Thom Hartmann: Hey GOP...We Already have a Bill of Rights!!

[thomhartmann]

Besides trying to elect one of their own - Mitt Romney - to the White House, the oligarchs have another trick up their sleeve this election. And that's to make sure their state taxes never go up again. Their plan is carried out in the form of ballot measures - often under the name of Taxpayer Bill of Rights laws - that will appear in a handful of states on Election Day that are aimed at making it very difficult to raise taxes. Such measures are on the ballot in states like Florida, Michigan, and Washington.

So imagine a law - or, even more bizarre, an amendment to a state's constitution, that says, "You may not take away any tax breaks that billionaires or large corporations have without it getting at least a 2/3rds vote in the legislature, but you may lay off teachers, state troopers, repeal Meals on Wheels programs, and cut off financial aid to colleges and college students with a simple majority." And then imagine that the law went a step further and said that you can't raise taxes on billionaires or corporations, and you can't close any of the tax loopholes they use every day, but you can easily raise fees on everyday working people, so they're paying more to register their cars or park on city streets or have their garbage collected.

Sounds crazy, right? But that's exactly what California passed two years ago, and has already happened in states from Oregon to Colorado to Delaware - and may soon happen this election day in Florida, Michigan, and Washington. And while people voting for these measures or constitutional amendments - nearly always passed as ballot measures with highly deceptive advertising - THINK they're voting to keep their own taxes low, the real effect is to keep intact tax breaks and loopholes for the rich and the corporations, while simultaneously wiping out the ability of the state to deal with an economic downturn.

Basically...billionaires are protected, but unemployed people are screwed - because when there's an economic downturn, the state can't spend any more money to help unemployed people get over the hump because to do so would mean the state would have to - even temporarily - close the tax loopholes that are used by corporations and the super-rich. Remember, every state in the union except Vermont constitutionally requires a balanced budget, and the only way to balance a budget when you increase spending is either to close tax loopholes on the rich or on corporations.

And given that the Republican Party has become wholly the party of the billionaires and the big corporations, they're never going to go along with Democrats or closing even a dollar in tax loopholes for billionaires. Consider this chart from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, based on US Department of Labor data, that shows how - when a state is handcuffed from raising taxes or cutting loopholes for the rich and corporations to help out unemployed people - that state can't respond to an economic downturn and therefore the downturn becomes an unemployment spiral.

What's happening here is billionaires and transnational corporations are sucking our states dry: the welfare they collect in the form of special tax breaks and outright payments they get from the states is more than TWICE all the money spent on welfare for poor humans. And they want to keep it that way, which is why they push so hard for these so-called taxpayer bill of rights laws to be in place to protect billionaire and corporate special interests. If this was raally just about taxes, these laws are totally unnecessary.

Check out this graph of the past thirty years of money collected in the states, comparing states with and states without these laws - there's virtually no difference in money funding the state. What is the difference, then? It's pretty straightforward - in those states that protect giant tax loopholes for corporations and the rich with these laws, what goes up to compensate for lower taxes are fees that are paid by average working people.

For example, when Mitt Romney was governor of Massachusetts, in order to avoid cutting his own capital gains tax loophole that lets him, as a bankster, pay less than half the tax rate of doctors and lawyers in his state, Andrew Kaczynski of Buzzfeed compiled a list of the fees Romney proposed:

A fee on the Blind - yes, you heard that right - he proposed a fee that only blind people would have to pay.

A $100 fee on the mentally handicapped.

A $400 fee on anybody who had become sick with tuberculosis.

A $100 biannual fee on EMTs and First Responders - if you want to flash red lights to get through traffic, you have to pay up. While this didn't pass, Romney did double the fees for both an EMT certificate and the fee you'd have to pay if your ambulance was equipped with basic life support equipment.

He increased hourly group skating fees at ice rinks across the state.

And He was behind a fee on working class barbers and hairdressers - increasing how much it costs to get a haircutting license.

Romney also increased the licensing fees for nurses, plumbers, home inspectors, funeral directors, and auto mechanics.

He doubled the fee for if you wanted to legally change your name.

It's all about increasing fees on working people to protect tax loopholes for rich people like Mitt Romney. For a state with a supermajority requirement seeking to balance its budget, it is legislatively easier to repeal a Meals on Wheels program, lay off state troopers or kindergarten teachers, cut health care services for seniors, or cut college financial aid than to close a corporate tax loophole. That's the other scam being run this election - and I just figured you should know about it.

The Big Picture with Thom Hartmann on RT TV & FSTV "live" 9pm and 11pm check www.thomhartmann.com/tv for local listings

[freshwest]

1. It's #1185 in Washington State, Norquist stooge Tim Eyeman's latest initiative -- VOTE IT DOWN!

[longship]

2. Michigan Proposal 12-5 (or just 5)

Vote it down.

Also vote down Prop 1 and 6

Vote "yes" on 2, 3, and 4.