The Current Events, News, and Politics Thread
05-29-2012, 09:40 AM
#2124
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More from CA:
Calif. 9/11 fund raided for deficits
Calif. 9/11 fund raided for deficits
After the 2001 terrorist attacks, California lawmakers sought a way to channel the patriotic fervor and use it to help victims' families and law enforcement. Their answer: specialty memorial license plates emblazoned with the words, "We Will Never Forget."
Part of the money raised through the sale of the plates was to fund scholarships for the children of California residents who perished in the attacks, while the majority — 85 percent — was to help fund anti-terrorism efforts.
But an Associated Press review of the $15 million collected since lawmakers approved the "California Memorial Scholarship Program" shows only a small fraction of the money went to scholarships. While 40 percent has funded anti-terror training programs, $3 million was raided by Gov. Jerry Brown and his predecessor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, to plug the state's budget deficit.
Millions more have been spent on budget items with little relation to direct threats of terrorism, including livestock diseases and workplace safety.
Moreover, the California Department of Motor Vehicles has been advertising the plates as helping the children of Sept. 11 victims even though the state stopped funding the scholarship program seven years ago. The specialty plate fund continues to take in $1.5 million a year.
Californians who lost loved ones in the attacks take the raid on the license plate fund as an affront to the memory of those who died.
Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/news/artic...#ixzz1wGXt2uh6
Part of the money raised through the sale of the plates was to fund scholarships for the children of California residents who perished in the attacks, while the majority — 85 percent — was to help fund anti-terrorism efforts.
But an Associated Press review of the $15 million collected since lawmakers approved the "California Memorial Scholarship Program" shows only a small fraction of the money went to scholarships. While 40 percent has funded anti-terror training programs, $3 million was raided by Gov. Jerry Brown and his predecessor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, to plug the state's budget deficit.
Millions more have been spent on budget items with little relation to direct threats of terrorism, including livestock diseases and workplace safety.
Moreover, the California Department of Motor Vehicles has been advertising the plates as helping the children of Sept. 11 victims even though the state stopped funding the scholarship program seven years ago. The specialty plate fund continues to take in $1.5 million a year.
Californians who lost loved ones in the attacks take the raid on the license plate fund as an affront to the memory of those who died.
Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/news/artic...#ixzz1wGXt2uh6
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05-29-2012, 10:06 AM
#2125
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more on that laffer curve myth:
Escape From New York? High-Taxing Empire State Loses 3.4 Million Residents in 10 Years
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/esca...dents-10-years
Escape From New York? High-Taxing Empire State Loses 3.4 Million Residents in 10 Years
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/esca...dents-10-years
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05-29-2012, 02:50 PM
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Florida and Texas are the winners!(?) At least on paper. I am sure a significant number of the highest net worth NY and CA expatriates only have residence in FL for about 184 days per year.
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05-29-2012, 03:44 PM
#2128
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Other winners:
Last week Governor Sam Brownback continued the post-2010 reform trend among GOP Governors by signing the biggest tax cut in Kansas history. The plan chops the state income tax rate to 4.9% from 6.45% and eliminates income taxes on about 190,000 Kansas small businesses. …Mr. Brownback says the income tax cut will put Kansas “on a road to faster growth.” Although no one in Europe or the White House agrees with the philosophy, tax-cut initiatives have been spreading in the states. Already this year Tennessee has eliminated its gift and estate tax, Arizona has cut its capital gains tax (to 3.4% from 4.54%), and Idaho and Nebraska have cut income tax rates. Oklahoma is expected to cut tax rates. The tax cutting Governors all say they hope to be more like no-income-tax Texas, which has far outpaced other states in job creation.
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05-29-2012, 04:02 PM
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Indeed.
I can't really speak for Texas, but I grew up in Florida.
To grab one specific example at random, at my high school, none of the classes actually had enough textbooks for every student to have their own copy. Instead, there was a single classroom set, and if you needed to take one home in the evening (eg, to do homework) you had to check out a copy at the end of the school day. There were no sign-up lists, so it was simply first-come, first-serve, thus making it necessary to plan ahead and prioritize the order in which you planned your mad-dash route, knowing that at least some of the books would be gone by the time you got there.
We also had virtually no business or industry to go along with our zero income-tax. So that worked well.
I can't really speak for Texas, but I grew up in Florida.
To grab one specific example at random, at my high school, none of the classes actually had enough textbooks for every student to have their own copy. Instead, there was a single classroom set, and if you needed to take one home in the evening (eg, to do homework) you had to check out a copy at the end of the school day. There were no sign-up lists, so it was simply first-come, first-serve, thus making it necessary to plan ahead and prioritize the order in which you planned your mad-dash route, knowing that at least some of the books would be gone by the time you got there.
We also had virtually no business or industry to go along with our zero income-tax. So that worked well.
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05-29-2012, 06:22 PM
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I think you may have taken my point a way other than it was intended. In NYC, relying on an income tax depends on the income earned there being taxed there. If someone has a FL residency setup, NYC loses out on 100% of the income tax earned in NYC. If that same someone spends 6 weeks at their home on Star Island, FL picks up (virtually) all of the sales tax involved while they are in FL.
The same goes with all of the tourists from China, Brazil, Germany, the UK, etc.
Where did you grow up - the outskirts of Okeechobee or Hialeah? I went to lots of public schools, from Jacksonville to Golden Gate, and there was never a situation like that. Heck, I would have loved it if I did not have to lug home 30 pounds of books.
Again, I can't speak for your town then, but Florida today has quite a bit of business and industry. I don't know how to quantify it, but unless you are involved in those industries (or a supplier to them), it's easy to overlook.
