Monday, December 24, 2007
Stupid Quote of the Day
In an article headlined "Patrick: Erasing income tax is dumb" tax critic Carla Howell effectively makes the Guv's point for him:
There is something that doesn't smell quite right about Ms. Howell's group. If I can find the time, I think some digging into her group's funding and looking for a Tom DeLay style money laundering operation might be in order. A few years back, Grover Norquist's group, Americans For Tax Reform, got into a messy situation for funneling unlimited tax-deductible donations back to heavily regulated state level groups trying to pass drown-it-in-a-bathtub tax reforms as well as create "get out the vote" movements for conservatives.
Could Romney's Presidential campaign be trying to proactively prevent an embarrassing November '08 loss for the former Governor in his so-called "home state" by getting the anti-tax folks worked up? Now that the Gay Marriage Amendment is off the ballot, is the Romney campaign looking for something else to mobilize the Massachusetts GOP?
For legal reasons, let me be clear; I am not accusing anybody of anything other than being stupid. But there are certainly questions that this movement and it's timing raises. I'm just asking.....
Also, on a topic more germane to the income tax, would Dan and/or Ben be willing to comment on just how much of the state budget is allocated by law and how much is discretionary? Just how much *is* there to cut without opening prison doors and cutting school funding? ¶ 4:37 PM
Carla Howell of the Committee for Small Government said that there is plenty to cut in the state budget, and that the ballot question would give lawmakers the incentive to get down to work.Emphasis mine.
"They need to spend the money they have right and cut all the waste and the damaging and destructive programs out of the state government that do more harm
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than good," she said. "If they do that, we will have 20 times more than we need for roads and bridges"
Asked to point to a damaging or destructive program that should be cut, Howell declined to answer, saying that the burden of proof is on lawmakers to justify each program.
There is something that doesn't smell quite right about Ms. Howell's group. If I can find the time, I think some digging into her group's funding and looking for a Tom DeLay style money laundering operation might be in order. A few years back, Grover Norquist's group, Americans For Tax Reform, got into a messy situation for funneling unlimited tax-deductible donations back to heavily regulated state level groups trying to pass drown-it-in-a-bathtub tax reforms as well as create "get out the vote" movements for conservatives.
Could Romney's Presidential campaign be trying to proactively prevent an embarrassing November '08 loss for the former Governor in his so-called "home state" by getting the anti-tax folks worked up? Now that the Gay Marriage Amendment is off the ballot, is the Romney campaign looking for something else to mobilize the Massachusetts GOP?
For legal reasons, let me be clear; I am not accusing anybody of anything other than being stupid. But there are certainly questions that this movement and it's timing raises. I'm just asking.....
Also, on a topic more germane to the income tax, would Dan and/or Ben be willing to comment on just how much of the state budget is allocated by law and how much is discretionary? Just how much *is* there to cut without opening prison doors and cutting school funding? ¶ 4:37 PM
