Positive Quote of the Day

There are two ways of exerting one's strength: one is pushing down, the other is pulling up.

-- Booker T. Washington

Missouri's Version of the FairTax

Whoa - I didn't see this one coming! When I first learned of the Fair Tax idea, I couldn't comprehend how it would work in our society. I had become so accustomed to the various taxes in our nation, that the simplistic idea of a singular tax seemed impossible. Upon further investigation, I think this would be more beneficial to our citizens. I am, however, wary of how this concept will work in our state and not concurrently on a federal level.

Regardless, you should know:

Missouri lawmakers are considering a drastic change to their tax system. A bill recently passed by the state’s House of Representatives would allow residents to vote on a Constitutional amendment that would eliminate corporate and individual income taxes in the state and replace them with a broad based sales tax. The plan is essentially a state version of the national FairTax proposal popular with some grassroots groups that would replace the federal income tax with a national sales tax. If the Senate passes the bill Missouri residents would be voting on the amendment in November of 2010.

Missouri currently has a sales tax, a corporate income tax, and a personal income tax. The sales tax rate is 4.225%, and the top corporate and personal tax rates are 6.25% and 6%, respectively. The plan put forth would replace all those taxes with a single sales tax levied at a rate of 5.11%. Accompanying the sales tax rate hike would be a substantially broadened sales tax base that would include all purchases. Currently most services are tax exempt and certain goods, most notably groceries, are taxed at a reduced rate of 1.225%. These exemptions would not exist under the new tax structure.

I have found it difficult to obtain unbiased information about this tax but there are a great many blogs that address the proposal.

Click Here to read The Tax Foundation's article

Click to visit the MO Fair Tax site

St Joseph Map

http://www.communitylink.com/us/mo/stjoseph/map/

This is a recently updated map available for free viewing, courtesy of the St Joseph Chamber of Commerce.

The Regular Joe

In visiting local businesses, I've seen this publication regularly distributed. The cover artwork usually gives me a bit of a chuckle and occasionally I pick up a copy just for kicks. I'm not "hip" to the local bar and entertainment scene so most of the information is irrelevant to me; however, I understand that anyone who can expand our views of our world deserves my support, so I had a link included on my Notable Links. I even rather enjoy their "quotes" at the bottom of every page ("Whoever wants to learn the hearts and minds of America had better learn baseball." Jacques Barzun)

With the publication of Vol 2, Issue 15, dated April 16, 2009, I effectively removed their link from my site and will no longer read their publication as I was extremely disappointed with articles the editor chose to publish. Recent excerpts include:

Taken from "Ask Anybody":
I want to say congratulations to the "Citizens Again For Never Taxes" or whatever their name is. It was brilliant calling in those big city guys to put the kibosh on this dumb idea. Who cares what their secret agenda was, as long as we get out way? Hey, maybe if the local schools go down the toilet, I can get em to hook me up with some of them voucher deals so I can get a tax break for sending my seven kids to the school in my church's basement. Whadaya think? (Read the entire letter here)

Taken from "The Law of Unintended Consequences:"
Those that voted against it (the bond issue) either did not have the intellectual fortitude to understand what was at rish, didn't' (sic) care to understand, or were misinformed....So instead of awarding the efficient use of community resources we actually take pro-active steps at the polls to punish them for their performance to lessen those resources. Genius St. Joseph, real genius." (Read the article here)

Taken from "My Two Cents on TrailsWest! 2009 - Dear God, What Have We Done To Deserve This?"
The question I pose is this: Why God Why? What have the good people of St. Joe done to anger you so? In recent years, the attendees of TrailsWest have been asked to endure "steaming piles" like Air Supply, Night Ranger and Bucky Covington.
I understand that the Council has limited funds and a certain audience to cater to but why is it the country fans, over 40 hair metal fans and desperate housewives are the only ones who get what they want? (Read more here)

The only writer who offered a solution to his problem was Danny Phillips who encouraged TrailsWest! coordinators to consider local bands for the music lineup at the festival. The negativity is somewhat demoralizing and clearly unproductive. I have to wonder if the writers of the first two articles were present at the recent grassroots meetings to discuss getting the levy/bond issues back on the ballot....

100 Day Left Turn

Thank you Mr. BO for the eye opening first 100 days!

Homosexuals Making Headlines

A recent AP article stated that in a national poll, people had "mixed views on gay-rights issues". Kind of an understatement. I find it interesting that, with all of the political hot-button issues and activities taking place right now, this is still such a hotly contested debate. Interestingly enough, a Columbia-based newspaper, Columbia Missourian, published a "question of the day" on April 9 asking if gay marriage should come to Missouri. While the article itself was relatively insignificant, the bloggers comments below it were amusing at best to read.

In 2004, Missouri (surprisingly ahead of the curve) overwhelmingly passed legislation stating that marriage shall only exist between a man and a woman. I find it interesting that Americans fight so hard for their "rights" to marry, but are seemingly lackadaisical when it comes to fighting for gun rights, taxes, and enforcement of laws.

In find it interesting that there is so much statistical data for married heterosexuals. Questions asked on students' tests, surveys and other data-collecting agencies almost always include the question of whether one is married and/or whether ones parents are married. Divorce statistics are readily available for any looking to argue the heterosexual marriage relationship. Somehow this data is supposed to help researchers, adoption agencies, and government make decisions that affect daily life. Ironically, there is very little to any information available about homosexual relationships. Perhaps this should be the single greatest argument for proponents and opponents alike of gay marriages. Now we would be able to track the average marriage length of homosexuals. It may be easier to identify external factors that affect longevity and/or viability of the gay relationship.

I believe that the gay marriage rights issue needs to be a national law (either for or against); the issue left up to the states leaves each state in a precarious position of handling these marriages when couples get married out of state.