if they wanted to pass a law to have all red heads be forced to live north of the Mason Dixon Line.

You're line of thinking is flat out brilliant.

How many are affected? If you are not affected, then quit complaining. Targeted taxation to me is an injustice. I see it as a failure of equal protection under the law.
The US was not affected by apartheid, but enough people worldwide fought to force change.
Kitty Genovese's murder was because unaffected people did nothing.

It is a slippery slope argument, but so is your censure

Sum up my complaint. I did not know I had one. Thought I asked what solutions to budget problems are available. Guess you don't have one to offer either.

Hack

"all these people complaining about this, they have no answers, most are unaffected, therefore ST#U" Do you really want to know of my solutions? Let me sum it up in a way that a liberal can truly understand. Prioritize and cut services. We do not have a federal, or state constitutional mandate to take care of everybody and their problems. Take money and the spreading of it around from governments and you will kill the lobby industry. Treat everyone equally and fairly by law. Do not have an expectation that people will have equal outcomes. Even in one's own family, children born of the same parents do not have the same intelligence, motivation, or personality. Retool our education system to expect people to work hard and have hard jobs. Revitalize our trade schools. Stop funding of things such as community outreach, science for the sake of science without a commerical use or private funding, Foreign aid, and the like. Eliminate the unionization of governmental jobs. As DM states, the government is made up of the US people. Why does a government bureacrat or administrator need a union to represent them? They will never become efficient if their number one priority is to maintain their employment rolls.
I can go on and on. My point is that I have solutions that you do not care for. You would prefer to enforce equal outcomes, and not recognize that it forces down achievement and prosperity everywhere.

Thanks. By the way, would you now write them in a way a conservative will understand, or do they need it scribbled on your palm ?

Hack

ps: You've never heard me say I prefer equal outcomes for everyone, so I guess I don't need u to speak for me on this one.

Ha Ha. thanks for that one. I like a well thought dig and that was good and well received.
I must have your previous posts aligned with someone else- I will stick to your thoughts expressed on your posts-i sincerely regret ascribing a belief that you don't have. You can chalk me up to constitutionalist/conservative and I will try to figure where you all out. Spell it out if you will. What role do you expect the government to play in your life?

Lost wallet, no ID, law enforcement, flat tire, and more unmentionable strife.

I'm beginning to think one of my republican adversaries is a voodoo priest.

Roll of government. This might seem cheesy, but here is the Preamble of the Constitution from my memory, so there may be minor discrepancies:

We the people, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, support the general welfare, secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity do ordain and establish The Constitution of The United States of America.

1. Prevent secession. Maintain the Union of States.
2. Protect and maintain our justice system complete with habeus corpus and free from torture of accused.
3. Provide officers of the peace for that domestic tranquility thing.
4. Recruit, equip, train, and deploy the most kick buttest military on planet Earth.
5. Support the general welfare of legal citizens and visitors (tourists, visa holders) with basic healthcare, clean air, clean water, safe roads, etc.
6. keep us free from enemies foreign and domestic (blessings of liberty).

That sums it up. No wasteful spending. No letting people languish in the street injured or hungry if reasonably preventable.

All of these take efforts of able bodied citizens. We all have a part in the play.

Cheers,

time to find a tire guy.

Hack

voted for the "Go Fish GA" program last year, where the Legislature appropriated $19 Million to build new ramps and a central office/building--all in the face of an impending budget shortfall. Ridiculous in my view.

Cannot speak for you, but my household is not among the 'one percenters.' Could it be that they (one percenters) have taken this tax hike to heart and hired a few extra bloggers to rant and rave for them?

Why not take a hard look at creating an environment conducive to business growth by listening to those in the corporate world? It's clear that a combination of personal tax increases (income, property, sales, etc), a fiscally responsible three tiered (local, state and federal) government, and a productivity oriented national business climate will be required to turn this economy around. If state or federal mandates are the problem, ignore them. That way we can see for ourselves where the loyalties of National Guardsmen lie. Perhaps then these elitists will understand that there is a serious problem outside the capital walls.

Besides, if they're paid with IOU's, they likely will just go fishing.

solution.

