Time to end the corporate welfare gravy train

With the Republicans in the U.S. Congress proposing cuts to successful and useful programs; like Planned Parenthood, Head Start, Pell Grants, NPR, nutrition grants for pregnant low-income women, the Environmental Protection Agency and many others, they continue to ignore that fact that corporations are not only reaping record profits, but many are not paying any income taxes and some are getting refunds.

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., put out a list of the top 10 worst corporate income tax avoiders. As April 15 fast approaches and hardworking Americans fill out their income tax returns this tax season, General Electric and other giant profitable corporations are avoiding U.S. taxes altogether.

Sanders has called for closing corporate tax loopholes and eliminating tax breaks for oil and gas companies. He also introduced legislation to impose a 5.4 percent surtax on millionaires that would yield up to $50 billion a year. The senator has said that spending cuts must be paired with new revenue so the federal budget is not balanced solely on the backs of working families.

“We have a deficit problem. It has to be addressed, but it cannot be addressed on the backs of the sick, the elderly, the poor, young people, the most vulnerable in this country,” Sanders said in a press release. “The wealthiest people and the largest corporations in this country have got to contribute. We’ve got to talk about shared sacrifice.”

Here is the list:

1) Exxon Mobil made $19 billion in profits in 2009. Exxon not only paid no federal income taxes, it actually received a $156 million rebate from the IRS, according to its SEC filings.

2) Bank of America received a $1.9 billion tax refund from the IRS last year, although it made $4.4 billion in profits and received a bailout from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department of nearly $1 trillion.
3) Over the past five years, while General Electric made $26 billion in profits in the United States, it received a $4.1 billion refund from the IRS.

4) Chevron received a $19 million refund from the IRS last year after it made $10 billion in profits in 2009.

5) Boeing, which received a $30 billion contract from the Pentagon to build 179 airborne tankers, got a $124 million refund from the IRS last year.

6) Valero Energy, the 25th largest company in America with $68 billion in sales last year received a $157 million tax refund check from the IRS and, over the past three years, it received a $134 million tax break from the oil and gas manufacturing tax deduction.

7) Goldman Sachs in 2008 only paid 1.1 percent of its income in taxes even though it earned a profit of $2.3 billion and received an almost $800 billion from the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury Department.

8) Citigroup last year made more than $4 billion in profits but paid no federal income taxes. It received a $2.5 trillion bailout from the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury.

9) ConocoPhillips, the fifth largest oil company in the United States, made $16 billion in profits from 2007 through 2009, but received $451 million in tax breaks through the oil and gas manufacturing deduction.

10) Over the past five years, Carnival Cruise Lines made more than $11 billion in profits, but its federal income tax rate during those years was just 1.1 percent.

Michigan has one of the best climates for business in the country

Maybe now teabagger Republicans and Rick “The Chief Outsourcer” Snyder will be busted for crying wolf on the alleged high and job-killing taxes in Michigan, but I doubt it.

For the second consecutive year, the economically conservative Tax Foundation of Washington, D.C. has ranked Michigan the 17th best in the nation for business climate for 2011, and the ranking had Michigan with the second-best business climate in the Great Lakes region, according to subscription only Gongwer.

Republicans like to throw up neighboring Ohio and Minnesota as great examples of low tax and business friendly states, claiming businesses are not just moving to China but there, too. However, those two states in the region were both listed as having one of the 10 worst business climates, according to the annual report.

Not only has Gov. Jennifer Granhom managed to accomplish what no other governor has done and actually diversify the state economy from the auto industry only, but she has improved the business climate with the help of the Democratically-controlled House. In 2006 when Republicans controlled both the House and Senate, the state was ranked 28th in terms of business climate. I also doubt she will get credit for either of those accomplishments.

Indiana is another state Republicans like to claim where Michigan jobs are going, and they did do slightly better than us at 10th. However, “one analyst not related to the study pointed out that in the Great Lakes region Indiana has the lowest per capita income.”

South Dakota was ranked 1st in terms of total business climate, while New York was ranked last. It was the second consecutive year South Dakota topped the list.

