Governor's Double-Cross Could Be Dems Undoing

By: Kevin McLaughlin

Iowa's Governor, Tom Vilsack, recently vetoed sections of "The Iowa Values" legislation that would have put more money in your pocket through a 16% discount on your income taxes, and which also would have given employers more control of their workplaces by means of a reduction in burdensome regulations. This veto is a very transparent attempt to decapitate the legislative branch of government, the Republican Party of Iowa and to control government's purse strings.
 

The key term in that last sentence is "control" because it is the best and most accurate one-word summary of every hard-core Democrat's approach to everything. When Vilsack vetoed the discount you were going to get on your income taxes, he kept all that money for the State, or whomever he decides to lavish it upon. And when he lavishes, he's generally pandering to a key group of constituents. By vetoing the legislation designed to reduce the regulatory incursions in a company's workplace, as an example, he's attempting to control the workplace, too. Vilsack's veto directly benefits trial lawyers who make business owners' lives miserable, and their goods and services more expensive due to the inevitable lawsuits that lawyers, like the Governor, file ad infinitum. Now ask yourself if you would want to move to a state where one man could tell you how much money he was going to take out of your pocket without any check, or balance? And further, how anxious would you be to move your business to Iowa if he also controlled your workplace?

Governor Vilsack can kick and scream all he wants about your income tax discount being irresponsible in light of the deficit. But the fact of the matter is that when governments discount taxes, they get more of them! It's just like Wal-Mart discounting prices for you. The lower their prices go, the more you have to spend, and the more Wal-Mart makes. If the government discounted, too, it would be good for you, good for government and good for the economy. Instead of this sensible approach, however, our Governor is insisting on complete control which drives people and businesses away.

As an example of government discounting, consider the Kennedy Administration's discount on your income taxes in the early 1960s. That discount has been credited with having taken the federal government from a $5.9 Billion deficit to a surplus of $3.2 Billion. Again, when Wal-Mart reduces their prices, they do more business and make more money, open more stores and put more people to work. In other words, Wal-Mart GROWS! And when governments discount your taxes, they get more tax revenue because people have more money to spend, increasing demand for all kinds of goods and services. That economic stimulus, in turn, allows entrepreneurs to start new businesses, and a lot of people find new jobs in the expansion, becoming new taxpayers.

So, just like Wal-Mart, Iowa could become a lot more competitive with a discounting approach to taxation, charging each of us less and making it up through an increased number of taxpayers. There are loads of people and businesses that would move here if our rates were discounted and competitive. But the Governor's actions take us in the opposite, and a very dangerous direction. And he's doing the same damage to our growth potential with the workplace regulations. Which brings us back to the word "control" again. If he gains complete control over how much we have to pay in taxes and the amounts that Iowa spends on government services, then you might as well change your name to "Spotted Owl" because your very existence will become just as endangered.

In summary, ANYTHING that puts more money in people's hands threatens Democrats with irrelevance because the vast majority of people can then take care of themselves. Discounting quickly disenfranchises the Party of big government solutions. Because hard-core Democrats have such a paralyzing fear of discounts on taxes, the Republican Party of Iowa needs to focus on them, and speak with one clear voice. We need to let everone know that they can get a lot more out of the laws of economics, properly applied, than they can ever get out of government organized redistributions of wealth. And that means discounts for everyone, putting more money in your pocket immediately and causing your property values to soar over the long-term as people and businesses move to Iowa. Afterall, if government was so great, we'd still be ruled by Babylonian kings.

The Republican Party of Iowa needs to bring a steeper discount on earned income back to the next session, and they could start at 1-1.5%. And to make Iowa even more attractive to residents of other states, the Republicans could offer everyone, but especially seniors, a 0% tax on interest income, dividend income, pension income and Social Security. Let's see the Governor veto that if he wants to help seniors. And if he calls it irresponsible, Republicans should name it the Wal-Mart tax so everyone will instinctively understand what we're doing for them. Advertise that in other states and watch people and businesses pour into Iowa. This place will look like a Wal-Mart on Christmas Eve and you'll have more money in your pocket. Your property values will go out of sight, too, building real wealth for yourself.

DISCOUNTING IS GOOD FOR YOU. IT'S GOOD FOR GOVERNMENTS, AND IT MAKES ECONOMIES GROW. BE AN IOWAN TODAY! SUPPORT DISCOUNTING AND THE REPUBLICANS' WAL-MART TAX. AFTERALL, THE REPUBLICANS ARE THE ONES WHO ARE WORKING TO BRING IT TO YOU!

 

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