Here are some revenue-raising ideas for you to try in your state:
"Overall, the fee changes included in the [Wisconsin] Governor's budget
would increase state fees by $237.7 million over the next two years.
Following is a partial listing of the Governor's fee increase
proposals:
o Animal Slaughter Fee - new $1.5 million food tax - Impose a new fee
on each animal slaughtered for food at 14¢/pig, 14¢/cattle, 10¢/calf,
and 1¢/poultry.
o Garbage Fee- $48.6 million increase - Increase the "tipping fee" by
$4.40/ton, from $5.90, to $10.30/ton.
o Handgun Purchaser Record Check Fee - $1.6 million increase -
Increase the handgun purchaser record check fee from $8 to $30.
o Work Permit Fee - $960,000 increase - Increase the work permit fee
by $5 (from $5 to $10).
o Vehicle Environmental Impact Title Fee - $17.5 million increase -
Under current law, the $9 vehicle Environmental Impact Title Fee was
supposed to end at the end of 2009. The Governor's budget would make
this fee permanent.
o Title Lien Fee - $4.8 million increase - Increase the title lien fee
for each notating and subsequent release of a lien on an auto title
from $4 to $10.
o Birth Certificate Fee - $612,000 increase - Increase the fee for a
copy of a birth certificate from $20 to $22, and the fee for an
additional copy obtained at the same time from $3 to $5.
o Vital Records Fee - $6 million increase - Repeal a provision that
ended the vital records fee increases that were enacted in the 2007-09
budget on a temporary basis.
o Fee for Paper Copies of Driver Records - new $130,000 fee -
Establish a $2 fee for providing a paper copy of a driver record, in
addition to the fee for the record search ($5 for a computerized
request and $6 for a telephone request).
o Child Care Licensing Fees - $980,000 increase - Increase biennial
child care licensing fees for group child care centers from
$10.33/child to $16.94/child.
o Boat Registration Fee - $2.15 million increase - Increase the fees
for a three-year motorized boat registration from $19 to $25 for a
boat under 16' in length, $28 to $35 for 16'-26', $52 to $62 for
26'-40' and $86 to $99 for over 40'.
o UW Tuition - $43 million increase - Increase UW System tuition to
accommodate UW faculty/staff compensation increases.
o Ballast Water Discharge Permits and Fees - $797,000 new shipping fee -
Create a new permit requirement that a maritime vessel that is 79
feet or longer must discharge ballast water into the waters of the
state. DNR would charge a $1,200 application fee and a $345 annual
fee.
o Declarations of Domestic Partnerships - Unknown fiscal impact -
Create fees that would be paid by couples who apply to county clerks
for each declaration of domestic partnership, and for each certificate
of termination of domestic partnership.
o Assisted Living Facilities Certification and Licensing Fees -
$432,000 increase - Increase biennial certification and licensing fees
for certain assisted living facilities by 27 percent. Increase
licensing fees for community-based residential facilities from
$306/facility and $39.60/resident to $389/facility and $50.25/resident
and for adult family homes from $135/facility to
$171/facility. Increase certification fees for adult day care centers
from $100/facility to $127/facility.
o Joe, Leibham. "Fee Increases in State Budget Plan." _Capitol
Connection_. Madison, WI. 8 Apr. 2009. 9 Apr. 2009
<http://www.legis.wi.gov/senate/sen09/news/Press/2009/col2009-013.asp> .
What we are trying to accomplish here is to keep Milwaukee County from
cashing, creating a failed state a la Mogadishu and endangering
shipping on Lake Michigan.