Michigan is leading the nation in job growth for July

The good news that Michigan is leading the nation in job growth, with a gain of 27,800 jobs in July, has to have state Republicans cursing the good news.

In fact, Michigan has added jobs in three of the past four months, and that hasn't happened for a long time. Any good economic news, both nationally and in Michigan, is met with dismay by Republicans, and any bad economic news is picked up by the rightwing echo chamber and celebrated because it may help them win back power. This good news is a little hard to deny because the news is coming from a fiscal policy analyst with the rightwing think tank Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

Detroit Free Press columnist Tom Walsh said the Mackinac Center “…is no cheerleader for the state of Michigan. Indeed, the free-market-oriented Mackinac Center has been a frequent critic of the state's economic development and taxation policies.”

While the Governor has worked hard to diversify the economy so that a downturn in the auto industry doesn’t decimate Michigan’s economy like it has historically. However, “manufacturing was the biggest gainer in July, up 20,000 jobs. Automakers and suppliers added engineers and production workers, as vehicle sales grew modestly in the wake of the General Motors and Chrysler bankruptcies.”

Granted, the state and country have a long way to go as it begins the long climb out of the Bush ditch, the worst recession since the Great Depression, but it’s a positive start.

Subscription only MIRS also reported some good news that debunks what teabaggers have been saying about Michigan taxes. “Michigan just missed landing in the top third of states for business climate, according to a ranking compiled by the nonpartisan Tax Foundation.

The state ranked 17th for its business climate. I wish I had a dollar for every time somebody told me how great Ohio was for business, but the fact is Ohio was near the bottom at 47th. The nonpartisan foundation used 100 variables that impact business for its rankings.

Despite lies from teabaggers taxes are at their lowest levels in 60 years

Another fake, Astroturf Republican “tea party” came and went yesterday, and instead of harping about all the wall-to-wall coverage of a fringe group by the conservative media – after all, how hard is it to find 500 Republicans in Livingston County – I thought I would take a look at who the teabaggers are really supporting and how wrong they are on their alleged number one complaint: taxes.

We keep hearing about how taxes are evil and we are overtaxed, yet taxes are at their lowest levels in 60 years, according to William Gale, co-director of the Tax Policy Center and director of the Retirement Security Project at the Brookings Institution, as reported by CBS News.

All those teabaggers paid less in taxes this year, yet they are claiming they are “overtaxed.” The fact is Democrats cut taxes by more than $800 billion, largely through the income tax credit in the stimulus and tax credits to help small-business employees get health insurance in the health bill. What’s more, Congress will push through $285 billion more in tax cuts before this session is out by extending expiring George W. Bush-era tax cuts for richest 1 percent.

Lately, faux “news” has been pushing the lie that 47 percent of American homes pay no taxes. That’s simply not true. In fact, the non-partisan and non-profit Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) confirmed that the poor and middle class pay more than the rich in taxes. It is true that 47 percent do not pay federal income tax directly. To me the real story is that faux is outraged that the guy who works two minimum wages jobs does not federal income tax, but that it has no problem that General Electric generated $10.3 billion in pretax income, but ended up not only paying no federal tax, but it got a $1.1 billion refund check from Uncle Sam.

Where is the outrage?

This is because of offshoring and setting up wholly owned subsidiaries in places like the Bahamas, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands that legally shelter the cash flow. They set up costs in high-tax countries and profits in low-tax countries. The argument they will make is that they do that because the U.S. has one of the highest corporate tax rates, but we also have a high standard of living. We will never compete with the tax rate of China or some other Third World country.

Most corporations make their profits from U.S. citizens, and the fact is they would not make a penny if not for the benefits they enjoy that are paid for by U.S. tax dollars. Taxes pay for the interstate highway system to move their good, the ports, the rail, the sanitation and many other things, yet, they pay little tax here.

Again, where is the outrage?

Report confirms the state budget is balanced on the backs of the poor and the disappearing middle class

A recently released study by the non-partisan and non-profit Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) confirmed what most people already know: that the poor and middle class pay the freight for government services.

