Gov Otter: $200 million tax raise coming

The Idaho affiliate of the American Family Association

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Thursday, July 5, 2007

Bryan Fischer, Executive Director

For a printer-friendly version of today’s Update, please visit our website, Idaho Values Alliance.

LATEST IVA COLUMN ON RENEW AMERICA

Thomas's concurring opinion supports choice, local control in education

GOV. OTTER WANTS TO RAISE YOUR TAXES $200 MILLION

In an about-face that ought to alarm every Idaho family, Gov. Butch Otter told the Idaho Statesman that he is prepared to raise taxes on ordinary Idahoans by 200 million dollars. On the table are increases in our gasoline tax, vehicle registration fees, and “other potential sources,” whatever that means.

After taking a visible stand against growth in government through his stand-off with the legislature on the size of the capitol expansion, the governor now appears to have meekly surrendered on the subject of the tax burden on Idaho families.

The Idaho Statesman, whose definition of good legislation is that it expands the reach, power, and size of government, is of course pleased, and regards this as an indication that the governor is “growing” as a political leader. Says the Statesman’s breathless headline, “Otter grows into role as governor” by “realizing that fixing Idaho roads means higher taxes.”

Although the governor acknowledges that raising our taxes was hardly part of his “dream” for being our governor, the Statesman states flatly that he now “knows that’s exactly what he’s going to have to do.”

Says the governor, “I feel obligated right now to step forward and say, ‘Folks, I’m sorry, but we’ve got to have it.’”

Perceptively, the reporter (Gregory Hahn) says that six months into the governor’s term, “political watchers are wondering whether Otter’s philosophy (of lower taxes and smaller government) will change government, or the other way round.” This pronouncement may be an indication that we are beginning to get an answer to that question.

This is of a piece with an often-observed tendency for Idaho politicians to be more conservative in Washington, D.C. than they are in Boise, Idaho, perhaps because they are less insulated here from the yammering voices of the left.

Otter grows into role as governor | Idaho Statesman Eyepiece

TOWARD CHOICE IN EDUCATION

There are two fundamental keys to reforming Idaho’s education system: parental choice, and allowing education dollars to follow the child to the school of the parent’s choice.

Last week, the Louisiana House approved a policy that will grant tax deductions (note: not tax credits, which are preferable) for private and parochial school tuition.

Naturally, the public school establishment, fiercely protective of their monopoly on education and militantly opposed to parental choice and educational alternatives, blasted the move, with the teacher’s union president saying “It’s not government’s role to incentivize private education.”

Apparently the teacher’s union believes it is the government’s role to “incentivize” the status quo and unending job security for underperforming teachers and schools.

The sponsor of the bill was unrepentant, however, correctly noting that “It’s time for the teachers union to recognize that it’s time for some alternatives to funding public education.”

The Louisiana House evidently agrees with him, having approved his bill unanimously, 97-0. This bill now goes back to the state senate, which has already passed a similar version of the bill.

The bill was introduced as a tax credit bill, which would mean a dollar-for-dollar reduction in a family’s tax liability, and thus more meaningful, but the senate watered it down to a tax deduction.

Believing as we do in parental choice in education, the Idaho Values Alliance will co-host a reception on July 31 (at the Owhyee Plaza Hotel in downtown Boise) to honor the legacy of Milton Friedman, an economist who pioneered the school choice movement in 1955. Part of the evening will be devoted to a presentation from former state representative Henry Kulczyk of an education tax credit bill for Idaho’s families. We hope you will be able to join us!

Tuition tax break sails past House- NOLA.com

Idaho Values Alliance: Friedman Legacy for Freedom Reception

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BONUS BYTES

Ø A Louisiana judge has ruled that a portrait of an outstanding historical figure can remain in a Slidell courthouse unless a federal judge orders it removed. Since the historical figure is Jesus Christ, the secular fundamentalists of the ACLU have already filed suit against the portrait, and the judge in question cast about looking to “obtain a definitive ruling on the constitutionality of the display” but “I found none.” Of course, if the original intent of the Founders was observed, there would be no constitutional problem at all since the First Amendment was intended to apply only to Congress, and, well, Slidell, Louisiana is not Congress. The portrait has been on display without complaint since 1997. Anyway, the Supreme Court ruled in 2005, “Simply having religious content or promoting a message consistent with a religious doctrine does not run afoul of the Establishment clause.” The Alliance Defense Fund will defend the portrait. (CitizenLink: Louisiana Judge Says Portrait of Jesus Will Stay; ACLU sues city over Jesus painting - Yahoo! News)