This is in addition to several tax increases, which include:
o Cigarette/Tobacco Products Tax -- $343 million tax increase --
Increase the cigarette tax by $0.75/pack (from $1.77 to $2.52). In
addition, increase the general tax rate on tobacco products from 50%
of the manufacturer's established list price to 71%, increase the
maximum allowable tax per cigar from $0.50/cigar to $0.71/cigar and
increase the tax on moist snuff from $1.31/ounce to $1.87/ounce.
o Hospital Health Care Tax -- $99 million tax increase -- Increase the
recently-adopted hospital health care tax by $99 million to a total of
$650 million over the next two years.
o Nursing Home Bed Tax -- $75 million tax increase -- Increase the tax
on licensed beds in nursing homes from $75/month to $150/month in
2009-10, and from $150/month to $170/month in 2010-11.
o Joe, Leibham. "Tax Increases in State Budget Plan." _Capitol
Connection_. Madison, WI. 1 Apr. 2009. 9 Apr. 2009
<http://www.legis.wi.gov/senate/sen09/news/Press/2009/col2009-012.asp> .
Apparently the aim is to reduce consumption of tobacco and health care
in Wisconsin, which should be good for us all.
--
.. Be Seeing You,
.. Chuck Rhode, Sheboygan, WI, USA
.. Weather: http://LacusVeris.com/WX
.. 43° — Wind NW 6 mph
> Here are some revenue-raising ideas for you to try in your state:
> "Overall, the fee changes included in the [Wisconsin] Governor's budget
> would increase state fees by $237.7 million over the next two years.
> Following is a partial listing of the Governor's fee increase
> proposals:
<snip>
What really amazes me is that it is all a game. The state needs X amount of
money to operate, and it is just a political game where you get it from.
Sales tax, income tax, lotteries, traffic fines, .... arghhhhhhhhhhhhh!
It seems like it would be easier to eliminate much of this crap and just
raise the income tax. In fact, if you drove the sales tax to zero and
raised income tax, it would probably save a lot in recordkeeping and the
burden on merchants, plus the entire arm of the state government required to
collect and process state sales tax.
Game, games, games. It is just a matter of which veins you draw the blood
from.
The Lizard
> Jujitsu Lizard wrote:
>> Game, games, games. It is just a matter of which veins you draw the
>> blood from.
> Yes, but everyone's got their own ideas regarding what constitutes
> "fairness" and whose particular ox should be preferentially gored.
> It will never, ever be simple for that very reason.
Still, it ain't as complex as they're making it.
Issues:
a)For services provided by the state (driver's licenses, registrations,
etc.) does the state take a loss, break even, or turn a profit?
b)Do you tax at the time people earn the money (income tax) or at the time
they spend it (sales tax)?
c)How do you help out those with lower income (for example, in MI sales tax
is not applied to groceries, and of course the income tax gets you heavier
if you earn more).
With respect to (b), I would argue just for simplicity to do away with
either sales tax or income tax.
And then there is the lottery ... the only reason I don't disapprove of the
lottery is that I know very well that if the state lottery didn't exist it
would fuel illegal gambling. The state publishes the odds and conducts the
games fairly. Illegal games aren't conducted so carefully.
Somebody's gotta win ... why not you? Arghhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Lizard
On Thu, 09 Apr 2009 16:25:05 -0400, Jujitsu Lizard wrote:
> And then there is the lottery ... the only reason I don't disapprove of
> the lottery is that I know very well that if the state lottery didn't
> exist it would fuel illegal gambling. The state publishes the odds and
> conducts the games fairly. Illegal games aren't conducted so carefully.
> Somebody's gotta win ... why not you?
Here's how everyone can "win:"
> Automated Photo Enforcement Laws
> By Dave Dwyer, ABATE of WI Legislative Committee Chair
> Along with roadblocks, primary seatbelt enforcement, and harsher DUI
> laws the Governor has proposed that Wisconsin's long standing ban on
> automated photo enforcement of traffic laws be repealed. For
> starters he has proposed that ticket cameras be employed to
> generated red light citations (with speeding tickets to follow).
> As usual, the public justification for ticket cameras is "safety."
> Also as usual, the real reason is money, lots of money. However,
> there is a darker side to this story. Red light ticket cameras cause
> accidents and actually reduce public safety.
> Having dealt with the photo enforcement issue for 25 years, we have
> discovered key facts that have been obscured, ignored, or denied by
> corporate and public advocates of automated traffic enforcement.