The ITEP released a study yesterday called, “Who Pays? A Distributional Analysis of the Tax Systems in All 50 States” that concluded that by an overwhelming margin, most states tax their middle- and low-income families far more heavily than the wealthy. That can’t be a surprise to anyone, and yet Republicans still try to push the myth that the wealthiest 1 percent still need tax breaks.

“In the coming months, lawmakers across the nation will be forced to make difficult decisions about budget-balancing tax changes—which makes it vital to understand who is hit hardest by state and local taxes right now,” said Matthew Gardner, lead author of the study, in the press release announcing the study results. “The harsh reality is that most states require their poor and middle income taxpayers to pay the most taxes as a share of income.”

The rich, defined as those with average annual incomes of $1.1 million, typically pay about 6.4 percent toward taxes, the study said. While non-elderly residents who make less than $15,000 per year typically pay about 9 percent of their income toward taxes and those who make between $32,000 and $54,000 pay nearly 10 percent, the very rich pay about a third less.

In fact, Michigan was named part of the “Terrible Ten” as one of the states with the most regressive tax systems. We join Washington, Florida, Tennessee, South Dakota, Texas, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Alabama. According to the press release, these “Terrible Ten” states ask poor families—those in the bottom 20 of the income scale—to pay almost six times as much of their earnings in taxes as do the wealthy.

The report identifies several factors that make Michigan and these states more regressive than others:
The most regressive states generally either do not levy an income tax, or levy the tax at a flat rate. In fact, Michigan is only one of six states with a flat income tax rate.
These states typically have an especially high reliance on regressive sales and excise taxes.

These states usually do not allow targeted low-income tax credits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit; these tax credits are especially effective in reducing state tax unfairness. Here in Michigan, Republicans want to restore the damaging cuts to education by delaying a scheduled increase in the Earned Income Tax Credit.

Senate Republicans vote for CEOs; snub working families

LANSING -- Senate Republicans voted to increase CEO pay Thursday, but they voted against working families trying to save their homes from foreclosure. They also blew an almost $1 billon hole in the state budget that is already facing a more than $1 billon deficit.

The Senate approved Senate bill 69 by a vote of 23-14, with all the Republicans voting for it. The bill would amend the Michigan Business Tax (MBT) to make it easier to receive a tax credit against the MBT, and it increased the income limits affecting eligibility of CEOs who can get the credit from $180,000 a year to $210,000. It also decreased the number of jobs a company would have to create to be eligible for the credit from 20 jobs to eight.

Democrats said they supported the bill, with the exception of the CEO increase. Sen. Gilda Jacobs, D-Huntington Woods, said she could not support the increase in CEO pay when everyone else is taking a pay cut.

“I am a huge fan of standing up for and supporting small businesses in my district, but I really want to take a closer look at what that $210,000 salary really represents,“ she said. “It is more than four times the annual average wage for police officers and five times what our firefighters make in this state.”

That drew a ridiculous charge from the sponsor of the bill, Sen. Nancy Cassis, R-Novi, that the Democrats were engaging in “class warfare,” and businesses are closing because of the tax.

“I’m not trying to create class warfare by any means; I’m just saying the $180,000 cap is enough,” Jacobs said.

Jacobs introduced an amendment to keep the cap at $180,000, but that was defeated along party lines. Sen. Buzz Thomas, D-Detroit, introduced an amendment that tied barred passage of SB 69 to a recently approved House Bill that placed a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures. That only failed by one vote. But CEO compensation was the big stickler.

“I don’t believe that a business is going to go out of business if we don’t raise this credit another $20,000,” said Sen. Deb Cherry, D-Flint. “I believe that it is the wrong time to be sending a message that CEOs should be paid more.”

With the state facing a budget deficit of more than $1 billion, Senate Republicans continue to increase that deficit with tax breaks, but they refuse and protest any proposed spending cuts. This bill could reduce state revenues by $47 million.

