The Jobs, Opportunity, and Business Success Act of 2009
May 27, 2009
“Cracker” ; a pejorative (term of abuse or ethnic slur) term for a white person, mainly used in the Southern United States, according to Wikipedia “Cracker” has been used among African Americans like Malcolm X and Black Panther Party during the Civil rights movement and is considered an anti-white ethnic slur among African Americans. This is the term applied to supporters of Governor Sonny Perdue by columnist Bill Shipp in his column “Sonny snaps out of it” found in the Bryan County News (May 20 2009), when he referred to the Governors “disgruntled cracker followers”. (I was quoting the paper copy. The link goes to The Monticello News which carried the same column as I can’t find the column on line from the Bryan County News.)
I had stated in a previous column I did not particularly care to respond to individual columnists. In the case of Mr. Shipp I am making an exception. Every time he writes a racial slur, a cultural stereotype, or other assorted terms of abuse, I will write about it. I find it inappropriate for a syndicated columnist being carried by the Bryan County News-or any newspaper to use these stereotypes or slurs.
After six paragraphs slapping the Governor around a bit, Mr. Shipp apparently gets to the subject of the column; The Jobs, Opportunity, and Business Success Act of 2009. As the bill was favorable to business and would actually leave some tax dollars in business and consumers hands, Mr. Shipp was of course against passage of this legislation.
The six provisions in the JOBS Act are contained in two bills, HB 481 and HB 482.
1. $500 credit on unemployment tax to any business who hires someone currently on unemployment compensation for at least 60 days prior.
2. Income tax credit for any business who keeps a previously unemployed employee for 24 months.
3. Business start up holiday, exempting new startups from all state government fees to stimulate entrepreneurship.
4. Eliminate inventory tax on businesses. This requires a referendum, thus the separate bill.
5. Eliminate sales tax deposits, which are prepayments on projected sales.
6. Gradual elimination of corporate tax, beginning in 2012, complete in 2023.
In the present time of 8.5% unemployment rate and a slowly recovering economy, allowing businesses to keep some of their money and use it to hire workers and increase inventory seems like a no brainer.
Encouraging the hiring of new workers through tax credits is a super idea which would permit businesses to grow while eliminating some of the 400,000 Georgians from the unemployment rolls. Encouraging new businesses to start up and grow through the use of a tax holiday again seems like an idea which would work creating wealth and a growing business class. The inventory tax is a tax that should have disappeared a long time ago. Georgia is one of 14 states which consider a business’s inventory of goods as property and taxes it as such. A tax is again paid on this merchandise when it is sold. Item six calls for the gradual elimination of the corporate tax, which in Georgia is a flat 6% based on the corporation’s net income.
When it comes to the elimination of taxes or fees paid by any corporation or business, a point that must be considered is they pay no taxes or fees; the consumer pays them in the form of higher costs at the register. This is a hidden cost of government. The consumer is paying a large amount of taxes and is not consciously aware of it. When citizens want to increase taxes and fees on businesses and corporation; they are in effect asking to be taxed at a higher rate themselves.
H.R. 481 and 482 both passed legislation, but Governor Perdue vetoed the bills when they hit his desk. This is the cause of Mr. Shipps gloating. Mr. Shipp however fails to mention Governor Perdue said May 11 he vetoed the bill because Georgia constitutionally is required to maintain a balanced budget.
“For every dollar in decreased revenue, we must correspondingly cut expenditures,” Perdue said. “We cannot deficit spend as the federal government does, even if those deficits generate economic growth in the long term.”
He did, however, call the bill “well-meaning” in intent. If I were the Governor, I would send the bill back to be rewritten to take effect in 2010 when the budget is not halfway through a fiscal year.
Again, Mr. Shipp plays on class warfare and envy to make this bill sound as if it were written for the intent of making all the “rich people” richer. Somehow, he comes up with the figure, “richest one percent of the state’s taxpayers would receive 75% of the benefits”.
What is this one percent and how much do they pay in taxes? This latest IRS data is shown in Table 1. It shows that the top 1% of income earners now pay 40% of federal income taxes, while earning 22% of income. The top 5% pay 60% of income taxes while earning 37% of income. The bottom 50% of income earners pays only 3% of federal income taxes.
