FollowUp 32: Wisconsin Republican Dirty Tricks

Governor Scott Walker sent me an e-mail today, 24 May 2012. Here we go again.

Patriot,

Well, that is how I view myself.  I didn't expect Mr. Walker to be so astute.

This is it. The Wisconsin Recall election is less than three weeks away.

Um, no.  Less than two weeks away, but it's okay by me if Mr. Walker's supporters turn out a week late.

The liberal special interests and Washington insiders have sworn to spend tens of millions of dollars to defeat me. I need your help right now to beat back this senseless Recall. Will you stand with me today?

No.  Again, he claims that outside money is pouring in to his opponents.  The truth is that Governor Walker has tens of millions more than do Wisconsin Democrats, much of his money coming from outside of Wisconsin.

For more than a generation in Wisconsin, the power of special interests and the liberal elite have gone largely unchecked. My Administration finally stood up to them, and we changed the way we do things in government in Wisconsin.

No.  Mr. Walker wants to pretend that the last generation did not include Republican Tommy Thompson as Wisconsin's longest serving governor ever.  Is he really calling Mr. Thompson a liberal?  If you look at the recent history of governors of Wisconsin, it is fairly balanced between Democrats and Republicans.  Neither side has "gone largely unchecked."  Liar.

That’s why my opponents are so desperate to defeat me in this Recall. They want to roll back the clock and take us back to the days of skyrocketing taxes, bloated budgets, and unchecked and unaccountable spending. We cannot let that happen.

No.  While Governor Walker has cut taxes on businesses, it is not true for the average Wisconsinite.  He is spending money beyond Wisconsin's tax revenue, something that was not true of his immediate predecessor.

The moment I became Governor, I set about the work that the people of Wisconsin sent me to do. We eliminated the deficit left by my Democrat predecessor. We gave the freedom of choice to public employees. Our reforms have allowed public employees to decide if they would like to spend (in some cases more than a thousand dollars a year in dues) or keep their hard earned money. We finally put the control of state government back where it belongs, in the hands of the people.

No.  This is a lie.  Mr. Walker was not left a mess.  His reforms took away collective bargaining from public employees; which is not an increase of choice.  That was after lying during the 2010 campaign and stating that he was not going after unions.  Mr. Walker is a proven liar on this.

I kept my promises to the voters here in Wisconsin. I didn’t raise taxes. We have not had massive lay offs of state workers. Our reforms have balanced the budget and lowered the unemployment rate to a level unseen since 2008.

No.  Mr. Walker is using fake employment figures.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics shows Wisconsin losing jobs in April.  Mr. Walker is a liar.

Now I need you to help me tell the out-of-state special interests that we do not want another tax-and-spend liberal in charge here in Wisconsin.

No.  Again, Mr. Walker is the one who has cornered the out-of-state special interests, CrossRoads GPS and the Koch brothers to name two of the biggest funders of his bid to keep his seat.

This Recall is not just about Wisconsin, it is about the cause of reform across this country. It is about deciding what kind of country we are going to be for generations to come. We must send a message that we can and will live within our means. We must not hand power back to a small group of special interests and let them run state governments into the ground across this great nation.

The recall is about deciding what kind of country we want.  Do we want balance between labor and business?  Do we want a viable middle class?  Do we want women to have control of their healthcare and bodies?  Do we want fully funded schools and strong education for our children?  Do we want fair taxes for everyone including businesses?  Or do we want Governor Walker's radical reform?

When we defeat this baseless Recall, it will send a powerful statement across our country about the kind of government we want to have and the bold reforms that will get us there.

The recall is not baseless.  It is based on the actions of Mr. Walker; actions in contradiction to the promises that he made when he sought the office of governor.

We have less than a month to go. I need your help – not tomorrow, not next week, but right now.

Okay.  Less than two weeks is also less than a month.

Today, I ask you to stand with me so I can continue to stand up for hard working taxpayers. Together, we can defeat this Recall and make history – in Wisconsin and across the country.

Keeping Governor Walker in office increases the burden on "hard working taxpayers" and relieves the burden on big business.  Mr. Walker is a liar.