Michael Switalksi, D-Roseville, said it was bad tax policy and a mistake.

“Now people trying to keep their businesses open don’t usually do that by giving themselves a $70,000 raise,” he said. “I don’t really mind people making almost a quarter-million dollars, but I don’t think we need to give them a tax break.”

The Senate also approved SB 191 that will amend the Income Tax Act to increase the household income ceiling for the homestead property tax credit by $10,000; increase the total credit that a taxpayer may claim from $1,200 to $1,300; and allow an additional $50 credit for senior citizens and totally and permanently disabled taxpayers. It will also cost the general fund an estimated $80.6 million. Despite that figure, only Switalksi voted against it.

“We’re asked to provide additional tax relief to people this time with incomes from $73,650 to $83,650,” he said. “I just ask my colleagues, are these the people who are hurting out there?”

The Senate also approved SB 201 that would exempt the purchase of a new car from paying the general 6 percent sales tax on the difference between the new car and a trade in. This has been tried in other states, but both Switalksi and the nonpartisan Senate Fiscal Agency said it has not improved auto sales. It also extended it to boats, campers, heavy earth-moving equipment and snowmobiles. But it will blow a bigger hole in the budget, and the state will lose at least $144 million in lost tax revenue. The School Aid Fund revenue would decline $106.3 million and revenue sharing payments to local governments would decline an estimated $24.2 million.

“People are not buying cars because they are scared about their jobs and can’t get loans,“ Switalksi said. “Falling sales have nothing to do with the sales tax on a car.”

The Senate Republicans continue to deepen the budget deficit. These three bills alone threaten to blow a $1 billon hole in the budget. The Senate Republicans blew another $166 million hole in the budget when they eliminated the MBT with no replacement. They are cutting income, but they are not cutting spending; so in effect they are spending like drunken sailors. As a former drunken sailor, I know what that‘s like.

These decisions are nothing but politics, so Republicans can campaign as tax-cutters. The House will have to be the adults and make the tough decisions and balance the budget. But when you consider that a quarter of the Senate Republican caucus is running for statewide office in 2010.

Illegal cigarette smuggling is costing Michigan millions in lost revenue

LANSING -- Michigan loses $127 to $140 million in tax revenue every single year through illegal cigarette smuggling that is destined for the School Aid Fund and Medicaid, but a Michigan company has a solution to stop the bleeding and illegal activity.

Wyoming-based R.E.D. Stamp Inc. has patented and is marketing a Cigarette Tax Stamping Machine that will put a dent in smuggling and help Michigan recover 25 percent of the lost revenues and put $32 million back into Michigan’s coffers.

The problem is Michigan’s $2 a pack cigarette tax is one of the highest in the nation, and Michigan is fifth in the nation for the highest rate of cigarette smuggling. The whole system is ripe for abuse.

Michigan border states have much lower tax rates; Illinois at 98 cents a pack and Indiana at 99.5 cents a pack. People cross the border to buy cartons for personal consumption, costing border retailers sales and the state tax revenue. Some people cross the border to buy cartons by the trunk load and either sell them out of the trunk of their cars to individuals or to less than honest retailers.

It’s even done on a larger scale, and even organized crime and private entrepreneurs are involved. A truckload of 500 cartons shipped from Kentucky where the tax is just 30 cents a pack or Missouri at a mere 17 cents a pack to Michigan could net a smuggler a tidy profit of more than $8,000.

Getting away with it is also pretty easy. There are currently only four members of the Michigan State Police Tobacco Smuggling Unit to cover the entire state. Forging the tax stamp on the bottom of a package cigarette is fairly easy, as well of the theft of the stamp.

The fairly unsophisticated stamps are sold to Michigan’s 60-70 cigarette wholesalers in a roll of 30,000 stamps costing $60,000 that resembles a roll of paper towels. Organized crime has gotten involved by either buying them on the black market, stealing them off the UPS truck or even strong arm robbery from the truck. They are applied using heat transfer, similar to a cool iron on transfer for your t-shirt.