> Contrary to populist myth and contrived propaganda, the general public
> is overwhelmingly supportive of compliance with traffic signals,
> including obeying red lights. The same cannot be said for speed
> limits, but that's another issue. This is also borne out by the
> relatively low number of fatalities attributed to violating red lights
--
> approximately 900 out of a total of 42 thousand traffic fatalities
> annually. Most of these fatalities involve vehicles entering the
> intersection long after the light has changed. The causes include
> police chases, emergency vehicles entering the intersection against
> the light, dementia, alcohol or drug impairment, and driver
> distraction. Next to zero of these causative events are likely to be
> influenced by the presence of a ticket camera.
> The obvious question is, "If the public so strongly supports compliance
> with traffic signals, why are violation rates so high at certain
> intersections?" The answer is implied by the follow-on statement,
> "and yet other intersections traveled by these same motorists have
> nearly perfect compliance?" In other words, it is not the drivers
> that are causing the problem; it is flaws in the design, operation, or
> maintenance of the intersection traffic signals. The most common and
> easily corrected failure is that the duration of the yellow light is
> too short to accommodate the normal approach speed of vehicles entering
> the intersection. Higher approach speeds require long yellow light
> durations. Other problems include signals obscured by roadside
> objects and vegetation, lack of color contrast when a bright sun is
> low on the horizon, and signals that are out of sync with adjacent
> signals. These are all correctable situations.
> Enter red light ticket cameras, RLTCs. Corporations like Redflex and
> ATS approach local officials and offer to install ticket camera
> systems for free, even maintain the equipment and send out the
> citations. All they want in return is a cut of the action. All of a
> sudden, a city that didn't know it had a red light running problem now
> has one. "The enforcement burden is too great for officers on the
> street. The only solution to this looming threat to public safety is
> automated ticket cameras (and, by the way, we will be taking in three
> million dollars a month in ticket revenue)."
> The cameras go up, the revenue rolls in, and the fact that accidents
> are on the rise is hidden from the public. It's not uncommon for
> public officials to claim or produce studies that claim accidents are
> declining because of RLTCs, when in fact they are increasing, as is
> subsequently discovered when an independent authority actually reviews
> the data.
> Why do accidents increase? Motorists who become aware of the cameras
> react abruptly to a yellow light and brake hard in a situation where
> they would normally -- and legally -- enter and pass through the
> intersection. The drivers behind them do not react in the same
> manner. The most common effect of RLTCs is significant increases in
> rear-end collisions. Contrary to the claims of RLTCs, the cameras
> have no effect on the typical right-angle or "T-bone" type crash.
> Because the cameras can generate huge amounts of free cash, they
> literally encourage local governments to turn a blind eye toward
> correcting known intersection deficiencies, or worse yet, take
> deliberate actions that increase the violation (and accident) rate.
> The most common tactic is shortening the yellow light duration. In
> response to this unethical tactic the National Motorists Association
> has initiated a national campaign: "Stop Short Yellow Lights" where
> our members time yellow light durations and we publicize and lobby
> against the irresponsible practice of shortening yellow lights to
> increase ticket camera revenue. (See www.shortyellowlights.com for
> further information.) However, in Wisconsin, we still have a chance
> to stop this egregious trend in its tracks. Write, call, or personally
> talk to your state legislators and let them know you don't want ticket
> cameras, nor the corruption they breed.
o Dwyer, Dave. "Automated Photo Enforcement Laws." _ABATE of Wisconsin
Newsletter_ Apr. 2009: 19.
--
.. Be Seeing You,
.. Chuck Rhode, Sheboygan, WI, USA
.. Weather: http://LacusVeris.com/WX
.. 32° — Wind NE 5 mph
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> "Overall, the fee changes included in the [Wisconsin] Governor's budget
> would increase state fees by $237.7 million over the next two years.
> Following is a partial listing of the Governor's fee increase
> proposals: