Victoria Heller wrote: When did self-sufficiency become a "conservative" view? Does that mean that the "liberal" view is dependency?
Many states including Texas, Florida, Nevada, and others have NO INCOME TAX at all. I wonder how they survive. [Jack Kryst] Poorly. Here are some excerpts from Governing magazines current state by state analysis. For those who like to spice their arguments with facts the full article and state by state analysis can be found at: www.governing.com follow the links. [Texas] I think we're heading for a train wreck in Texas," Bill Ratliff says. A state senator and former lieutenant governor, Ratliff is known for his candor. But even so, it is a startling thing for a powerful official to say. . . . - Texas may be short by as much as $10 billion to $12 billion. Texas has no personal income tax, and its sales tax sits uncomfortably near the top of the U.S. charts. As a result, its structure is extremely regressive. A loophole in the business franchise tax allows corporations to evade it with relative ease by restructuring into limited partnerships. The combined result is a state fiscal system whose problems stretch far beyond any current ones caused by the national economic slump. "We're starting to hemorrhage," Ratliff warns. [Florida] . . . The state constitution prohibits enactment of an individual income tax, so Florida depends on general and selective sales taxes for about three-quarters of its revenue. This, inevitably, means the state is extremely regressive. Meanwhile, corporate taxes have declined, the estate tax is being phased out, and ballot initiatives and court decisions have mandated billions in additional spending. Forty years ago, when the state's population was about 5 million, tourism provided enough sales tax money to finance most of what the government wanted to do. Now, with triple the population, milking hotel guests and restaurant diners won't balance the budget anymore. "It's pretty darn hard to run the 2002 state government on a 1949 engine," says John McKay, Florida's former Senate president. [Nevada] Nevada has long been aware that there's something out of whack in its tax system. "If you look in the dictionary under structural deficit," the state's director of administration mused a couple of years ago, "I guess the state seal of Nevada ought to be right there by the definition." Jack Kryst King Field -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-== "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent." ~ Salvor Hardin TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