Internal Revenue Service data, 2006
Share of federal Income taxes Adjusted Gross Income
Top 1% 40% 22%
Top 5% 60% 37%
Top 10% 71% 47%
Top 25% 86% 68%
Top 50% 97% 87.5%
Bottom 50% 3% 12.5%
Furthermore, the bottom 40% of income earners pays nothing.
Why this major thrust to redistribute the wealth? To create an artificial playing field? The business owner is the person taking the risk; taking out loans, saving their money, borrowing off of relatives and credit cards to open a business and keep it running by working 12-16 hour days until it is operating reasonably smooth. The business owner is the one putting up the costs of licenses, fees, insurance, and goods. They are the ones paying the unemployment insurance, workman comp, matching social security, security bonds, etc. When a business folds, the owner is the one who loses; the employee can (sometimes with difficulty) find another job. Why does our government continue to “punish” those who succeed? The “progressive” tax code we now have which is confiscatory in nature does just that. It rewards failure and punishes success.
When elements of this tax system are questioned or an attempt is made to change the code, the Bill Shipps of this country will always be in the forefront of the fight to “sock it to the rich and business”, all the while apparently never realizing the taxes he is applauding right now are actually a regressive tax which hits the poor harder when the costs of doing business are passed on to the consumer by business.
Memorial Day
May 25, 2009
Memorial Day-the holiday observed by Americans to remember….. and honor those who have given their lives in military service to their country.
As we traditionally use this day to unofficially celebrate the start of Summer by grilling and going to the beach, let us take a few minutes at 3 pm and remember why we have this day of observance and remember the sacrifices these young men and women have made.
In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army
In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
courtesy of Arlington Cemetery
President Obama has made his Memorial Day speech. I am including the link to it as he is the Commander in Chief, but I wish he cared enough to actually learn just what the purpose of Memorial Day was and he had addressed the actual holiday.
Obama: Honor Veterans This Memorial Day
A response to Mr. Shipp “editorialist”
May 7, 2009
I don’t normally respond to individual columnists, but the last column by Mr Shipp in the Bryan County News (Keep America First; 6 May-Bryan County News) has to be responded to.
The entire gist of the column seems to be “those traiterous Republicans want to jump ship now a Democrat is in office”. He first trots out as evidence a speech given by Texas Governor Rick Perry preaching secession and follows it up with our own Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine “having a team of researchers working on schemes to declare our independence and bid adios to old D.C.”. Where did he come up with this information? The first came from a speech given by the Texas Governor to a “Tea Party” rally in which he stated, “… There’s absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that.” Governor Perry had in recent days asserted states’ rights under the 10th Amendment and denounced Washington for overstepping authority. He had said earlier in the speech, “Washington needs to hear us loud and clear,” said Perry, who wore a khaki jacket and a hunting cap. “Cut the spending, cut the taxes, shrink the government. And reread the Constitution.” Dangerous talk? No and it was hardly treasonous. And what were the remarks Oxendine had made saying he favored secession? ”If Governor, I would support legislation which puts Georgia on record as affirming our sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the Constitution of the United States and which would serve as notice and demand the federal government, as our agent, cease and desist, effective immediately, mandates that are beyond the scope of these constitutionally delegated powers. Additionally, I would support legislation which states all compulsory federal legislation that directs states to comply under threat of civil or criminal penalties or sanctions or that requires states to pass legislation or lose federal funding be prohibited or repealed.”
Again, nothing dangerous to the American way of thinking; Oxendine merely wants the Federal government to follow the constitution as does Perry.
Does he offer any further proof of his allegations? Yes. He offers as the final proof a poll conducted for a “progressive” blog called the Daily Kos which apparently stated a third of Georgians want to leave the union while 38% of Texans say the same.
QUESTION: Would you approve or disapprove of Georgia leaving the United States?
APPROVE DISAPPROVE NOT:SURE
ALL 18 76 6
MEN 21 74 5
WOMEN 15 78 7
DEMOCRATS 5 89 6
REPUBLICANS 32 63 5
INDEPENDENTS 14 79 7
QUESTION: Do you think Georgia would be better off as an independent nation or as part of the United States of America.
US IND NOT:SURE
ALL 68 27 5
MEN 54 32 4
WOMEN 72 22 6
DEMOCRATS 88 8 4
REPUBLICANS 52 43 5
INDEPENDENTS 61 33 6
Demographic
MEN 287 48%
WOMEN 313 52%
DEMOCRATS 246 41%
REPUBLICANS 258 43%
INDEPENDENTS/OTHE 96 16%
18-29 78 13%
30-44 174 29%
45-59 210 35%
60+ 138 23%
WHITE 419 69%
BLACK 168 28%
HISPANIC 12 2%
OTHER 6 1%
QUESTION: Do you approve or disapprove of Governor Rick Perry’s suggestion that Texas may need to leave the United States?
APPROVE DISAPPROVE NOT SURE
ALL 37 58 5
MEN 42 54 4
WOMEN 32 62 6
DEMOCRATS 16 80 4
REPUBLICANS 51 44 5
INDEPENDENTS 43 50 7
QUESTION: Do you think Texas would be better off as an independent nation or as part of the United States of America?
US IND NOT SURE
ALL 61 35 4
MEN 57 39 4
WOMEN 65 31 4
DEMOCRATS 82 15 3
REPUBLICANS 48 48 4
INDEPENDENTS 55 40 5
(I’m not sure where Mr Shipps statistic of 38% of Texans comes from, the printed number is 48%.)
Demographics
MEN 288 48%
WOMEN 312 52%
DEMOCRATS 199 33%
REPUBLICANS 234 39%
INDEPENDENTS/OTHER 167 28%
18-29 102 17%
30-44 204 34%
45-59 96 16%
WHITE 390 65%
BLACK 77 13%
HISPANIC 115 19%
OTHER 18 3%
Source: dKos
Of interest:
The Research 2000 Georgia Poll was conducted from April 27 through April 29, 2009. A total of 600 likely voters who vote regularly in state elections were interviewed statewide by telephone. Those interviewed were selected by the random variation of the last four digits of telephone numbers. A cross-section of exchanges was utilized in order to ensure an accurate reflection of the state. Quotas were assigned to reflect the voter registration of distribution by county.
The margin for error, according to standards customarily used by statisticians, is no more than plus or minus 4% percentage points. This means that there is a 95 percent probability that the “true” figure would fall within that range if the entire population were sampled. The margin for error is higher for any subgroup, such as for gender or party affiliation.
For those who may think Research 2000 actually lives up to their claim of being non-partisan a reader would have only to look at the company web page in which the lead story is a “hit piece” on Rush Limbaugh. In fact, their major listed client is Daily Kos. The remaining articles on their site consists mostly of Obama success polls and dismal Republican polls. So, I’m not sure they are quite as non-partisan as they claim.
For the last eight years I have listened and read far worse than this, all the while being told ”Dissent is the highest form of patriotism” which Sen Kerry falsly attributed to Thomas Jefferson. I have seen this on bumper stickers, blogs and even heard Democrat politicians spout it off when slamming President Bush and his administration. During both presidential campaigns when President Bush was running, I heard far too many entertainers threaten to move away from the country if Bush won. To my knowledge, none did. Daily, I read some of the most appalling criticism of the Bush administration. Some writers were even wishing Bush, Cheney, et al dead on a rather alarming basis. Mr Shipp has conveniently forgotten this seeming to believe for the last eight years there was absolutely no partisanship being played by the Democrats or their electorate.
Mr Shipp then plays a great finishing act with the quote “as soon as I finish this column, I think I’ll look up a Federal judge to advise me on how to round up these America haters. We ought to send most of them back where they or their forebears came from, but Ireland and Scotland probably don’t want them either.” Nice. Not even a thought of re-education camps first-just immediate expulsion? And an assumption all of the above respondents were of Irish and Scottish descent? This isn’t his first slip with bigotry and stereotyping. His last column (In wake of shooting; 29 April, Bryan County News) alluded to Southerners having AK-47s under their beds, then goes on to snidely state, “Guns are us. In the South, you’re not a man if you don’t own a gun or two or three”.
His contempt for the constitution was already apparent when he stated in the same article he didn’t expect any action to come from the Athens shooting, “…just more hot air about Second Amendment rights…”. From my readings of Mr Shipp, I get the impression that is his take on the entire constitution-just more hot air.
