vegetables they could not grow, and the little business developed a loyal customer base. Many Shadetree customers are elderly and depend on the produce stand for fresh foods close to home.
Then someone decided that Shadetree Produce was in the way. The Norrises say they were informed by the county that a turn lane would be installed along the right-of-way in about three weeks. One week later, the roadwork team appeared, paving an 18-foot turn lane right over their driveway.
Ronnie Norris was at the market when they came, buying $700 of produce. All of it spoiled. In fact, the Norrises say they lost approximately $6,000 in revenue while the county was installing the turn lane. Brenda says the county would not let customers stop at the produce stand. “They were just waving them past.”
The workers left behind a black stretch of asphalt where the parking lot had been, with a guard rail nearly blocking entrance to the produce stand. “People started coming by, asking ‘Who’d you make mad?’” Brenda recalls.
Eva Hatcher, who lives on Poplar Springs Road and works at the produce stand, says that traffic is much worse now than before the turn lane was installed. Another possibility existed for the county – that of buying a nearby house that is for sale directly across from the Poplar Springs and Three Notch intersection, and accessing the new Heritage schools through that piece of property. This is a natural place to install a traffic light.
This is just another tale of how the county government walks on those it ought to serve. Rather than working with the Norrises to complete the turn lane without damaging their income, the county simply bulldozed them. They were not consulted – just as the fire departments were not consulted before Catoosa County Commissioners voted to advertise for a consolidated fire chief. They were merely informed, and not in time to react.
Fortunately, that’s not the end of the story for Ronnie and Brenda Norris. Shadetree Produce customers rallied to their support, encouraging them to revamp rather than close the stand. They took down the old PVC-and-tarp structure, and bought a metal building to replace it. Bobby Swanson Construction made them a good deal for construction of a small parking lot. Johnny Coots and Charles Simerley provided doors and windows for the new building.
Commissioner Bobby Winters, a frequent customer, brought in gravel to set the new building, and put in a Poplar Springs access drive. But when Ronnie suggested the Catoosa County should reimburse Shadetree for part of the business loss and cost of moving, he says Winters smiled and asked, “How would you prove it?”
Shadetree Produce is open seven days a week. Pumpkins are of course in season, as well as a variety of crunchy apples trucked in from Virginia due to the Georgia drought. They also have oranges and honeybells, which are a type of tangelo. The bell peppers were especially good last week. I served mine stuffed with corn chips, ground beef, tomato paste and rice, topped with parmesan and croutons.
Take some time this week to stop at a local produce stand. Eat in a restaurant where the name is not printed on the napkins, and where the woman who sets your plate on the table is likely the owner, or at least a cousin or a friend.
Buy a gift at a locally-owned shop, where the owner selects every item and places it lovingly on the shelf. The extra dollar you may spend builds up your county and makes it a better place to live. When we buy locally, we support our friends and neighbors instead of shifting jobs to underpaid workers in foreign countries. When we support local businesses, we are really giving back to ourselves.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