R.E.D. Stamp has teamed up with Authentix, a leading product authentication, to produce as system that is foolproof. The stamps can be downloaded digitally, eliminating the need and risks of shipping them to the wholesaler. The machine can transfer the stamps to the cigarette packs at a speed of 90 cartons of cigarettes a minute.

Plus, the stamps are almost impossible to forge, and it makes it easier for law enforcement to spot smuggling. The officer can use a small, handheld device that resembles the device that sets your car alarm that the officer can scan the pack with it.

It will give a simple yes or no. A larger handheld unit that reads the bar code and can tell where and when the pack was purchased and other information is also available.

The problem is it will cost about $11 million to replace the 85 older machines, but because of the speed of the new machines I don’t think they will need that many. Plus, the estimated $32 million it will bring in more than pays for the new machines in just the first year. The Michigan Distributors and Venders Association supports the concept, but they want help with purchasing them. Adding a few more boots on the ground and an increase to the Tobacco Smuggling Unit should bring even more money when coupled with the machines.

But the real hang-up is from the Michigan Department of Treasury, and according to the subscription only Gongwer treasury department officials said it did not have any studies that it trusts that “show how much smuggling and counterfeiting of tax stamps is happening.” I’m not sure what world they are living in, but there are a few reports out there.

Rightwing think tank the Mackinac Center for Public Policy recently released a study that proves the smuggling and an extensive report by the Detroit Free Press on March 14, 2008 prove Treasury wrong.

Millions of U.S. corporations do not pay federal taxes

I know this is a local blog on Michigan and the media, but this national story really caught my attention.

According to a study by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), two-thirds of U.S. corporations paid no federal income taxes between 1998 and 2005, and 68 percent of foreign companies doing business in the U.S. avoided corporate taxes over the same period.

I want to hear the take on this from right-wingers who regularly take shots at me here.

Our own Sen. Carl Levin, along with Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., asked for the GAO study that found corporations did not pay taxes on trillions of dollars in sales. More than 38,000 foreign corporations had no tax liability in 2005 and 1.2 million U.S. companies paid no income tax. It’s sad that corporations are making huge profits and pay nothing to support this country.

Book says term limits are partly to blame for Michigan's budget mess

Wayne State University Professor Marjorie Sarbaugh-Thompson blames the inexperience of Michigan’s 148 legislators, caused by term limits, for the state government shutdown and failure of the Michigan Legislature to pass a balanced budget on time this fall.

“This is a perfect example of the lack of experience," said Sarbaugh-Thompson, author of the book “The Political and Institutional Effects of Term Limits.” “An experienced legislature would not have let this get so far down the road.”

Sarbaugh-Thompson is a professor of public administration, public policy and American politics. She has spent the last 10 years researching the effects of term limits in Michigan that limit legislators to serve six years in the House and eight years in the Senate. The limits went into effect in 1998. Her book, published in 2004 with four other professors, looks at the effects of term limits in other states as well as Michigan.

She said the inexperience of the House and Senate leadership are also to blame for the shutdown and not being able to get a budget done on time. Sarbaugh-Thompson pointed to the fact that both House and Senate members on both sides of the aisle conceded they needed a tax increase to balance the budget, but no one was willing to work a deal or compromise. She said it takes at least two terms to be comfortable in the House, but there are freshman representatives chairing important committees.

“If you think of it in terms of the business community, why would you make a junior executive the CEO,” she said. “They spend so much of their time just trying to get up to speed and understand what’s going on.”

Sarbaugh-Thompson said the issue of taxes is another example of the problems with term limits. She points at the tax cuts for 15 straight years as an example and former Gov. John Engler's role in that. A strong, long-serving executive was able to ramrod harmful tax cuts by an inexperienced Legislature with no real decrease in spending, showing how term limits can have a negative effect on the separation of powers.