The same goes with all of the tourists from China, Brazil, Germany, the UK, etc.
Indeed.
I can't really speak for Texas, but I grew up in Florida.
To grab one specific example at random, at my high school, none of the classes actually had enough textbooks for every student to have their own copy. Instead, there was a single classroom set, and if you needed to take one home in the evening (eg, to do homework) you had to check out a copy at the end of the school day. There were no sign-up lists, so it was simply first-come, first-serve, thus making it necessary to plan ahead and prioritize the order in which you planned your mad-dash route, knowing that at least some of the books would be gone by the time you got there.
I can't really speak for Texas, but I grew up in Florida.
To grab one specific example at random, at my high school, none of the classes actually had enough textbooks for every student to have their own copy. Instead, there was a single classroom set, and if you needed to take one home in the evening (eg, to do homework) you had to check out a copy at the end of the school day. There were no sign-up lists, so it was simply first-come, first-serve, thus making it necessary to plan ahead and prioritize the order in which you planned your mad-dash route, knowing that at least some of the books would be gone by the time you got there.
We also had virtually no business or industry to go along with our zero income-tax. So that worked well.
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05-29-2012, 06:54 PM
#2134
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No, I'm from Port Charlotte, which is on the gulf coast between Tampa and Fort Myers. Went to Charlotte High.
Yeah, I realize that there are some Cigar factories in Tampa, and Tervis Tumbler has a place near O-town where they make plastic cups.
There was once a large tech sector in and around the Boca Raton area, hosting IBM, Sony, Ampex, and other significant names. But since the 80s, they've been suffering from perpetual brain-drain, and today, their biggest technological achievement is that they've become the Spam & Cybercrime Capitol of the World (more internet spam comes out of Boca than from all of Russia and Nigeria put together.)
Outside the aerospace industry within a 10 mile radius of Melborne, I can't think of a whole lot of non-native companies which have consciously said "Let's build / relocate in Florida, since they have no income tax."
Again, I can't speak for your town then, but Florida today has quite a bit of business and industry. I don't know how to quantify it, but unless you are involved in those industries (or a supplier to them), it's easy to overlook.
There was once a large tech sector in and around the Boca Raton area, hosting IBM, Sony, Ampex, and other significant names. But since the 80s, they've been suffering from perpetual brain-drain, and today, their biggest technological achievement is that they've become the Spam & Cybercrime Capitol of the World (more internet spam comes out of Boca than from all of Russia and Nigeria put together.)
Outside the aerospace industry within a 10 mile radius of Melborne, I can't think of a whole lot of non-native companies which have consciously said "Let's build / relocate in Florida, since they have no income tax."
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05-30-2012, 12:58 PM
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There is a ton of industry involved further up the supply chain than you may be thinking. Bausch + Lomb may make the soft contact lenses, but there are a number of companies involved before they end up on the shelves (like the chemical distribution company that sells the ingredients in the solutions).
The same goes with orange juice and milk distributors, suntan lotions, blueberry farms, water treatment, etc.
I'll grant you that I am not aware of any "big name" corporate campuses or multinational headquarters in FL off the top of my head - other than a ~$5bln market cap financial with a stadium named after it and a million square feet of office space in St. Pete. Oh, and an $81 bln market cap entertainment and consumer discretionary company based in Lake Buena Vista.
I guess you can argue those are "native" companies that started here and did not relocate to Florida and I wouldn't dispute that. I just took some umbrage at the idea that Florida "had virtually no business or industry" but if you were speaking to Port Charlotte... Well, I wouldn't argue with that either (excepting some tourism).
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05-30-2012, 01:23 PM
#2139
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Well, I was speaking specifically to the perspective of business or industry which is highly portable, and which would choose to locate itself in FL as a result of beneficial tax legislation.
Thinks like milk & OJ production are in FL because cows & oranges grow well in that climate- same reason that CA is the nation's largest wine producer. The aerospace & defense industry is there because NASA decided 60 years ago that Florida was an ideal place to launch things which they perceived to have a high probability of exploding and raining down flaming debris over a large area. Tourism is there because the climate sucks less than New Jersey and Walt Disney scored a killer deal on 30,000 acres of swampland back in the '60s.
And I'm not arguing that the relative distribution of "other" businesses within Florida is zero, however I think it's arguably below the national average, and decreasing.
If you look at the present-day growth industries, such as renewable energy, IT services, and so forth, most of that is sprouting up in the northwest and, to a lesser extent, the New England area. As a broad generalization, these regions have the highest rates of corporate and personal tax in the nation, which seems to negate the perception that low taxes attract jobs.
Thinks like milk & OJ production are in FL because cows & oranges grow well in that climate- same reason that CA is the nation's largest wine producer. The aerospace & defense industry is there because NASA decided 60 years ago that Florida was an ideal place to launch things which they perceived to have a high probability of exploding and raining down flaming debris over a large area. Tourism is there because the climate sucks less than New Jersey and Walt Disney scored a killer deal on 30,000 acres of swampland back in the '60s.
And I'm not arguing that the relative distribution of "other" businesses within Florida is zero, however I think it's arguably below the national average, and decreasing.
If you look at the present-day growth industries, such as renewable energy, IT services, and so forth, most of that is sprouting up in the northwest and, to a lesser extent, the New England area. As a broad generalization, these regions have the highest rates of corporate and personal tax in the nation, which seems to negate the perception that low taxes attract jobs.
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05-30-2012, 03:17 PM
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If you look at the present-day growth industries, such as renewable energy, IT services, and so forth, most of that is sprouting up in the northwest and, to a lesser extent, the New England area.
As far as IT goes, Texas seems to have been successful in snagging a few tech companies from California. Not so much, Florida.
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