The Truth Behind The Michigan Sales Tax Increase Plus Gas Tax Increase

Yes they really think that we are this stupid and yes they really do think they have the  deal in the bag.  We are talking about our Lansing lawmakers and the "sales tax proposal" set for a vote in May.   There is a reason why the proposal was set to a May vote, May historically has the lowest turn out of voters and you can be certain that the greedy lawmakers and their special interests will get their people to the polls. 

The lawmakers are already counting on this proposal passing, so much so that they have already unveiled an $88 million plus plan to create underground parking and an underground tunnel so they can get to their offices by perhaps avoiding their constituents on the outside?

 This planned welcome center will provide a better and more secure way for visitors to enter the building," Carol Viventi, co-chair of the commission, said in a news release.  In reality it is a more secure way for lawmakers to avoid their constituents is what many believe.

Officials could break ground on the project as early as this

summer.

The work can be funded now thanks to a new, $3 million annual budget established this year for Capitol renovations and upkeep.   

Where did the extra $3 billion come from in this budget?  Why wasn't it applied to the roads?

The lawmakers tell us that is just a 1cent sales hike in the sales tax but the truth is it is a $1.7 billion tax-hike scheme (1) that we’re supposed to believe will help fix the roads. The plan, which requires voter approval in May, includes:

• 16% increase in the state sales tax
• 23 cents-per-gallon hike in gas taxes
• $95 million more in registration taxes
• $60 million in Internet sales taxes

Also gas taxes can be increased on an annual basis now, if this proposal passes, to keep up with inflation! 

In addition to a mishmash of tax hikes, the package includes giveaways that have nothing to do with fixing our roads–from mass transit to welfare-style government assistance to contracting preferences for a “disadvantaged business enterprise.”

TAX HIKES

$1.2 billion gas tax hike

Michigan drivers will pay 23 cents-per-gallon more in gas taxes. That would put Michigan in the top five states with the highest gas taxes and give us the highest gasoline excise tax in the nation. Over time, as the price of gas rises, that tax will go up automatically–without a vote of the legislature or input from taxpayers. (3)

$1.34 billion sales tax hike

Lawmakers voted to put a 16% hike in the state sales tax on the Michigan ballot. If approved, the rate would rise from 6% to 7%, including on Internet sales. (Lawmakers voted on separate bills to force Internet sales tax collections.) (4)

$95 million registration “fee” tax hike

Michigan drivers will also pay $95 million more in registration “fees.” Long-term, this tax hike is expected to total $210 million.

GIVEAWAYS

In order to buy enough votes to get the proposal passed through the legislature, the package was loaded up with giveaways that have nothing to do with roads:

$260 million welfare-style EITC assistance

The Earned Income Tax Credit resembles direct government assistance, such as welfare and food stamps, more than a tax credit. Filers who pay out nothing in income taxes still get money back from the government under this program. (5)

$300 million more for education establishment

Over the past four years, spending on education has increased by more than $1 billion. (6) This “deal” guarantees even more money for the public school apparatus, even though Michigan is one of 21 states that employs more non-teaching staff than teachers. (7)

$130 million more for mass transit

Instead of dedicating all new revenue to roads, the package hands mass transit programs another $130 million, a move that was viewed as necessary to buy support from Detroit-area politicians who favor bigger-government.

We need your help educating friends, family members and co-workers about this disastrous plan.

SOURCES

(1) House Fiscal Agency, Legislative Analysis Transportation Funding Package, Dec. 18, 2014

(2) House Fiscal Agency, Legislative Analysis Transportation Funding Package, Dec. 18, 2014

(3) American Petroleum Institute, Gasoline Tax, October 2014

(4) 2013-14 Senate Bill 658 and Senate Bill 659

(5) Tax or Welfare? The Administration of the Earned Income Tax Credit, UCLA Law Review, Lawrence Zelenak, 2005

(6) MEA Economist Ignores Billions in Education Spending, Capitol Confidential, May 13, 2014

(7) New Study Finds 21 State Have More Non-Teaching Staff, Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, February 28, 2013

(8) American's For Prosperity 

There Is Nothing To Celebrate About Oregon's Soon To Be New Bi-Sexual Governor

Why are we celebrating Oregon's potential new Governor Kate Brown for being Bi-Sexual.  The woman is married yet does not live a monogamous lifestyle. Back in the day sleeping with someone other than your spouse was considered adultery.  Why are we celebrating adultery??

The leftist push has been for gay marriage but as we are now learning, that will not stop there.  The next step is for polygamist marriages where one can have as many spouses as they wish.  If you're bi-sexual shouldn't you have more than one spouse?  One of each sex??  This will be the new leftist rallying call to destroy the strongest pillar that makes America great,  and that is marriage. 

Cops Seize Cell Camera From Bystander Recording Arrest

A Lakeside Colorado Walmart customer pulled out his cell phone in front of the store on Monday evening to capture video of Lakeside Police arresting a man suspected of shoplifting. The man

shooting the video, Chris Hoover, didn't expect he'd end up in handcuffs, too.

