The Kansas City School District has lowered its demand for compensation from the Independence School District from $157 million to about $90 million, for the facilities being transferred as part of a boundary shuffle. The reason for the lowered demand? Kansas City School District officials realized they counted the lost tax revenue totals twice in their computation. All you need to know about why parents fought so long and hard to switch from Kansas City public schools to the Independence School District is right there.
Education Reform Isn’t Easy, but It’s Worthwhile
The video from a recent Cato event, "Markets vs. Standards: Debating the Future of American Education," is online here. I especially enjoyed listening to Andrew Coulson, who presents evidence from around the world that the private sector improves education. He also addresses Sol Stern’s contention that market-based reforms have been ineffective and that reformers should redirect their attention toward imposing standards.
Coulson points out that the difficulty of replacing the education monopoly with a free market is no reason to give up. None of our country’s previous policy victories would have been achieved had people redirected their efforts to easier alternatives — such as, to take Coulson’s example, improving their local grocery stores.
So, take a look. If you want to skip right to Coulson’s remarks, they begin about 40 minutes into the program.
Book Club Plug
Last night I attended, along with little Nathaniel, my first meeting of the Show-Me Institute Book Club. The book was Barry Goldwater’s "The Conscience of a Conservative." As one of the only conservative staffers here at SMI (most of our staff really are libertarians), there was no way I could miss a disucssion about Barry Goldwater. The point of this post is not politics, though, it is to let people know how enjoyable the book club discussion was and to encourage college-age people in our area to consider participating in it. Here is the rundown on the club, and I recommend it very highly!
Happy Tax Freedom Day!
April 23rd is this year’s “Tax Freedom Day” — the day you stop working for the government and start working for yourself.
The Tax Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, estimates the annual measure each year. Today is the day that Americans, on average, stop working to pay their total federal, state, and local tax bill and start working for themselves.
Think about that for a moment. Every second you’ve worked so far this year has been worked solely to pay off your total 2008 tax bill. You have yet to earn a single dollar for yourself. How free do you feel?
If the idea of “Tax Freedom Day” interests you, then I would encourage you to check out our new tax estimator, where we calculate your personal tax freedom day for just Missouri state and local taxes. Because this calculation is personal, rather than an average, it can really help to drive the point home. I hope yours is sooner than mine.
Debate Over Trash in St. Louis County Continues
The Post-Dispatch reports on the vote last night at the St. Louis County Council to end the county’s new trash collection program. The proposal failed, which means the new plan, with its trash districts, mandatory recycling, and competitively bid monopoly contracts will continue to move forward. We have discussed this issue as much as any other on this blog. There were some interesting quotes in the debate:
Kurt Witzel, of unincorporated south St. Louis County, objected to the waste district plan partly because he wanted the freedom to choose his own hauler.
"I understand the need for recycling," Witzel said. "But I do not see why a free market system cannot go forth."
Amen to that. However, I question the economics in this comment:
But Bryan Barcom, the president of American Eagle Waste Co., predicted that bigger companies would win the initial bidding war against smaller firms such as his, and would then be free to set high fees.
I guess he is saying that the larger companies will win all the business, drive out the competition, and then jack up their rates. I don’t agree, as long as they don’t award all eight district contracts to one company. Even if the larger companies do drive out the smaller one (which I hope does not happen), they will still have to compete with each other each time the bids go up for renewal. That will keep prices down, obviously. But I certainly sympathize with Mr. Barcom’s concerns about his business.
I have gone back and forth on this one, as some truly dedicated reader(s) may recall. I have a great deal of agreement with this point:
Rodriguez said the district plan was needed in order to reduce the number of trash trucks that served customers on his street. He said as many as 20 trucks rumbled down his street six days a week.
"The old streets in my neighborhood can’t stand up to the wear and tear of these heavy trucks and the hydraulic fluid they leak," he said.
