Post by brassmonkey on Oct 30, 2008 13:13:13 GMT -5
Small Government News*
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Vote YES on 1! End the Massachusetts Income Tax!
Publisher: Carla Howell
Editor: Michael Cloud
===========================================================
IN THIS ISSUE ===========================================================
- Why Are the Teachers Unions Ignoring, Denying, and Refusing to Cut
These Billions of Dollars in Massachusetts Government Waste?
- At-a-Glance Comparison: Government Worker Retirement VS. Private
Sector Worker Retirement
- Documentation and Sources for Some of the Government Waste
===========================================================
WHY ARE THE TEACHERS UNIONS IGNORING, DENYING, AND REFUSING TO CUT THESE
BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNMENT WASTE?
By Michael Cloud and Carla Howell ===========================================================
Government Waste Causes Your High Taxes.
Yet the Teachers Unions and their anti-Question 1 allies refuse to
acknowledge or address the billions and billions of dollars in
Massachusetts government waste.
The Teachers Unions are trying to terrorize voters with visions of 40%
to 80% layoffs and shut downs of police, fire fighters, ambulances,
9-1-1 emergency services, and other highly-prized government personnel
and services.
The Teachers Unions know full well that Question 1 will simply cut state
government spending from $47 billion to $35 billion – our 1999 level.
Teachers Unions are praying you’ll never learn that 36% of the combined
$70 billion in city, town and state government spending fully funds all
of these government services at their current level:
· public schools
· road construction, repair and maintenance
· colleges and universities
· police officers
· fire fighters
· 9-1-1 emergency services
· snow plowing
· trash pick-up
· payments on the state government’s debt
· lottery prize winnings
· courts
· prisons
· and all constitutionally-mandated offices
…with a few bucks left over for graft and patronage.
All of these services are funded at 100% of today’s level with only 36%
of Massachusetts government spending.
So why are the Teachers Unions and their allies threatening your family
with firing and shutting down these essential services?
Remember the story of the baby and the dirty bathwater?
(http://tinyurl.com/5jdcyb )
Why are the Teachers Unions campaigning against Ballot Question 1 by
threatening to hurt the baby?
Why are they ferociously opposing our proposal to throw out ONLY the
dirty bathwater?
Again and again, opposition spokespeople – led by the husband of Rosanne
Bacon Meade, former President of the Massachusetts Teachers Association
- claim,
“Carla Howell and the supporters of Ballot Question 1 can’t even show us
$2 billion in waste in state government spending.”
Again and again, we cite billions and billions in government waste.
But they seem to suffer from Government Waste Amnesia – and raise their
discredited challenge at the next debate.
Once again, here’s a partial list of Massachusetts government waste.
Because the Massachusetts state government refuses to "Show You the Tax
Money," refuses to open the books on government finances, this list of
state government waste is only the tip of the garbage heap.
All of the information was exposed by Massachusetts newspapers - who
sometimes get access to income and spending numbers.
Here's a partial list of Massachusetts state government waste we would
cut – while ENDing the state income tax:
* $138.7 million tax subsidy to millionaire movie stars and millionaire
movie directors.
* $1 billion in tax subsidies to multi-billion dollar bio-tech
pharmaceutical corporations – to bring more of them to Massachusetts.
($100 million paid each year for 10 years.)
* $2.55 billion MORE waste added this year to the retirement pay for
retired state government employees. Despite the fact that they get twice
to three times the retirement income of private sector retirees. Despite
the fact that government employees retire 13 years younger than private
sector retirees. Who’s forced to pay the $2.55 billion increase? You and
your co-workers. Private sector taxpayers.
* $3 billion to $6 billion waste per year in retirement pay - excessive
and outrageous over-payment - to retired state government employees,
city and town government employees, and public school teachers and other
school employees. We can and we should engage in good faith
re-negotiations of the terms and money of all government employee
pensions - and give back the outrageous overcharges to taxpayers.
* $330 million waste and overpayment to toll collectors. $70,000 a year
paid to toll collectors – plus plush benefits. Plus full retirement pay
of $50,000 a year at age 54. For unskilled labor – counting and making
change – that require only a 5th grade education. Cut toll booth
collector pay in half – to $35,000 a year. Give back the $15 million a
year excess pay to taxpayers. And give back the $315 million in
excessive retirement pay - caused by the $35,000 in overpayment each
year for toll collectors.
* $200 million high school being built in Newton, Massachusetts. A large
fraction funded out of the state government budget.
* $300 million to $600 million worth of unnecessary, over-built, and
overpriced local public school construction in the just the last few
years – hundreds of millions of dollars out of the taxes we pay to the
state government.
* $80 million to $100 million a year in overpayment, excess, and waste
for road safety flaggers by Massachusetts town, city, and state governments.
This is just the tip of the garbage heap.
We must open the government’s books. Expose all the nitty-gritty
government waste. The sheer embarrassment of it will force the
legislature to announce billions of dollars in immediate cuts.
What's worse than government waste?
Financing government waste.
Paying interest and finance fees on government waste.
Every billion dollars of government waste that gets financed by tax
bonds ends up costing taxpayers an additional billion dollars.
Waste Financed is Waste Doubled. And the tax costs doubled.
Proof? The Big Dig: the over-promised, under-delivered, massively
wasteful government construction project. The Big Dig proves that waste
financed doubles the cost of the waste. The Massachusetts state
government still owes $13.83 billion for the Big Dig. $6.81 billion of
the debt is for the construction – and $7.02 billion is for finance
charges and interest!