You and I have to be accountable to the IRS and Georgia for our share of the giving, while it seems the Fed and The State are woefully inadequate at accounting for the money we are forced to pay in. It does make you mad; not one takeoff/ no landing mad, but mad. We need a political super hero to clean up government waste, but the federal and state halls of legislature are laced with kryptonite it seems. Have a good one!

Hack

So, what you're saying is that people generally earning under Fludd's generous $200,000 cap each year are small business owners filing their businesses under personal tax codes... If that's true, it means that many of Georgia's small business owners are complete morons in that they fail to incorporate and have no clue when it comes to filing taxes... It also means they're filing illegally, unless the small business has just one employee...

Georgia has some of the most generous (i.e. low tax) small business laws in the nation. As long as your own (i.e., the business owner) income does not exceed $200,000 (and that's if you're single), you will not be affected by this proposal.

Take a moment to enter the real world before spouting this kind of misinformation...

As for your second point (which comes after your false cause and false conclusion), the middle and lower classes already had their taxes raised by Georgia last year. My homeowner's exemption vanished, thanks to the state's Republican leadership. My property tax bill in Fayette nearly doubled even though my local commissioners actually lowered their rate (the school board raised theirs, but with the commissioners' break, it still would have been lower than 2008 -- had the state's ruling party not intervened).

Rep. Fludd's proposal is long overdue, even if it has no chance of passing in today's grossly corrupt general assembly.

Before running your mouth, consider learning the facts.

And for the record, I voted for Romney in the primary, McCain in the general and I've been a conservative since Goldwater.

How transparent Elmer.

In reality, spyglass, the people still making over $200,000 (or $400,000 per couple) probably had less to do with the mess we are in than the middle class Fludd is pandering to. At least those that still make that kind of money are producing something and are achievers. Achievers in small business hire people and create jobs.

Got an idea Mr. Fludd. Why don't you call up your pal in Washington that seems to have such a handle on this "jobs created" and "jobs saved" thing and see if he can give you some guidance on "jobs to be lost" if your stupid and childish wealth-envy idea were actually passed. And those "jobs lost" won't be paying $200,000 - instead the "jobs lost" will be your middle class voting people earning $30-40k. Try to think things through before you propose things. You need replacing.

Tax and spend, Class Warfare, wealth ENVY and entitlement mentality.

You can read some of the same ideas right here in these blogs..

The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them. ~~Patrick Henry
"Illegitimus non Corborundum"

Just to make sure, it is still the same bunch of talk-radio-loving wahoos on this website who gave Georgia's Republicans a free pass last year after they rolled back our homestead exemption, resulting in a massive property tax hike all across Georgia, who are jumping all over Rep. Fludd for proposing a short term solution to our state's enormous budget quagmire, right?

(you remember, our property tax doubled... because Sonny and company did away with a tax break King Roy and the Dems gave us in 1999)

If there's anything the Tea Party movement has taught us, it is this: the ruling party must be humbled. On the national level, vote out the ruling party. On the state level, sing the same refrain: vote out the ruling party. Rep. Fludd's extremely gutsy proposal (which will never pass in this General Assembly) shows us that what we've seen on the national level rings true here in the Peach state: namely, only the minority party is willing to step up to the table and propose to make the tough decisions.

Virgil's bill stands a snowball's chance in Atlanta, but I for one salute my representative for having the guts to put his name on the line to at least start the search for an answer to our problems.

Those of you who approve of more education cuts better get your bags packed for Pike County. As more and more state education funding dries up, Fayette ceases to be the "special" neighbor and starts to look more and more like the neighboring areas (South Fulton, Spalding and Clayton.

Turn Gallagher/Boortz/Limbaugh/Beck/Cain off for a second and wake up!

Fayette is what it is because of excellent local government, which needs funding from the state to survive.

It's an absolute travesty that the Republicans rolled back our homeowners exemption before taking up this precise fight Rep. Fludd is championing now.

Not those who earn over $200,000. Just those who are stuck on 'NO NEW TAXES'! It's the same on the national level. Sad.