“The real mistake was the Engler tax cuts,” Sarbaugh-Thompson said. “He drained the rainy day fund and did not cut spending.
“He did not have a strong legislature that could ride herd on him. ”

Sarbaugh-Thompson said the race to cut taxes has forced cuts on the very things that attract people and companies to Michigan. She pointed to the Infrastructure Report Card put out by the American Society of Civil Engineers that gives Michigan's infrastructure a grade of D-minus. Many state roads are so bad it costs auto owners an average of $300 a year in extra maintenance costs, and road congestion in the Detroit area costs commuters $939 per person per year in excess fuel and lost time.

“The thing that people do not understand is that when you cut taxes it costs people more,” she said. “The roads are the perfect example.”

She said term limits have not accomplished anything its backers claimed it would accomplish when it was sold to Michigan voters, who approved the constitutional amendment in 1992.

It was said more people would run for office, and voter turnout would increase because of the increased competition for more open seats. That has not happened, and her research shows voter turnout remains low. There is more competition for open seats in the primary, but traditionally primaries have always had low voter turnout. There is less competition in the general election because Republicans who controlled both the House and Senate in 2001 drew the district boundaries to make safe Republicans districts, making the general election less important than the primary in many districts, she maintains. It has worked so well that in the last election in 2006 more people voted for Democratic Senate candidates, but Republicans still maintained their 21-17 seat advantage.

The inexperience caused by term limits has also given lobbyists much more influence over legislators as they try to figure out complex issues and bills. Lobbyists have always assisted with drafting legislation, but that role has expanded under term limits. Sarbaugh-Thompson said a lobbyist pushing an important piece of legislation can safely mislead a lawmaker, and by the time the legislator catches on they have been term-limited.

“Proponents of term limits promised they would sever the cozy relationship between lobbyists and lawmakers, but it has not happened,” she said. “You have to ask someone for answers.”

Term limits has also caused serious partisan polarization in Lansing. Because the only real races are in the primary, candidates have had to play to the extreme base of their party. The leaders are more extreme than in the past, and it has led to legislators having to signs inflexible things like anti-tax pledges that ties their hands in working toward good government. Often, party loyalty has taken over for loyalty to the state and the residents. That tends to disenfranchise at least half the residents at all times, she believes.

“The state should be governed from the middle,” Sarbaugh-Thompson said. “You really need to be in the middle to govern for the commonwealth of the people.”

Term limits also have politicians looking for their next political office before they even have a proper understanding of their current job. Often, decisions and floor votes are made more based on how they will play in their next primary election than how they will help Michigan. Many people believe this is the reason it has taken so long to get a budget completed in October, a process that’s usually done by June.

“They are more politically ambitious than ever,” Sarbaugh-Thompson said. “Future elections are playing a huge role in what is going on today.”

Of the 15 states that have term limits, Michigan, Arkansas and California have the shortest. Sarbaugh-Thompson supports at a minimum lengthening the time legislators can serve, giving them 12 years in each body. But she prefers getting rid of the limits altogether.

“You can vote for a convicted felon after 20 years, but you can’t vote for your state representative after six years,” she said. “My philosophy is that voters are smart enough to know who isn’t doing the job, but that doesn’t poll well.”

The Michigan Chamber of Commerce has proposed a term-limits change that allows the lawmaker to serve 14 years, all in one chamber or in combination. The Senate Campaign and Election Oversight Committee is expected to hold hearings soon on a proposal that would cut the number of years a lawmaker can serve from the current 14 to 12, but they could serve it all in one chamber.

Senate Democrats introduce resolution to stop secret votes and harassment of media

LANSING – The flap over the vote for the sales tax increase in the wee hours Monday morning has led Senate Democrats to introduce Senate Resolution 114 Thursday to amend the Senate Standing Rules to ensure there are no secret votes.

The trouble began around 3 a.m. Monday when the Senate was voting to give immediate effect to House Bill 5198. The bill to tax certain services had passed earlier with a 19-19 tie broken by Lt. Gov. John Cherry. Since the state government had been shut down at midnight, Cherry called for a vote to give the bill immediate effect instead the normal procedure that says a bill only takes effect 90 days after the end of the legislative session.

