BUDGET DEFICIT SOLVED ON THE BACKS OF WORKING POOR

Thirty-nine days after Larry Holt (585-2002), Ronald Johnson (566-1887), Brook Cochran (566-4521), Jimmy McQueary (566-1787) and Greg Popplewell (866-1157), magistrates of the Russell County Fiscal Court, decided to solve the county's budget deficit on the backs of the working poor and middle class citizens of this county while giving a break to the wealthy and powerful, they met again for the regular monthly Fiscal Court meeting. After nearly 2 grueling and monotonous hours wherein they decided to take another road into the county, admitted to buying a “pig in a poke” when purchasing the most recent road grader or dump truck (I don't remember which), approved the purchasing of two used (new to us) dump trucks, salt boxes and possibly a road grader; while at the same time virtually ignoring a representative from the local Red Cross and denying extra funds to the Green River Animal Shelter, I was finally granted the floor.

At that point, I asked for the results of the research they had promised would be done at the last Fiscal Court Meeting on the impact of a cap vs no cap on the Occupational Tax imposed by other counties. I wish you could have seen the faces staring back at me from the table of magistrates—well, at least they were staring back at me, unlike the first meeting I attended where half of them had their backs to the public. After I asked for those research results, I would have sworn I was looking at five deer caught in headlights. The silence was deafening. You could practically hear the gears turning behind the whites of those eyes. Finally, Magistrate Johnson spoke up, saying that he had done research but only spewing out comments that had been reported in the previous meeting—that some counties had a cap, others didn't; some counties had a net profits tax, others had a license fee for business—all information that had been discussed at the previous meeting, making it clear that he had done no further research, as was promised.

I then asked each magistrate, starting with Larry Holt, the magistrate who represents the district in which I reside, whether or not he was satisfied with what he and the Court had done regarding the Occupational Tax and the cap that allows the wealthiest a break while putting the heaviest burden on the working poor and middle class. Other than being outwardly hostile and disrespectful to me for the second straight meeting, Mr. Holt flatly refused to answer my question, ultimately bowing his head like a petulant child refusing to even acknowledge my presence. I do not take his rudeness and and defensiveness personally, however, I must question whether someone who cannot treat his own constituent with respect, whether or not he agrees with him/her, should be in a position of public trust, supposedly representing their interests.

Next, I went down the line asking each of the magistrates of this county whether or not they were satisfied with the way they have implemented this Occupational Tax, placing the heaviest burden on the working poor and middle class, or if they intended to revisit this issue before it expires in two years under the sunset clause. This, a reasonable question considering that a little over a month ago at the end of March at the Special Called Meeting to pass this tax increase, they must have asked County Attorney Shearer at least 6 times whether they could come back and amend this Ordinance later because they were under the gun and had to pass something that very night and therefore didn't have time to research the pros & cons of the cap. And, at least 6 different times Mr. Shearer told them they could come back and amend it at any time. Oddly, when I asked them this question, at least two of them seemed to be confused and wanted me to clarify my question as if they didn't know what I was talking about. No doubt, because as far as they were concerned, this was a done deal and they hadn't given it another thought since the last meeting (and hoped that no one else had either). They obviously never had any intention of revisiting this issue; they only pretended to. And this was confirmed when each and every magistrate in turn answered that they had no plans to bring this issue up again, with the exception of Greg Popplewell. When it came his turn, he answered that he had done some further research (although he didn't expound upon the results of such research) and that after 8 months or so, when he sees what kind of monies this Occupational tax brings in, he does plan to bring this matter up again.

While I do appreciate that four of the five magistrates gave me the courtesy of a little respect and an answer to my question, I have to admit I was not surprised by their answers, but I was disappointed. At the time, I was even a little appreciative that Greg Popplewell indicated that he had not totally given up on the idea of possibly amending it sooner than the expiration date. But since then, I have had time to think about his answer. What did he mean? Does he mean that if the majority of us working-stiffs making about $22,000 per year (because that IS the median income in Russell County) paying our full 1% brings in enough to put us on track to solve the deficit, then great! It's working! Are they going to keep the status quo—keep those working stiffs with no power and no voice paying their full 1% while they give a break to Terry Stephens, Mike Adams, Randy Hart and anyone else who makes over $80,000 per year? Or, if it isn't bringing in enough to solve the deficit, what then? Perhaps they will consider amending it to make those poor working stiffs shoulder even more of the burden. Because certainly they don't want to make waves with the rich and powerul. Basically, I am not heartened at all by Greg Popplewell's answer. (Although I do thank him and the other four for at least granting me the courtesy of a response.)

One magistrate even said to me as we were leaving the building that they were all just “wore out” on this issue. I reminded him that those out there trying to support a family on $20,000 per year were always “wore out” and it was his job to do right by them. Unfortunately, I'm afraid this fell on deaf ears. It seems that the only things our magistrates are really concerned with is doing the bidding of the rich and powerful of this county.

Apparently, though, I am the only one in the county who is concerned about any of these issues because I was one of only about 3 people who attended this meeting that wasn't there to find out if they won a bid to provide oil or pavement or some such thing. And as long as I am the only one who cares, then why shouldn't the magistrates do the bidding of the rich and powerful? I mean, they know who butters their bread. When the interests of the rich and powerful are at stake, they (the rich & powerful) show up and they are heard loud and clear. And, I'll bet you every dime I've ever made in my life and every dime I'll ever make in the rest of my life, that Larry Holt would never, and I mean NEVER, talk to Mr. Terry Stephens or Randy Hart or any of the other big wigs of this county the way he spoke to me on Monday night.