Sincerely,

Scott Walker
Governor

16 November 2011, Original Pedantic Political Ponderings post.
30 November 2011, FollowUp 1.
4 December 2011, FollowUp 2.
11 December 2011, FollowUp 3.
14 December 2011, FollowUp 4.
15 December 2011, FollowUp 5.
30 December 2011, FollowUp 6.
13 January 2012, FollowUp 7.
17 January 2012, FollowUp 8.
25 January 2012, FollowUp 9.
2 February 2012, FollowUp 10.
9 February 2012, FollowUp 11.
12 February 2012, FollowUp 12.
18 February 2012, FollowUp 13.
22 February 2012, FollowUp 14.
6 March 2012, FollowUp 15.
12 March 2012, FollowUp 16.
16 March 2012, FollowUp 17.
30 March 2012, FollowUp 18.
31 March 2012, FollowUp 19.
3 April 2012, FollowUp 20.
4 April 2012, FollowUp 21.
11 April 2012, FollowUp 22.
14 April 2012, FollowUp 23.
17 April 2012, FollowUp 24.
21 April 2012, FollowUp 25.
29 April 2012, FollowUp 26.
2 May 2012, FollowUp 27.
6 May 2012, FollowUp 28.
10 May 2012, FollowUp 29.
13 May 2012, FollowUp 30.
23 May 2012, FollowUp 31.

30 May 2012, FollowUp 33.
2 June 2012, FollowUp 34.
4 June 2012, FollowUp 35.
5 June 2012, FollowUp 36.

Praise: Bernie Sanders and Keith Ellison take on Big Oil

From Senator Sanders' website:

Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Keith Ellison on Thursday introduced legislation to end billions of dollars in oil, coal and gas subsidies. "We are here today not just to announce new legislation, but to send a message that it is time to end the absurdity of taxpayers providing massive subsidies to hugely profitable fossil fuel corporations," Sanders told a news conference outside the U.S. Capitol. "In these difficult economic times, it is imperative that we support the taxpayers of this country and not the fossil fuel industry - one of the most powerful special interests in the world," he added.

Joining Sanders at a news conference, Ellison noted that big oil companies make more than $300 million every day. "Why should Americans prop up these companies with tax dollars and have to pay ridiculous fuel prices?" he asked. "We need to get off the fossil fuel bandwagon that keeps us dependent on oil and contributes to climate change.  The $113 billion in taxpayer handouts that oil, gas, and coal companies receive should be used to invest in green jobs. It's time for this corporate welfare to end."

The measure would do away with tax breaks, financial assistance, royalty relief, direct federal research and development and many loopholes that benefit the fossil fuel industry. Under current law, more than $113 billion in federal subsidies would go to oil, coal and gas industries in the coming decade.

Doing a little quick research online, I found the following:  The net profit for the first quarter of 2012 for Chevron was 6.471 Billion Dollars.  The net profit for the first quarter of 2012 for Exxon Mobil was 9.45 Billion Dollars.  This was not the gross profit, it was net.

I did not find the quarterly report for BP, but for the full year of 2011 the net profit for BP was 26.097 Billion Dollars.  Again, this is net not gross.  In all three cases it is billion with a B.

I do not object to companies making money.  If they can make a lot of money, that's good too.  But, subsidizing their profit is where I have a problem.  They should be taxed like small companies are.

Speaker Boehner and the House GOP are sure to block this legislation.  But it is good that Senator Sanders of Vermont and Representative Ellison of Minnesota are offering the legislation.  Better would be seeing it pass.

FollowUp 29: Wisconsin Republican Dirty Tricks

So, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker now has a clear target, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett who won Tuesday's primary.  And the distortions and lies are ramping up.  There are six claims made in this new ad, with varying amounts of accuracy.

"Walker has focused on creating jobs"

Not exactly.  As a new Governor, Mr. Walker called a special session of the Wisconsin legislature in January of 2011 to focus on tax breaks for the wealthiest people in Wisconsin.  These tax breaks also went to businesses, which may be where Mr. Walker is claiming he focused on creating jobs, but it didn't work.  The new tax breaks resulted in a budget deficit which he later claimed to have inherited.