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Vote YES on 1! End the Massachusetts Income Tax!
Publisher: Carla Howell
Editor: Michael Cloud
===========================================================
IN THIS ISSUE ===========================================================
- Why Are the Teachers Unions Ignoring, Denying, and Refusing to Cut
These Billions of Dollars in Massachusetts Government Waste?
- At-a-Glance Comparison: Government Worker Retirement VS. Private
Sector Worker Retirement
- Documentation and Sources for Some of the Government Waste
===========================================================
WHY ARE THE TEACHERS UNIONS IGNORING, DENYING, AND REFUSING TO CUT THESE
BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNMENT WASTE?
By Michael Cloud and Carla Howell ===========================================================
Government Waste Causes Your High Taxes.
Yet the Teachers Unions and their anti-Question 1 allies refuse to
acknowledge or address the billions and billions of dollars in
Massachusetts government waste.
The Teachers Unions are trying to terrorize voters with visions of 40%
to 80% layoffs and shut downs of police, fire fighters, ambulances,
9-1-1 emergency services, and other highly-prized government personnel
and services.
The Teachers Unions know full well that Question 1 will simply cut state
government spending from $47 billion to $35 billion – our 1999 level.
Teachers Unions are praying you’ll never learn that 36% of the combined
$70 billion in city, town and state government spending fully funds all
of these government services at their current level:
· public schools
· road construction, repair and maintenance
· colleges and universities
· police officers
· fire fighters
· 9-1-1 emergency services
· snow plowing
· trash pick-up
· payments on the state government’s debt
· lottery prize winnings
· courts
· prisons
· and all constitutionally-mandated offices
…with a few bucks left over for graft and patronage.
All of these services are funded at 100% of today’s level with only 36%
of Massachusetts government spending.
So why are the Teachers Unions and their allies threatening your family
with firing and shutting down these essential services?
Remember the story of the baby and the dirty bathwater?
(http://tinyurl.com/5jdcyb )
Why are the Teachers Unions campaigning against Ballot Question 1 by
threatening to hurt the baby?
Why are they ferociously opposing our proposal to throw out ONLY the
dirty bathwater?
Again and again, opposition spokespeople – led by the husband of Rosanne
Bacon Meade, former President of the Massachusetts Teachers Association
- claim,
“Carla Howell and the supporters of Ballot Question 1 can’t even show us
$2 billion in waste in state government spending.”
Again and again, we cite billions and billions in government waste.
But they seem to suffer from Government Waste Amnesia – and raise their
discredited challenge at the next debate.
Once again, here’s a partial list of Massachusetts government waste.
Because the Massachusetts state government refuses to "Show You the Tax
Money," refuses to open the books on government finances, this list of
state government waste is only the tip of the garbage heap.
All of the information was exposed by Massachusetts newspapers - who
sometimes get access to income and spending numbers.
Here's a partial list of Massachusetts state government waste we would
cut – while ENDing the state income tax:
* $138.7 million tax subsidy to millionaire movie stars and millionaire
movie directors.
* $1 billion in tax subsidies to multi-billion dollar bio-tech
pharmaceutical corporations – to bring more of them to Massachusetts.
($100 million paid each year for 10 years.)
* $2.55 billion MORE waste added this year to the retirement pay for
retired state government employees. Despite the fact that they get twice
to three times the retirement income of private sector retirees. Despite
the fact that government employees retire 13 years younger than private
sector retirees. Who’s forced to pay the $2.55 billion increase? You and
your co-workers. Private sector taxpayers.
* $3 billion to $6 billion waste per year in retirement pay - excessive
and outrageous over-payment - to retired state government employees,
city and town government employees, and public school teachers and other
school employees. We can and we should engage in good faith
re-negotiations of the terms and money of all government employee
pensions - and give back the outrageous overcharges to taxpayers.
* $330 million waste and overpayment to toll collectors. $70,000 a year
paid to toll collectors – plus plush benefits. Plus full retirement pay
of $50,000 a year at age 54. For unskilled labor – counting and making
change – that require only a 5th grade education. Cut toll booth
collector pay in half – to $35,000 a year. Give back the $15 million a
year excess pay to taxpayers. And give back the $315 million in
excessive retirement pay - caused by the $35,000 in overpayment each
year for toll collectors.
* $200 million high school being built in Newton, Massachusetts. A large
fraction funded out of the state government budget.
* $300 million to $600 million worth of unnecessary, over-built, and
overpriced local public school construction in the just the last few
years – hundreds of millions of dollars out of the taxes we pay to the
state government.
* $80 million to $100 million a year in overpayment, excess, and waste
for road safety flaggers by Massachusetts town, city, and state governments.
This is just the tip of the garbage heap.
We must open the government’s books. Expose all the nitty-gritty
government waste. The sheer embarrassment of it will force the
legislature to announce billions of dollars in immediate cuts.
What's worse than government waste?
Financing government waste.
Paying interest and finance fees on government waste.
Every billion dollars of government waste that gets financed by tax
bonds ends up costing taxpayers an additional billion dollars.
Waste Financed is Waste Doubled. And the tax costs doubled.
Proof? The Big Dig: the over-promised, under-delivered, massively
wasteful government construction project. The Big Dig proves that waste
financed doubles the cost of the waste. The Massachusetts state
government still owes $13.83 billion for the Big Dig. $6.81 billion of
the debt is for the construction – and $7.02 billion is for finance
charges and interest!
