This past week there were several stories with a tax theme I found interesting.
Like the one about some group that wants to add a tax on carbon pollution to help the middle class. I’m not sure how much more help like this the middle class can stand.
Carbon Washington says it wants to tax every metric ton of carbon dioxide (metric ton? Not just regular tons?) starting in 2017. It promises to use this to cut the state’s sales tax, eliminate business taxes for manufacturing, and help working families.
Because that’s what always happens when they add new taxes: They cut them somewhere else, right? Those rascals are always reducing our taxes, and living up to promises they made.
Wait, did they say they want to tax carbon dioxide? And isn’t that what humans exhale? I say we start with them and see how it goes. If it costs them to talk, maybe they’ll do less of it.
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I don’t know about you, but I saw a lot of irony in the indictment of our Democratic state auditor Troy Kelley for tax evasion. Pardon me, alleged tax evasion and alleged theft of a couple million dollars the government says didn’t belong to him.
Kelley has taken a leave of absence (most likely paid) to fight these outrageous charges.
According to the U.S. attorney, Kelley allegedly “spun a web of lies in an effort to avoid paying taxes and keep more than a million dollars he knew did not belong to him. ...”
OK, to be fair, he was a former elected representative and all they do is spend other people’s money so it’s easy to see why he thought keeping some was OK.
It was reassuring for him to let us know none of the allegations of lying or stealing would “touch on his work as an elected official.”
Of course it wouldn’t, cause lying and stealing have nothing to do with character in politics. There’s this invisible wall between their public and personal lives. How many times have we heard that?
But what I found mostly interesting was he was charged with “corrupt interference of Internal Revenue Service laws …” and “lying to IRS agents who questioned him. …”
Is this the IRS who refused to answer questions to congress because they might incriminate themselves? The ones who shared taxpayer information illegally with political hacks? Or the ones who spent $8,000 on a piece of exercise equipment?
Maybe he just didn’t want to fund their foolish conferences or toys anymore?
Of course he’s innocent until proven guilty and these are serious charges. But, there was that lawsuit alleging he stole a bunch of money, which was settled “confidentially.” Probably nothing there to worry about.
I’m sure this will all get cleared up soon. Like you, I have confidence the IRS and the Holder justice department will get to the bottom of it all.
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One bright spot recently was Rep. Ed Orcutt. The Legislature has apparently written Seattle a blank check to cover the additional costs of buses during the Alaska Way tunnel project. Never mind the project has been delayed because the big tunneling device affectionately referred to as Bertha got stuck.
So far the state has paid an additional $36.5 million to fund extra buses and there’s no end. All they want now is an additional $17 million. C’mon … it’s just $17 million.
House Transportation Committee Chairwoman Judy Clibborn, a Democrat, said in the April 5 Chronicle story, “It’s something I felt we have committed to, so I didn’t feel it was a cost overrun.”
Maybe that’s the problem. Spending more money we don’t have, to cover costs by a delayed project that shouldn’t be, seems like the definition of a cost overrun.
But then I only have a community college education.
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John McCroskey was Lewis County sheriff from 1995 to 2005. He lives outside Chehalis, and can be contacted at musingsonthemiddlefork@yahoo.com.