"and balanced the budget without raising taxes"

Well, it is true that he didn't raise taxes.  Instead he cut programs and eliminated collective bargaining for public sector employees who had not supported him in his 2010 election.  The budget which had been brought into balance by former Governor Jim Doyle was now out of balance.

"Scott Walker eliminated Wisconsin's deficit."

No.  Mr. Walker created that deficit.

"Under the Barrett administration, Milwaukee ranked 4th worst in the nation in poverty"

This is true.

"3rd worst in employment"

Also true, but let's put this into some perspective.  The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel explored the issue of unemployment in Milwaukee and in the state of Wisconsin.  Perhaps a graphic from them will help.

The truth is that the Great Recession, becoming evident at the end of the Bush years, clobbered everyone.  The City of Milwaukee, as Wisconsin's largest urban center, naturally got hit hard.  That hit to Milwaukee was proportional to the hit to the State of Wisconsin and the rest of the United States.  Neither Mayor Barrett nor Governor Walker are responsible for the Great Recession.

"and property taxes skyrocketed."

As Governor Walker cut back on services, Mayor Barrett attempted to keep up.  Local taxes are the only response to the state pulling back resources or things would have been worse still.

These arguments are distortions and distractions.  Governor Walker would not be facing a recall election next month if he really had focused on creating jobs.  Instead, he focused on destroying unions, undermining social programs, and removing access to women's health care.  That is why he is facing a redo of the November 2010 election less than two years later.

Mayor Barrett has a somewhat mixed record, as was discussed clearly by his biggest primary opponent, former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk.  That record is nowhere near the disaster described by Mr. Walker.  But Mr. Barrett has not been a disaster as Governor of Wisconsin as Mr. Walker has.  If the Democrats of Wisconsin are wise, they will focus on Scott Walker's real record.  In a sense, the June election is placing Mr. Walker on trial.  No matter how wonderful or less than wonderful Mr. Barrett, it is Mr. Walker who lied to Wisconsin about his stand on unions and undermined decades of fairness in Wisconsin.

I was going to close the discussion here, but just received a link to Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, a candidate to replaced the retiring Herb Kohl for the United States Senate this November, on MSNBC with Chuck Todd this morning.  Her discussion goes far beyond just the gubernatorial race but is germane.  The discussion of the recall begins at the 5:50 mark.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Late evening update:  Channel 3000 reports that a series of reports at WISC-TV finds the Walker ad misleading.  They go through a number of the details, including that Mr. Walker was Milwaukee County Executive for seven of the eight years that Mr. Barrett was Mayor of the City of Milwaukee, which does imply some degree of joint responsibility for the problems in Milwaukee.  Read their short article, please, for yourself.

16 November 2011, Original Pedantic Political Ponderings post.
30 November 2011, FollowUp 1.
4 December 2011, FollowUp 2.
11 December 2011, FollowUp 3.
14 December 2011, FollowUp 4.
15 December 2011, FollowUp 5.
30 December 2011, FollowUp 6.
13 January 2012, FollowUp 7.
17 January 2012, FollowUp 8.
25 January 2012, FollowUp 9.
2 February 2012, FollowUp 10.
9 February 2012, FollowUp 11.
12 February 2012, FollowUp 12.
18 February 2012, FollowUp 13.
22 February 2012, FollowUp 14.
6 March 2012, FollowUp 15.
12 March 2012, FollowUp 16.
16 March 2012, FollowUp 17.
30 March 2012, FollowUp 18.
31 March 2012, FollowUp 19.
3 April 2012, FollowUp 20.
4 April 2012, FollowUp 21.
11 April 2012, FollowUp 22.
14 April 2012, FollowUp 23.
17 April 2012, FollowUp 24.
21 April 2012, FollowUp 25.
29 April 2012, FollowUp 26.
2 May 2012, FollowUp 27.
6 May 2012, FollowUp 28.

