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At 9:52 AM -0600 2/20/04, Mary Baker wrote:
I would also like to contest that making over $50,000 is CEO level. It's not
I think I am gonna join Chuck here and just go out and shoot myself. I will make second attempt and then enough already.
PROGRESSIVE TAX, means those at the lower end of the scale pay very little, those on the upper end will pay exponentially more. So a person making $50,000-100,000 TAXABLE income is probably gonna pay a couple of cents. Someone making $1 Million and more will pay EXPONENTIALLY MORE, as in THOUSANDS of DOLLARS.
Some of John Birrenbach's comments confuse me - on the one hand, all these people working in downtown are so rich on their fat salaries that they are arrogant and full of themselves... "rich clowns". On the other hand, they have very limited lunch periods and aren't able to leave downtown to eat. Which is it? Are they overly powerful or totally powerless?
I guess either I am not writing correctly or your not reading what I said. The average person who makes the lower end salaries on the MAYORS plan to tax Food and Drinks would have had to pay for this thing, as they do not have the access to leave DT for their lunches.
CEO's and those with large Paychecks and lots of perks to go along with it have all the choices in the cities where to have their lunch, so they can effectively avoid the tax. That leaves the regular office worker paying the bill so their bosses can sit in a skybox and watch a game.
DO YOU UNDERSTAND NOW.
As for who I'd like to see squeal, I'd like to see the people who plan to go to the stadium pay for it by voluntary contributions (tickets, seat fees, donations, whatever).
But you see they are not the ones who are pushing this thing for DT. It's a small minority of Chamber of Commerce, The Mayor and the richest cronies who are pushing for it. If they want to push for it then lets see if they are willing to pay for it. They are not willing to pay for it either.
I do appreciate that such a manuever has shown the two-faced nature of this funding discussion, though that was already quite apparent to me.
BUT it is not apparent to everyone else, now thanks to the Press coverage about it EVERYONE knows. The pushers for the Stadium are fine with YOU paying for it, they are not fine with themselves paying for it.
Let me attempt to again make this perfectly clear. Dave is not in favor of a stadium and is doing what he can to Kill this thing Once and For All. He is as tired of them coming to us each year for how long now, saying Build it we will come, as you and I are.
No other Council member took the time to call the Restaurants and find the RAW data that there was NO support for it. Do you think Ms. Nelson would have done that if she was elected? No she would have just said what the Deputy Mayor has said, that there is support for it. When in fact there isn't any support, when you start talking about taking their (which ever group is gonna be taxed) money.
That act of calling the people who would have to collect the sales tax, forced the Mayor to say well then we need to have a VOTE OF THE PEOPLE to decide. Boy he sure changed his tune fast once the REAL DATA was shown. No other council member took this on to get the RAW DATA, Dave did.
No other council member is attempting to show that even the Rich CEO's who would use the Skyboxes are willing to pay for the thing our of their pockets either.
So if the little guys are not in favor of paying for it, and the rich guys are not in favor of paying for it, then I guess there really isn't all this support for this monster that the Mayor, the Chamber, and those pushing for it say there is, now is there.
They can not say there is support when ever an "IDEA" is floated and Dave gets it shot down with REAL DATA, not made up data like the Mayor and Chamber and stadium backers say there is and use.
This is politics, get used to it, or get out of it. Remember, IT IS ALL ABOUT THE GAME AND HOW YOU PLAY IT, IT'S ALL ABOUT CONTROL AND IF YOU CAN TAKE IT.
Dave is playing the game, Dave is taking Control and in the process showing everyone THERE IS NO SUPPORT FOR PUBLICLY FUNDED STADIUMS, NO MATTER WHICH GROUP YOU WANT TO PAY FOR IT.
Everyone needs to give Dave a bit more credit and THINK about what is really going on. It's the game of politics played better than I have seen most play it in a long time. Mayor says there is support for a Tax on Food and Beverages, Dave PROVES that is wrong. Now he is proving that even the Rich people do not want to pay for it.
You may think that Dave is going against his campaign promises, in fact the opposite is true. He is doing everything he can to show these Stadium Clowns that this is NOT gonna fly, no one is willing to pay for it. If no one is willing to pay for it, then it is a dead deal, and maybe just maybe we will not spend our time and energy, year after year, going after something that is not gonna happen.
The only one who hasn't figured this out, but might be getting a clue now, is the Mayor and the Stadium pushers, and maybe a few readers of this list who think that Dave is selling out. He is not he is just being very smart and Playing the Game like no one else.
Before you jump on Dave, maybe people otta be jumping on their Council member and ask them WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO STOP THIS THING? From what I have seen the rest are doing nothing cause it's a DT Ward 2 Thing. Maybe they should be holding some community meetings and find out for themselves that their constituents are not in favor of it, or another Vote on it, and Help Dave put an end to this madness.
-- Sincerely, John Birrenbach [EMAIL PROTECTED]
"Six years on the council has trained me to feign interest for long periods of time" Chris Coleman Jan 21, 2004
W 7th Neighborhood, St Paul MN
Political & Business Consulting http://www.birrenbach.com/
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