Taxpayers throughout the county pay for the roads in the unincorporated areas, so we all have an interest in cost savings through reduced wear and tear. However, I have again concluded that the benefits of the free market, and the desire of the majority of the residents to continue the old free-market system, should win out and the trash plan should be scrapped. Get it? Scrapped …
Death of Village Law Still Alive
It seems a repeal of the village law that made it dramatically easier for communities of, say, one disgruntled landowner to form their own little utopias is up for a hearing tomorrow. Here is the Springfield News-Leader update, via Mr. JC. It had previously appeared to be legislatively dead. As I have said before on this subject, the problems in Missouri are not caused by too few governments. We had a very reasonable process for incorportation in place before the changes last year, and we need to return to that process. I look forward to the hearing tomorrow and I hope its results are positive.
A Small Victory for Freedom and Responsibility in Saint Louis County
I would like to commend the members of the Manchester Board of Alderman for defeating a helmet ordinance in Manchester. The Suburban Journals has the story here. Children should always wear helmets when riding bikes, but it is the parents’ job to mandate that, not the government’s. And just because some parents fail to do that is NOT a reason for government to assume more control of our lives. I am pleased to have found a few more local officials who understand freedom:
"I have great respect for the chief and have no doubt of his motivation to protect the public," [Manchester Mayor Asa] Wilson said. "But on balance, this law would usurp the authority of parents."
Well put.
Mom, Dad, Stop Fighting … It’s Christmas
From time to time, it’s a good Idea to step back from deep, introspective analysis of state and local issues and remind ourselves just how ridiculous our elected officials can be.
Today’s example of government immaturity, as detailed by the Post-Dispatch in this article, started over a provision surreptitiously placed into legislation last session that is beginning to raise a number of major concerns.
The bill in question, SB765, allows landowners to skirt county zoning provisions by holding a public vote to establish their land as an independent village. The problem with this, though, is that the vote need only reflect the opinion of those residing inside the areas in question. This means, of course, that a single landowner can vote to make his property a village.
While establishing your own city may seem like a fine exercise in independent politics, it raises taxation issues with the counties themselves and sets a frightening precedent for private taking of land. For these reasons, representatives from districts affected by the rise of these new villages attempted to have the law repealed, claiming that the provision was snuck into a bill prior to a vote before the language could be reviewed.
These reports, though, have been denied, and all attempts to repeal the bill have been stalled.
So, proponents of repeal have threatened to put a hold on passing house bills until the bill is let through.
While I won’t go so far as to call this an endorsement of the Unicam, you would hope that our elected officials would take enough time to correct a provision opposed by county officials across the state.
You’d hope.
Tax Pledge Elevator Going Up
In response to Jason Rosenbaum’s clarion Clash call for posts on tax pledges, or more specifically, anti-tax-increase pledges, from candidates, I hereby bite — and he does not even have to send the limousine, anyway. Jason’s post certainly gave the people something good to read on a Sunday. I realize tax pledges are silly, and generally just politics easily gotten around by any good politician, or bad one with a good advisor, but they can serve a positive purpose.
I guess I sort of feel about them as I do sales tax holidays. At least they pin candidates down on their general feelings about taxation. Speaking just as a voter here, I know that someone who signs the pledge, and then lives up to it — at least for the most part — is probably someone I agree with most of the time. I also trust that most voters would realize that the pledge needn’t be absolute … and I would not penalize someone who broke the pledge for a truly necessary tax increase, which in theory may exist somewhere. I also would like to avoid hearing pledge arguments about legislative minutiae ("Are we talking redistricting here, or reapportionment?"), and certainly anyone who takes this pledge opens themselves up to silliness like that. Would a legislator who signed the pledge and then supported instituting a land tax in Saint Louis and Kansas City as part of phasing out the earnings tax be in violation of the pledge? They probably would, but I would certainly support that transition.
So, signing these pledges is really just a higher form of kissing babies. But politicians don’t do any harm when they kiss a baby, and these pledges don’t do any real harm either. Just don’t take them too seriously.
Over and out.