13 May 2012, FollowUp 30.
23 May 2012, FollowUp 31.
24 May 2012, FollowUp 32.
30 May 2012, FollowUp 33.
2 June 2012, FollowUp 34.
4 June 2012, FollowUp 35.
5 June 2012, FollowUp 36.

Pondering: Tax Day

Unless you are in Nebraska, the 15th of April isn't Tax Day this year.  All of the other states that have income tax and the federal government are on 17 April 2012 or later.  The political season is already going crazy with Republicans accusing the Democrats of being the party of Tax and Spend and Democrats accusing the Republicans of being the party of Spend and Don't Pay For.  Let's take a little step back and talk about taxes.

I like paying my taxes.

Sure, I want to save my money and spend it on things that I want.  But I also want to pay taxes.  I don't want to pay more than my fair share, but I do want to pay my fair share of taxes.  This isn't an altruistic point.  Taxes are spent, in part, on things with tangible benefits for me and for all of society.

It is cheaper to pay taxes and have the government maintain the roads than to buy new axles when neighbors forget to maintain the parts of the road that are in front of their houses.

This example is a little controversial, not in terms of the concept but in terms of implementation.  When we talk about road maintenance, there are questions of whether government should directly hire road crews and equipment or hire private contractors.  There are questions of the quality of the work and verification of that quality.  There are questions of potential fraud.  None of these questions change the need for road maintenance or the need for taxes to pay for that.

But some of my tax dollars pay for things I don't like.

Yes.  I was quite upset when we started a second war, the first being the response to being attacked on 11 September 2001 by going after the Taliban and Usama Bin Laden in Afghanistan, sending troops and resources to Iraq.  Of course, that was not the fault of taxes, but the fault of the electorate in choosing the wrong Commander in Chief.

We can, and should, have a strong debate on what is important for the government to fund and what should be left entirely in the private sector.  Important questions.  We can also find waste and fraud that should be rooted out and eliminated from government spending (both parties tend to include a huge amount of waste and fraud that they claim that they, and not the other party's candidate, can eliminate as part of balancing the budget).

So, what should tax dollars cover?  In making such decisions, politicians and those who elect them should think about the concept of the Commons.  Transportation infrastructure is part of our modern Commons and should be created and maintained by society via tax dollars.  There are debates as to whether airports and train stations should be included in that transportation infrastructure ... I believe that the answer should be in the affirmative to both.

Air, land, and water need to be clean and safe.  Even private property needs to be maintained in a fashion such that our health and well being are not jeopardized by waste and pollution.  The idea that corporations should be free to desecrate our environment in the spirit of free enterprise is ridiculous.  So, tax dollars need to go to enforcement agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to protect us.

We also need protection in other venues.  This is why agencies like the Consumer Product Safety Commission are needed.  Individual citizens should not have to fight for reasonable safety from big corporations on their own.  The list of agencies goes on and tax dollars are necessary.

To be clear, I do believe that we need our taxes to pay for our military to protect our shores and our interests around the world.  We can debate which interests should be protected and at what cost.  Being a member of organizations like NATO helps keep us safe.  This means that we sometimes enter into conflicts as a result of our treaties.  We do need to negotiate our treaties very carefully.


Wouldn't a Flat Tax be fairer?

No.  While a flat tax sounds good, a flat tax has a tremendously larger impact on the poorest people compared with the wealthiest.  While I do not favor taxation with the purpose of income redistribution, the poor should not be expected to pay a proportionate amount to the wealthy.  A progressive income tax is far more fair.  If you will pardon the pun, to the flat tax I say, "nein, nein, nein."  (I don't speak German, but I do understand that much).

How about Sales Tax instead of Income Tax?

No.  A sales tax is paid by all, despite their means or lack thereof.  An income tax is paid by those who can afford to pay.  Particularly, when sales tax is applied to necessities, like food, it is a bad idea.

We can debate various taxation schemes.  A progressive income tax may not be the best system, but it is better than most of those floated as alternatives.  I do think that our list of possible deductions should be critically and regularly reconsidered.  Simplifying the tax code while keeping appropriate incentives (not those that were appropriate twenty years ago but no longer) is a good idea.  Congress tends to have trouble letting any deduction go, so an independent panel should be convened every five years or so to make recommendations as to which deductions can be removed.