Ø Gov. Mitt Romney, as even USA Today acknowledged yesterday, will be facing a new round of questions this week regarding his time as a board member of the Marriott hotel chain. Romney served on the board from 1993 until 2002, receiving $100,000 a year for his services, during which time the chain made tens of millions of dollars in profit from pay-per-view sex videos available to guests through its in-room entertainment offerings. Romney has said on the campaign trail that “Pornography and violence poison our music and movies and television and video games.” The questions Romney will face will have to with what, if anything, he did during his decade on the Marriott board to reduce the flow of pornography into the hearts and minds of the hotel’s customers. The chairman of the Marriott board described him in 2002 as an “active, hands-on Director.” Omni Hotels removed adult pay-per-view movies from its guest room televisions in 1999 because, according to a company executive, it was “the right thing to do.” (Brody File: Questions about Romney's Ties to Marriott Hotel Chain - The Brody File: David Brody Blog - CBN News)

Ø Now that the amnesty bill is dead, immigration expert Michelle Malkin believes it’s time we listened once again to the wisdom of our Founding Fathers on the importance of the assimilation of immigrants. George Washington, for instance, said that immigrants should be absorbed into American life so that “by an intermixture with our people, they, or their descendants, get assimilation to our customs, measures, laws: in a word soon become one people.” James Madison said America should exclude any immigrant who would not readily “incorporate himself into our society.” Alexander Hamilton pointed out that, “The safety of a republic depends essentially on the energy of a common national sentiment, a uniformity of principles and habits.” Hamilton went on, “To admit foreigners indiscriminately to the rights of citizens the moment they put foot in our country would be nothing less than to admit the Grecian horse into the citadel of our liberty and sovereignty.”

Ø One of Hamilton’s statements is worth quoting in full, for he touches on the danger to our national security posed by unassimilated foreigners who have no allegiance to American history, identity, customs, or principles. "The United States have already felt the evils of incorporating a large number of foreigners into their national mass; by promoting in different classes different predilections in favor of particular foreign nations, and antipathies against others, it has served very much to divide the community and to distract our councils. It has been often likely to compromise the interests of our own country in favor of another. The permanent effect of such a policy will be, that in times of great public danger there will be always a numerous body of men, of whom there may be just grounds of distrust; the suspicion alone will weaken the strength of the nation, but their force may be actually employed in assisting an invader." (Townhall.com::The Forgotten "A" Word: Assimilation::By Michelle Malkin)

Ø The Judeo-Christian tradition teaches that God will bless those nations which bless the physical and spiritual descendants of Abraham. This means that if we care about the future of Iraq, our military involvement there will ultimately prove fruitless unless we leave behind a government that is determined to protect genuine religious liberty for both Jews and Christians. Even the Boston Globe, however, is reporting that Christians in Baghdad are being forced out by the thousands, given the stark choice by Muslims of either converting to Islam, paying a submission tax, or “you can leave your house and we will help you take out your furniture.” Five hundred Christian families left one section of the city in April and May alone. Things have gotten noticeably worse since October of 2006, when Al Qaeda announced the formation of the “Islamic State of Iraq,” which among other things prohibits men from wearing pants and women from possessing cell phones. (Exodus of Christians hits Baghdad district - The Boston Globe)

Ø Excerpts from a letter to a Colorado newspaper, in response to the imminent removal of a single tree so that a power line could be relocated: “I stood there reverently in front of it this morning, crying quietly at the thought of another life being lost. It stands so beautifully, with full and lush leaves, so very tall and graceful. The serenity I felt in its presence rooted me to the spot. I have no idea whether it is somehow aware, in its way, that it has been sentenced to die, or that there are those who cry at the thought of that. I think of trees as our teachers and am reminded of great teachers in the past who were sentenced to die because of our ignorance. I am grateful that it has touched my life while it is still alive. May the spirit and wisdom of this tree live on long after it is gone from our sight.” (The Coloradoan: Pray for a tree)

Ø The latest complaint by environmentalists is that humans are greedily using up too much of the sun’s energy, and not leaving enough for our plant friends. Researchers, equating the human species with every other species, say that humans are using too much of the earth’s productivity “to meet the needs and wants of one species.” The worst offenders are found in southern Asia, who according to environmentalists, use 63% of the energy captured by plants. Since most of this energy consumption is due to the harvesting of crops, essentially these environmentalists are saying that it is an ecological crime for southern Asians to eat. (Human greed takes lion's share of solar energy - smh.com.au)

Ø In what may prove to be the death knell for our obsession with ethanol, researchers are now saying that the current fascination with biofuels is raising the cost of beer. This is because, thanks to the 51 cent-a-gallon subsidy you and I are coughing up for ethanol, more farmers are plowing under barley fields to grow corn. Five states – including Idaho – have planted 22 percent less barley this year than last. (The Denver Post - Ethanol leads to increased beer cost)

Ø Quote of the day, from veteran left wing German philosopher Jurgen Habermas: “Christianity, and nothing else, is the ultimate foundation of liberty, conscience, human rights, and democracy, the benchmarks of Western civilization. To this day, we have no other options [than Christianity]. We continue to nourish ourselves from this source. Everything else is postmodern chatter.”