The video shows two police officers wrestling a man on the ground. When they get the man in cuffs one officer realizes there is a camera. During the commotion the officer points at the camera and says "that phone is evidence. I want it." Hoover then says "it's mine."

"So he snatched it out of my hand... I wasn't going to resist. He grabbed my wrist, and then he put me in cuffs," Hoover said.

Lakeside police would not go on camera, citing an ongoing investigation. However, they did say they

stand by their officers. They say police have a right to detain someone if they have video of a crime.

"He said, 'look, you have two choices,'" Hoover explained. "He said, 'either I will arrest you right here, right now for obstructing justice, and then we will get a search warrant, and we will get your phone, and we will get that piece of video as police evidence.'"

The ACLU of Colorado says police can get a search warrant but that the phone typically should remain with the owner until that warrant is obtained.

"Police officers can ask for a copy or ask for the video, but in the absence of a warrant, to actually seize somebody's personal property, I don't think police officers can seize it or threaten to seize it except in the most extreme emergency circumstances," ACLU Colorado Director Mark Silverstein said

ISIS is now dangerously close to a base where US Marines are training Iraqi soldiers

90% of town of al-Ramadi is under ISIS control.

Islamic State insurgents took control on Thursday of most of the western Iraqi town of al-Baghdadi, threatening an air base where U.S. Marines are training Iraqi troops, officials said.

Al-Baghdadi, about 85 km (50 miles) northwest of Ramadi in Anbar province, had been besieged for months by the radical Sunni Islamist militants who captured vast swathes of Iraq’s north and west last year.

“Ninety percent of al-Baghdadi district has fallen under the control of the insurgents,” district manager Naji Arak told Reuters by phone.

A Reuters report on the situation claims the heavy fighting in al-Baghdadi is much more significant than the Pentagon is letting be known. In fact, Reuters says al-Baghdadi is now in complete control of ISIS. The same report references claims from intelligence sources that say al-Asad has been attacked but so far the attack was unsuccessful.

Militants attacked al-Baghdadi from two directions earlier in the day and then advanced on the town, intelligence sources and officials in the Jazeera and Badiya operations commands said.

The officials said another group of insurgents then attacked the heavily-guarded Ain al-Asad air base five km southwest of the town, but were unable to break into it.

OBAMA: Climate Change Worse Than Terrorism - Out Of Touch?

Continuing to show the administration is either out of touch or has ulterior motives, the White House

Obama & Earnest

doubled down on Tuesday stating that the dangers posed by climate change is greater for America  than the threat of terrorism.

As he spoke to reporters White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Americans no longer face the same threat of attack that they did prior to Sept. 11, 2001, crediting the administration’s efforts to degrade organizations such as al Qaeda.  Yet ISIS and Boka Horam are continuing to grow and Iran continues its path towards nuclear proliferation.

Today, Josh Earnest said, “There are many more people on an annual basis who have to confront the direct impact on their lives of climate change, or on the spread of a disease, than on terrorism,” he said. “When you’re talking about the direct daily impact of these kind of challenges on the daily lives of Americans, particularly Americans living in this country … more people are directly affected by those things than by terrorism.”

President Obama made the same argument during an interview with Vox released this week.

In its national security plan released last week, the administration also ranked climate change alongside more traditional threats such as nuclear proliferation and terrorism.

Brian Williams The Best Memes Of The Net

It’s too bad Williams never got the memo, because the disgraced journalist and managing editor of NBC News has become the clown of social media. 

 The hashtag #BrianWilliamsMisremembers trolls his knack for telling yarns by placing him at the scene of history’s most recognizable events. “The food at the last supper was pretty terrible, so I ordered pizza,” he brags from within da Vinci’s famous painting, where he’s pictured crashing Jesus’s final meal. In the past few days, Twitter users have sited Williams everywhere from JFK’s convertible to Tupac Shakur’s passenger seat, making the question of where he was or wasn’t ever more complex.

Williams is only the latest in a painfully long line of fallen journalists who have twisted the facts, including The New York Times‘s Jayson Blair, USA Today‘s Jack Kelley, The New Republic’s Stephen Glass, and The Washington Post’s Janet Cooke. But unlike Williams, none of them have had to face up to the digital crowd. In recent years the time honored tradition of roasting public figures — the delight of every newspaper cartoonist — has become increasingly democratic. Might the laughing masses be enough of a deterrent to future would-be fibbers?

IS Your Smart TV Spying on You?

Could your TV be spying on you?

It may sound completely crazy, but as technology advances, it's totally possible and it could be happening right in your own living room.

Samsung's internet-connected TVs with voice recognition have the ability to “eavesdrop” on your conversations, record what you're saying, and then share your personal conversations with third parties.

Samsung's privacy policy states: “Please be aware, that if your spoken words include personal or other sensitive information that will be captured and transmitted to third parties.”

Of course, if you don't want your personal information to be recorded and sent to these third parties, you could disable the voice recognition feature. However, that would probably negate the reason behind buying a “smart” TV in the first place.