You won't find detailed answers from me as I am neither an Accountant nor an Attorney, just a taxpayer with a few, perhaps controversial, ideas and a strong belief in the United States of America.

Happy Tax Day!

Repudiation: Republicans Made the IRS Worse

The Internal Revenue Service has long been the butt of jokes and source of complaints.  I remember a friend being upset enough to change the t to an f, which resulted in his check being returned and having to pay a late filing fee; infernal, indeed.  Still, the IRS serves an important function and is composed of people who mostly endeavor to be fair to their fellow citizens.

Last year the budget slicing Republicans did not spare the IRS from their cuts.  The Obama administration had been increasing the budget for the IRS because every dollar spent on tax enforcement results in three to four dollars of revenue.  In other words, spending more on the IRS means saving money.

Of the $13.3 billion requested for the IRS in the president's FY 2012 budget, roughly $6 billion would go toward enforcement activities, an increase of $463 million over FY 2010 levels. Of note, $936 million of the $6 billion enforcement request would come from moving IRS funds around internally, which could help to make the budget increase more palatable to a Congress that appears intent on cutting spending. As the budget request notes, the move could also decrease future deficits.

Hoping to better deter taxpayers inclined to evade their responsibilities while also vigorously pursuing those who do, the IRS's enforcement activities have received steady budget increases under the Obama administration. Economists and federal tax analysts generally agree that for every dollar invested in enforcement actions, the federal government nets three to four dollars in additional revenue.

Speaker Boehner objected.  This is despite the fact that the additional funding to the IRS would have saved taxpayers money (except for cheaters who would be caught) and would have involved creating jobs, one of the Republican mantras that never seemed to be part of their legislation.

But when the White House released its budget in February, some Republicans expressed skepticism about giving the agency a roughly 9 percent funding increase over 2010 levels, which reportedly would add another 5,000 IRS employees. 

“'I’m from the IRS. I’m here to help you,'” Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) said at a House Budget Committee hearing shortly after President Obama’s budget was released. “That’s hard to sell in the state of Missouri.”

Despite the bad reputation of the IRS, it does endeavor to help people in Missouri and in the rest of the country.  Part of doing so is the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) of the IRS.  Save the link, it appears to be really useful.  TAS made its annual report to Congress yesterday.  Funding is the number one concern, the most serious problem at the IRS.

The most serious problem facing U.S. taxpayers is the combination of the IRS’s expanding workload and the limited resources available to the IRS to handle it.

Among the consequences:

1. The IRS is unable to adequately meet the service needs of the taxpaying public.
2. The IRS is unable to adequately detect and address noncompliance, requiring honest taxpayers to shoulder a disproportionately large share of the tax burden.
3. The IRS is unable to maximize revenue collection, contributing to the federal budget deficit.

The report highlights the complexity of the tax code, currently at around 3.8 million words.  More than five hundred changes are made by Congress each year.  Republicans are right that the code needs to be streamlined and simplified.  They are wrong to stifle the IRS in the interim.  From the conclusion of the most serious problem section:

The IRS does not have enough resources to handle its current workload. The lack of adequate funding for the IRS causes multiple problems. Taxpayers calling the IRS with tax-law questions often cannot get through, creating considerable frustration and potentially reducing compliance. Compliant taxpayers whose refunds are held up or who are audited do not receive timely responses to their phone calls and correspondence. The IRS lacks the resources to maximize revenue collection, thereby exacerbating the federal budget deficit. And compliant taxpayers who see that the IRS is not able to pursue noncompliant taxpayers adequately begin to feel like “tax chumps,” potentially making them less likely to comply in the future, particularly in the case of small business taxpayers for whom paying taxes may place them at a competitive disadvantage.

Instead of across the board cuts and endeavors to dismantle government, Republicans need to look at what is really happening and the effect on real taxpayers.  In this election season we are already hearing Republican contenders talking about broad fixes to government, mostly on a slash and burn basis.  We are getting hurt already by results of Republican broad cuts from last year.