Category Archives: politics

Tax Reform and SALT

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There are, unfortunately, some Republican Congressmen who don’t get it.  One such is Congresswoman Claudia Tenney (R, NY).

I worry about the way this bill erodes the deduction for state and local taxes, which has been in place since 1913.  …  This would compound the already excruciating financial burden that my state’s lawmakers have placed on New Yorkers.

How long the deduction has been in place is only an indication of the age of the error, nothing else.

More importantly, the decision of New York’s politicians to have such a usurious State tax code in no way obligates the rest of us to support the foolishness of SALT. If New York politicians—including Tenney—and those of other high-tax States truly are worried about the fiscal welfare of their citizens, they’d work to reform their State’s tax code and reduce their State’s tax rates and thereby allow their State’s citizens to keep more of their money.

At the Federal level, politicians like Tenney would work to reduce—even eliminate—Federal transfers of the hard-earned funds of one State’s citizens to another State absent a regional or national emergency. New York, for instance, sends more of its citizens’ money to other States than it receives from other States’ citizens; such a reform would seem highly attractive to the State’s politicians.

Federal Tax Reform and SALT

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Included in the Federal tax reform plan now on offer is the elimination of the deduction for State And Local Taxes (primarily income and sales taxes; property taxes would remain deductible up to a cap).  Republican Congressmen from high-SALT States object to that elimination, and they base their objection on the premise that these high-tax States actually send more of their States’ citizens’ money to DC than they get back from DC in other funds.

That seems a fair beef to the extent that it’s accurate, which raises a question in my pea brain.

What are these Congressmen proposing in the way of tax reform and spending reform to reduce the amount of their constituents’ money—and the money of all States’ citizens—that gets sent to DC?  Surely, they can think of ways to reduce such regional redistributions (they are Republicans, after all), or even eliminate them absent a national or regional emergency.

These Congressmen’s silence on that bit strongly suggests that their objections are not principled, but simply personal power and ego stroking.

A Slip of the Mask

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When President Donald Trump’s Twitter account was deleted for a few minutes last week, it looked like an isolated mistake by a customer service employee “on his last day at work,” as Twitter, Inc, representatives had it.

Maybe not.  Now, more information is coming to light about that incident.  Seconds thoughts are occurring about the likelihood of a single employee in such a position having the authority to delete an entire account.  There’s more, too.

Inside Twitter, the brief deactivation elicited celebration or amusement even in the upper ranks. Twitter Chief Executive Jack Dorsey Liked a tweet with an image of his face superimposed on celebrity painter Bob Ross standing before a canvas depicting Mr Trump’s deactivated account. “There are no mistakes, only happy little accidents!” the caption said.

And

One former employee said that deleting Mr Trump’s account was a “running joke” among employees about things they wanted to do on their last day.

And

Lara Cohen, Twitter’s former head of entertainment and talent partnerships, retweeted a post about the rogue employee that said, “Not all heroes wear capes.”

“Doing good on the way out the door,” is how another former employee described the episode.

And

A former employee involved with Twitter Moments, a product that highlights tweets curated by the platform or users, said on a number of occasions during the campaign that senior executives expressed displeasure with Moments that portrayed Mr Trump in a good light.

It’s also instructive that so many of these Twitter, Inc, responses are exposed by ex-Twitter employees, and not by current ones.

The mask has slid away momentarily, quickly reset, and the slip has exposed what free speech would be under a Left-leaning government.  And it looks a lot like the “free” speech of our colleges and universities.

A Navy Veteran

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…refused an “award” from a dishonorable organization.

The New Orleans Saints was going to present Commander John Wells, Military Veterans Advocacy Executive Director, with the Peoples Health Champion award during the Saints’ game against the Chicago Bears last weekend.  What Wells said in his refusal:

Although I am touched and honored to be selected for such an award, the ongoing controversy with NFL players’ disrespect for the national flag forces me to decline to participate in the presentation.  I am unable, in good conscience, to enter an NFL stadium while this discourtesy prevails. Since this award is tainted with the dishonorable actions of the NFL and its players, I cannot accept it.

The Saints’ response, in its attitude, vindicated Wells’ decision.

We will not allow Mr Wells’ decision and subsequent media appearances to distract our players and organization from continuing to honor and support our military and veterans. We, as an organization, have decided to move on from this sad and divisive discourse and focus our attention on supporting our military and veterans.

The Saints’ statement also claimed

[W]e…contend we are leaders when it comes to financial support as well as the thousands of service hours our organization and players gladly contribute….

No, the divisiveness distraction here are in the players’ decision to attack our flag and national anthem and to insult our veterans and their families while masquerading their “protest” as commentary on social injustice and in Saints management’s decision to condone such miscreancy.  This misbehavior has rendered all the claimed support for our veterans into so much self-serving eyewash.  The financial support and service hours turn out to be nothing but indulgences, whether paid in advance or after the fact.

Good on the Commander.