• Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for April 18th on 13:43

    These are my links for April 18th from 13:43 to 13:47:

    • Former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement will defend DOMA – Speaker John Boehner announced that former Bush administration Solicitor General Paul Clement will defend the Defense of Marriage Act on behalf of the House of Representatives, in the wake of the Justice Department's decision to no longer defend the law.

      "At last we have a legal eagle on this case who actually wants to win in court! Paul Clement is a genuinely distinguished lawyer, a former solicitor general of the United States, who we are confident will win this case. Thanks to Speaker Boehner's actions, President Obama's attempt to sabotage the legal defense of DOMA is not going to work," said Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, in a release.

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      See President Obama's pattern?

      Fight like mad for legislation and when you lose either ignore the law with signing statements or refuse to defend it when the Left challenges it on court.

      How Undemocratic, right?

    • Arthur B. Laffer: The 30-Cent Tax Premium – WSJ.com – There is a lot more to taxes than simply paying the bill. Taxpayers must spend significantly more than $1 in order to provide $1 of income-tax revenue to the federal government.

      To start with, individuals and businesses must pay the government the $1 in revenue plus the costs of their own time spent filing and complying with the tax code; plus the tax collection costs of the IRS; plus the tax compliance outlays that individuals and businesses pay to help them file their taxes.

      In a study published last week by the Laffer Center, my colleagues Wayne Winegarden, John Childs and I estimate that these costs alone are a staggering $431 billion annually. This is a cost markup of 30 cents on every dollar paid in taxes. And this is not even a complete accounting of the costs of tax complexity.

      Like taxes themselves, tax-compliance costs change people's behavior. Taxpayers, whether individuals or businesses, respond to taxes and tax-compliance costs by changing the composition of their income, the location of their income, the timing of their income, and the volume of their income. So long as the cost of changing one's income is lower than the taxes saved, the taxpayer will engage in these types of tax-avoidance activities.

      A complete accounting of compliance costs would also include the efficiency losses created when individuals and businesses invest in tax-avoidance activities that lower their tax liability at the expense of creating more jobs and economic growth. These lost opportunities are impossible to measure but could be the largest cost of all.

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      Read it all

  • Chuck DeVore,  Tom McClintock

    CA-Sen: Tom McClintock’s Radio Ad Doesn’t Mention Chuck DeVore’s Support for Disastrous California Budget

    Representative Tom McClintock on Chuck DeVore for U.S. Senate

    But, Tom aren’t your comments a bit hypocritical in that Chuck DeVore voted for the disastrous California budget that you voted against?

    But, Chuck, this is not what you were saying in 2005 when you were supporting the California Governator and voting for his 2005-2006 state budget.

    So, the question is:

    Is Chuck DeVore a fiscal conservative? Well, not in 2005 when DeVore voted for California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s disastrous budget. You remember the 2005-2006 budget that my then State Senator Tom McClintock opposed.

    I am sorry to interrupt the chorus of self-congratulations, but I feel compelled to state an obvious fact – that this budget is $6 billion out of balance; that the state’s chronic deficit spending is getting worse, not better; and that the growth of general fund spending is growing and not shrinking.Nor can I join applauding the “painstaking negotiations” that have produced this document. The fact is, in May the Governor proposed spending $88 billion (General Fund), the Democrats countered at $89 billion, and they have now compromised at $90 billion. I suppose it is a blessing that the negotiations didn’t go on any longer.

    Let me run through the vital statistics of this spending plan. According to the Legislative Analyst’s Office in June, inflation and population will grow 5 percent and revenue will grow 6 percent. But according to the budget staff analysis, spending will grow by 10 percent. That makes it measurably worse than the plan the Senate rejected on June 15th.

    On June 15th, we rejected a $5 billion operating deficit. This budget spends $90 and takes in only $84 — for a SIX BILLION DOLLAR shortfall – THIS YEAR.

    On June 15th, we rejected a 9 percent increase in state spending. This budget is a 10 percent increase – averaging 7 ½ percent over the last two years. Spending increases under the Davis administration averaged 7 percent.

    Let me repeat: This budget spends $6 billion more than we take in. Last year we spent $2 billion more than we took in. That means that this year’s operating deficit is THREE TIMES bigger than last year’s.

    Now, I’m sorry to throw cold water on the celebration, but that is not progress. That is the opposite of progress.

    And yet, once again, we’re told that the budget is balanced. But the blunt truth is that it is only balanced with borrowed funds carried over from last year.

    And, a budget that the Howard Jarvis TaxPayers Association called overspending:

    “Overall, we’re pleased there’s not been any broad increase in taxes,” said Jon Coupal, executive director of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and a frequent adviser to the governor. “We do wish the administration would cut spending more but we understand given the makeup of the Legislature, that’s a difficult thing to do.”

    Chuck DeVore is just like every other career politician, like CongressmanTom McClintock.

    Strongest voice for fiscal conservatism is NOT Chuck DeVore – no matter what you say, Tom.