A legislative session that has seen a wide range of anti-freedom proposals – e.g., allowing government to set fringe benefit standards for private employers, requiring employees to make donations to unions, stripping citizens of their right to vote on property tax increases – just produced another jaw-dropping suggestion. The House Taxation Committee wants to impose an income tax on your income tax!
The Wichita Eagle reports, “…the surcharge would be a percentage of an individual’s total tax bill. The percentage itself would potentially be tied to how much income tax revenue the state expected to collect in a given year. If the amount expected to be collected fell, the percentage would likely increase to ensure the state could fund promised education spending levels called for in a school finance formula.”
Think about that. If government overestimates income tax collections, you get taxed more to make up for that mistake. Or maybe the government’s estimate was reasonable but economic conditions cause income tax collections to decline (individuals and small business owners have less income); government’s solution is to tax you more to make up for the tax you didn’t pay on the income you perhaps didn’t earn. It’s the ultimate entitlement program for government. Even Tony Soprano would be impressed.
The tax on your income tax would be dedicated to fund the House’s $750 million gift to public schools. And make no mistake, the House K-12 Budget Committee‘s proposed school funding increase is an absolute vote-for-me gift. The Supreme Court only said that the 25 percent students who aren’t meeting standards may need more money but many Democrats and Republicans ignore that fact and are determined to give schools a big bag of money with no strings attached. They also ignore the fact that schools began this year with a record $911 million in cash (not counting capital, debt and federal cash) and that school audits continue to demonstrate how inefficiently they operate.
“Hold My Beer” is a catchphrase said before attempting a dangerous and/or ill-advised stunt. The Urban Dictionary offers this example:
Person: “Omg that guy tight-roped Niagara Falls”
Drunk Guy: If you think that’s somethin’, just “hold my beer“
Increasingly, “Hold My Beer” is becoming the theme of the 2017 Legislature.
