General – Page 16 – an Uncensored Mind

Seattle’s new tax on the “rich”

Seattle’s city council is planning a new local income tax on the rich.

Actually, I’m OK with such local tax schemes because they result in local impacts that can be avoided by moving. Voting with your feet has always been a proper method of expressing dissatisfaction with local government, and when cities like Seattle pass laws that punish the “rich” they might find that the “rich” decide to go elsewhere. Competition/personal freedom at it’s best…

Frankly, these tax schemes are just a scam. The money will benefit no one but the local government, and then only through political empire building and cronyism. Think about it: let’s say they take all the money (for now assume no government overhead) and give it to those who are suffering from a “housing affordability” crisis (one of the stated purposes for the tax revenue is to address the affordable housing crisis). What will be the result? More people with more money will be competing for the same properties. What do you think will happen to the cost of housing? You guessed it – prices will go UP, and you’ll have a new and expensive government bureaucracy to thank for it.

Key excerpts from articles on this topic:

“Socialist council member Kshama Sawant, the other tax bill co-sponsor, said the city was already anticipating legal challenges…” (Ed: emphasis mine)

“Voters in the state have rejected personal income tax-related measures at the statewide ballot several times over the past eight decades.” (Ed: note that the Seattle tax was implemented via the city council, rather than a public vote)

“…62% of more than 700 voters opposed it in a KING-5 TV flash poll after the tax was approved.”

Why bother with surveillance cameras…

… if you can’t release the resulting videos for fear of what they show?

BART officials under fire for withholding crime surveillance videos to avoid racial stereotypes

Of course they do

Millennials want the “government” to forgive their student debt. This sentiment shows just how poorly we’ve educated the millennial generation (or, alternatively, how well we’ve indoctrinated them into socialist policies). They don’t realize that this debt is owed to the themselves, as future taxpayers. Forgiving student loan debt means they’ll have to tax themselves to make up the loss.

One industry advocate quoted in the article stated that student loan forgiveness “…would go a long way towards helping millennials feel stable enough to take the next steps in their financial lives…” Apparently, they can’t manage basic financial obligations without a meltdown. I wonder how they’ll deal with taxes…

You can’t make this stuff up.

If at first you don’t “succeed”…

The city counsel of Seattle is apparently unwilling to face reality.

Given that the researchers they selected at the University of Washington came to the “wrong” conclusion regarding Seattle’s minimum wage hike, they’ve decided to hire someone else. Enter the more liberal and labor-friendly University of California at Berkeley.

Someone should probably tell Seattle: when you forum-shop research, it becomes nothing more than propaganda.

An interesting quote….

… that is both popular and fitting. From U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez, issued as part of his decision to block the implementation of California’s hi-cap magazine ban:

“[The] constitution is a shield from the tyranny of the majority.”

Well said. Thanks, Roger.