Immediate effect takes a two-thirds vote or approval by 26 Senators. However, those votes are not recorded in the Senate journal, and a photographer from the Senate Democratic Caucus was taking photos of the board. A number of Senate Republicans objected to that, and Sen. Randy Richardville, R-Monroe, then ordered all Senate staff off the floor.

Subscription only Gongwer reported, “In the process a news photographer began shooting the voting board - Senate rules forbid photographing a non-roll call vote - and several senators shouted the photographer should be thrown off and one demanded his tape be confiscated. A sergeant stood with the photographer while that portion of the tape was erased.” However, it cannot be verified if that incident actually took place.

Senate Republican leadership says the Senate rules bar the media from taking photos of the vote board during unrecorded votes. In an email response Carol Viventi, the Secretary of the Senate, said “Consequently, no one, media included can take pictures of the board when it is an unrecorded vote.” But that’s news to some regular media that cover the Capitol on a regular basis. Phillip Hendricks, the news director at Lansing TV station WLNS, said he has never heard of that rule.

“I don’t know of any policy that prohibits us filming anything,” he said. “We have never had a problem, and we film what ever we want.”

Senate Minority Leader Mark Schauer, D-Battle Creek, said the caucus photographer was shooting the board at his request, and he and the caucus attorney checked for any written policy that prohibited staff from shooting photos of the board. He said any change in Senate rules must be approved by a vote of the full Senate. Schauer said he received a letter from Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, in response to what rules were used to stop the board from being photographed that cited a policy Schauer said he cannot find, and he also said he cited “long-standing custom and usage” as the precedent for banning visual recording of the vote board for non-record votes. Schauer said the so-called long-standing custom violates both the spirit of the Open Meetings Act and the Constitution.

“We have no right as Senators to cast votes in secret,” Schauer said. “I will always error on the side of openness.”

The resolution will amend the standing rules to allow no secret votes, and to allow the press, public and staff to photograph the board at any point in the Senate session.

“Our First Amendment is clear, our Constitution is clear, our rules are clear - the public has a right to know how we represent them in this chamber,” Schauer said in a press release. “The resolution we offer today should not even be necessary, but it will once and for all end any perception that there are secret votes in this Senate.”

GOP talking points focusing on Bush tax cuts expiration

We can expect to see more of the kind of letters and misinformation like the one that appeared in the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus today from Jay Drick, a member of the Livingston County Republican Party's executive committee and a former Republican District Court Judge candidate, as Bush’s tax cuts for the rich are set to expire.

This propaganda piece from Drick throws figures around like 100 million Americans will pay an extra $1,716 a year in taxes a year if they expire, and, of course, there is not one reference or attribution as to where these figures came from. However, a good guess would be the state or national Republic parties

He also used the Bush catch phrase the “death tax” in place of the more accurate estate tax. This is a tax that not one single family in Livingston County will be effected by. It will affect families and people like Paris Hilton and Dick “The Amway Guy” Devos, and God knows those people need all the financial breaks they can get. In fact, more than 99 percent of estates pay no estate tax at all. A better name for the tax is the inheritance tax, and an even better name is the "Paris Hilton tax cut.”

These taxes will only affect the richest 1 percent of the taxpayers at a time when the gap between the rich and the non-rich is growing and the middle class is under assault and disappearing. According to the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, making the tax cuts permanent would increase the national budget deficit and thereby add to the national debt.

“The interest payments needed to service this higher level of debt would amount to about $500 billion over the next ten years. Thus, the total cost of making these tax cuts permanent, including the related interest costs, would be $3.5 trillion over the ten-year period Once the tax cuts are fully in effect, their annual cost (not including debt service) will amount to about $400 billion per year. In 2006 terms, that amount is more than 7 times what the federal government spent last year on K-12 and vocational education and almost 10 times what it spent on hospital and medical care for veterans. In today’s terms, that amount also exceeds the combined 2006 budgets of the Departments of Education, Homeland Security, Veterans’ Affairs, State, and Energy, and the Environmental Protection Agency.”

Watch for these GOP talking point inspired letters in your local newspaper today.