Since when has anybody EVER associated a politician proposing to tax and spend other peoples money as having guts? 'Till now I mean. Guts would be admitting that they have been wasteful with taxpayer money for decades and are so addicted to pork and pet projects that when it comes time to stop, like any other addict, they dont know where to begin. So instead of admitiing they have a problem and hitting a 12 step at the local church, they 1) claim that its not their fault 2) get defensive (they dont have a problem YOU do) 3) insist that they can stop any time 4) go through your wallet to get another fix
And you contradict yourself mightily here, bub. If rolling back low property taxes and therefore increasing those taxes is a mistake, then how can increasing income tax be a good idea. You have to choose, either you want high taxes or you dont. Either you want a government that thinks it knows better than you how to spend your money or you dont. Unless your one of "those" types whio likes low taxes on himself but high taxes on anybody making more than you.

I for one salute my representative for having the guts to put his name on the line to at least start the search for an answer to our problems. Howard.

It takes a lot of "guts" for these people to propose raising taxes instead of actually doing some work and cutting a little bit of their wasteful spending and give away programs.

Turn Olberman off and think for yourself, Howard.

And after reading your contribution to the board of post-it note ideas, I still don't see a solution to budget shortfalls?

What are the programs that you would eliminate? What state and city employees would you give pink slips? Will you provide unemployment for them, or is that another give away? And who ends up doing the jobs that those we trim from the budget did? I just don't see an easy answer, but far be it from me to suggest a millionaire contribute another copper penny. Tough times ahead for all, mate.

Cheers, and you still win the coolest and most enduring avatar award!

Hack

I have had to do it in my business....the State could do the same. Frankly, I don't know if that is enough. Raising taxes on the very folks that provide jobs is certainly not the way to handle this situation.

Nope the Wealthy obviously do not pay their fair share.. I say make it a 100% Tax.. That surely will FIX everything.

The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them. ~~Patrick Henry
"Illegitimus non Corborundum"

"There is a reason why they call rich people rich. It's because they are rich."

It turned out that Mr. Buffett, with immense income from dividends and capital gains, paid far, far less as a fraction of his income than the secretaries or the clerks or anyone else in his office. Further, in conversation it came up that Mr. Buffett doesn’t use any tax planning at all. He just pays as the Internal Revenue Code requires. “How can this be fair?” he asked of how little he pays relative to his employees. “How can this be right?”

"It makes since to tax the rich. That's where the money is."

Just a different perspective.

I'm always amazed to watch middle class folks like myself argue on behalf of the mega wealthy, as if that group is powerless and without representation.

Hack

are mainly the group that start companies, small business's etc., and get this, actually HIRE people. Without them, we have no middle class.

In my humble opinion, they need all the defending they can get.

...for the fair/flat tax.

I know it has zero to do with Olberman. That was just in response to Howard's tired, idiotic comment that anyone opposed to more taxes needs to "Turn Gallagher/Boortz/Limbaugh/Beck/Cain off for a second and wake up!".

And I usually prefer "post-it note" responses here since Milton Friedman himself could give a lecture on economics and government that would just get the same response..."Turn Gallagher/Boortz/Limbaugh/Beck/Cain off for a second and wake up!".

But since you asked...One thing that should have been cut before teacher pay is the obscene number, and pay, of school system administrators at the state and county level. That won't happen though because they're politically connected which is how they get the job in the first place (or why the job is created for them in the first place).

"...but far be it from me to suggest a millionaire contribute another copper penny"

You really don't believe that only millionaires would be affected, do you? It wouldn't be temporary and it wouldn't be limited to millionaires. It would directly or indirectly affect everyone - the direct tax being on Delta's best customers and the job creators of the state.

Cheers!

Ideas, intellect, and without the profanity!

D*mn you're a good guy!

Hack

You've seen enough of my posts to know I can get a little testy.

The state could open its own bank. Borrow money from the Federal Reserve at the prevailing rate. Lend money to individuals and businesses within Georgia to earn profits. Whenever the state is faced with a budget shortfall, the Governor can tell the bank to declare a dividend and send the proceeds to the state treasury to make up the shortfall.

This is not my idea. I read about some bank in North or South Dakota doing this. I don’t know how our state is going to resolve the current budget gap but I sure hope they don’t cut the days in the school year on children.