We may have to even call it a “very small” step, but nonetheless the idea is slowly moving forward. Prime Buzz has a post about this in the Star. Of course, big ideas like this should move slowly and carefully. I have no idea how far this will go. Obviously, I support privatization in principle, and I think it would be an excellent move for Kansas City taxpayers and travelers, but it a complicated issue and I have not yet been able to study it closely — although I certainly will. The nice thing is that, as with MoDOT and tolling, at least the issue is being talked about as a possibility, even if it does not happen. That alone is a step in the right direction. As usual, Reason has a lot of great information on this topic that I recommend to you.
St. Louisans Should Support the Zoo!
I love zoos. Some of my fondest memories of my youth are of my trips to the zoos in Knoxville, Birmingham, and Atlanta. When my wife and I lived near the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., the fact that my morning runs took me right past the elephants, cheetahs, and gibbons gave me motivation to get up and get going. Since moving to St. Louis, I have happily gone to visit our fabulous zoo with several of my nieces and nephews.
That having been said, I have to disagree with Dave’s take on proposals to expand taxation in support of St. Louis’ zoo and museums. My problem with the plan is this: Taxation forcibly strips people of hard-earned money. These are dollars that, if not for taxation, citizens could use to buy flowers for their significant other, pay down debt, improve their home, put into a college fund, or give to charity — whatever was most important to them. If the government is going to take that money away from those who earned it, it should only take as much as is necessary to provide the services and infrastructure necessary for the well-being of society — such as roads, law enforcement, education, and so forth.
No matter how much I love zoos, they are not institutions vital to the well-being of a community. They are a luxury, and not even a luxury that everyone will want to enjoy. Why should people with no interest in going to the zoo be compelled to financially support those who do? And, on the flip side, why should those who would like to go to a zoo be able to force their neighbors to subsidize their entertainment? I’m sorry, Dave, but zoos should be supported only by people who don’t have to be coerced to give them funding.
Thus, the ideal free-market solution in this case would be to replace taxation on behalf of the city’s zoos and museums with a reasonable admission fee of $20–$25, perhaps charging half price for children aged 5–13 and letting kids younger than five get in for free. The zoo’s board could even choose to adopt a policy that would offer free or reduced-price admission to people of slender economic means, if it felt strongly that no one’s ability to experience the zoo should be limited by their ability to pay. This sort of arrangement would guarantee that the zoo would continue to be supported by those who want to enjoy it, solving the “free rider” problem while lightening the tax burden for those living in the area. And, once the government quit taking that portion of their money, area taxpayers who were so inclined could then use it to, y’know, support the zoo!
Happy Tax Day
If you would like to join with many other Missourians in discussing your opinion of growing deficits and rampant spending under both this administration and the previous one, you can go down to Kiener Plaza tonight at 6:30 PM to get your groove on. I made it to the previous one at the riverfront, but can’t make it tonight because of a board meeting. Otherwise, I would be there — and I don’t even drink tea.
Zoo-Museum Tax Bill Changes Make Good Idea Less Good
I liked Sen. Joan Bray’s original proposal to expand the St. Louis Zoo-Museum taxing district. I liked it because it gave taxpayers in neighboring counties a choice: institute the tax locally or pay an entrance fee. It got rid of the free riders, but didn’t mandate either option. Now, though, the tax expansion part has been removed and the proposal is just moving ahead as a typical new fee or tax.
The good news is that, in Sen. Bray’s own words, it is not likely to pass, and is really just there to get the discussion going, for which I applaud her. I am glad to participate in the discussion — hell, that’s what I do! For next legislative session, the proposal should include choices by counties as to whether they want to institute a tax or have their residents pay an admission fee. It should also allow for the expansion of the facilities supported by the tax so that any county adopting it can have one entity added to the district. Any new county should also be represented on the district’s board of director’s, as former St. Louis mayor and state Sen. Jim Conway said in the article:
Conway, a zoo board member, added that “something of this magnitude” needs to first be vetted by the institutions and “all the other civic leaders” to help build support.
How does Mr. Conway fit into my recent study of the number of elected officials in Missouri? When he was a senator, he quietly passed legislation making the medical examiner of St. Louis an appointed doctor rather than an elected official. I think we can all agree that large cities with large city problems should have medical examiners who are doctors — and not just some former state rep who ran for the position because he was term limited.
Cato-at-Liberty on Concealed Carry
I hadn’t seen this when I wrote about concealed carry earlier today. It’s commentary from David Rittgers of Cato about guns and college campuses.
The best sentence in the post: “There are no magical powers that accrue to a sworn officer.”
Restaurants and the Minimum Wage
The Post-Dispatch reports on a proposed minimum wage cap that would apply to tipped workers, like waiters in restaurants. The cap would keep their minimum wage where it is now, so that it wouldn’t rise with inflation.
A small increase in the minimum wage, paced with inflation, isn’t going to cause massive labor market inefficiencies — but there are downsides to a continually rising minimum wage nonetheless. One is that it gives the false impression that we’re helping poor people. Most poor people don’t earn the minimum wage. And many minimum-wage earners live in households that are not poor, or earn the minimum wage only temporarily. To illustrate, the server quoted at the end of the article is a Washington University graduate student, who undoubtedly will earn a higher wage once she completes her advanced degree.
There are other policies, such the Earned Income Tax Credit, that directly help poor people. Legislators would do well to cap the minimum wage and focus on policies that can work. If you still think tipped workers are getting a bad deal, give them larger tips!
Is Norm Macdonald Writing For the Kansas City Star Now?
I swear that if you read this article in the Star while imagining that you are Norm MacDonald impersonating Bob Dole, you will get a nice laugh out of it. It’s not a bad article, it just uses his name a lot — which Bob Dole used to do, too. At least, Norm made people think he did.
Government Pork: “In Oklahoma, Not Arizona, What Does it Matter?”
The annual Citizens Against Government Waste Pig Book is out for 2009. I have to guess this was a particularly fertile year for the authors, what with the entire District of Columbia becoming a gigantic printing press. If I needed a reminder (which I don’t actually need) as to why I was so proud to be one of John McCain’s county chairs last year (on my own time), then here it is. Arizona is dead last in government pork, and I think everything is going just as well there as in any other state. I know some of Arizona’s other officials deserve credit for this, too, especially Rep. Jeff Flake. As an aside, it was probably unfair for me to single out Oklahoma above, given that it’s ranked 44th, but, heh, the song says what it says.
Missouri is right where we usually are in things like this — in the middle of the pack. At least we are moving in the right direction, down from 24th to 26th. Sen. Claire McCaskill is probably the reason we are moving that direction, and hopefully we will continue to go further. It is interesting how three of the top four spots are held by entities other than the contiguous 48 states. And, yes, it is notable that there is a 51-spot difference between McCain and his erstwhile running mate — although, in Gov. Sarah Palin’s defense, this money comes from Washington D.C., not Juneau.
(Hat tip to Prime Buzz for the original link.)
Twitter and Government
As a follow-up to my last post on technology, I’m happy to point out this article about Missouri legislators using Twitter. They’re giving constituents updates on their activities and accepting ideas and questions in return.
The article mentions that legislators may run into trouble if they divulge classified information on Twitter or make libelous statements. That’s true, but those are potential problems any time politicians open their mouths. The technology isn’t to blame.