OSAMA BIN LADEN’S LEGACY

            Sunday night and Monday found all Americans heralding the good news that Osama bin Laden was dead.  It reminded me of The Wizard of Oz when everyone was celebrating, “Ding Dong, the witch is dead…”  It seemed that once again, if only for a moment, we all came together in unity as Americans.  But then, all too quickly, the Republicans and their followers seemed to realize mid-celebration, “Uh oh, this could be construed as a success for President Obama.  We must stop this immediately and start doing some spin control.”  Thus began their ridiculous pats-on-the-back of former President Bush and extolling the benefits of torture, claiming that an incident of water boarding over 7 years ago was the primary thing that led directly to the discovery and destruction of bin Laden.

            Let me remind everyone of Bush’s words at a press conference 6 months after 9/11 in answer to a question about Osama bin Laden:

“I don’t know where he is. I, uh, [chuckle] I repeat what I said, I truly am not that concerned about him…”

He later, in fact, dismantled the CIA’s bin Laden Unit and then took us to war in Iraq, a country that had absolutely nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks.

It was President Obama, then candidate Obama, who vowed in a debate with John McCain, "If the United States has al-Qaida, bin Laden, top-level lieutenants in our sights, and Pakistan is unable or unwilling to act, then we should take them out."  He also made the pledge: "We will kill bin Laden. We will crush al-Qaida. ... That has to be our biggest national security priority."  He has now made good on that pledge.  That is a fact and there is nothing the Obama-haters can do or say that is going to change it.

Unlike the Bush administration, Leon Panetta, the CIA Director did not lie to us and say unequivocally that we didn’t get ANY information from those un-American intelligence gathering methods, but rather, that there were many sources from which the information was gathered.  Intelligence experts have said that information gathered from prisoners is generally only useful within the first 15 or 20 minutes—on occasion as much as 2-3 days.  But now, Republicans like Congressman Pete King, want us to believe that Cheney’s torture tactics of 7 years ago resulted in this victory.

Okay, so Osama bin Laden is dead.  That’s wonderful.  We can all agree that the world is a better place without him.  But what was his goal that fateful September day?  Was it to kill thousands of Americans?  Well, yes, but not in and of itself.  If you will recall the interview he did with Al Jazeera a month later when he was gloating over the 9/11 attacks, what he focused on was the economic impact to America.  His goal was to force us into being so scared that it would cripple our economy and bring us to bankrupt ourselves.  This was still his main message when we last saw him deliver a video taped message in October before the 2004 election.  “We are continuing this policy in bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy … as for the economic deficit, it has reached astronomical numbers estimated to total more than a trillion dollars…the real loser is you.  It’s the American people and their economy.”

In the Washington Post, Ezra Klein wrote about “Bin Laden’s War against the U.S. Economy.”  He wrote, “For bin Laden…success was not to be measured in body counts.  It was to be measured in deficits, in borrowing costs, in investments we weren’t able to make in our country’s continued economic strength.”

The Washington Post chronicled how much money we have put into defense, intelligence and security in the last decade in an investigation entitled “Top Secret America.”  Since 9/11 the Pentagon Defense Intelligence Agency has gone from 7,500 employees to 16,500.  The National Security Agency’s budget has doubled.  The 35 FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces went from 35 to 106.  The largest government complex since the Pentagon is being built for the Headquarters of the Department of Homeland Security at an estimated cost of $3.4 billion.  By the end of 2001, 24 new government organizations were created; in 2002 an additional 34 were created to track weapons of mass destruction, collect threat tips and coordinate the new focus on counter-terrorism followed by 36 more in 2003; 31 more in 2004; 32 more in 2005 and 20 or more each in 2007, 2008 and 2009.

On 9/11/01, the U.S. national debt was approximately $6 Trillion.  Ten years later it is over $14 Trillion.  The U.S. defense budget, already massive, has doubled.  The U.S. intelligence budget—well, there was no Department of Homeland Defense then and last year their budget alone was $42 Billion.

 Also, over the last decade or so:

U.S. Median Income:

1999 -              $52,377

2009 -              $49,777

Health Care Costs/Average Annual Insurance Premium per family:

2000 -              $6,438

2010 -              $13,770

Home Heating Oil:

2000 -              $1.35/gal

2010 -              $3.88/gal

U.S. Education/U.S. Rankings in Math & Science:

2000 -              14^th and 18^th

2009 -              17^th and 25^th

The result:  The middle class in this country is disintegrating.  According to the Organization of Economic Co-Operation and Development, “The U.S. is the country with the highest inequality level [between rich & poor] and poverty rate…” and it is getting worse.

 I ask, has bin Laden’s goal died with him?   Or, is it in full swing?

Maybe there is little that you and I can do about all this, but we can do something here locally.  The Russell County Fiscal Court is meeting Monday evening, May 9^th at 6:00 pm.  That will be the 39^th day since they declared war on the average working Joe and Jane here in Russell County by passing the Occupational Tax Ordinance which penalizes the working poor and middle-income citizens of this county, while giving a huge break to the wealthy.  Once again, I urge everyone to come to the meeting and let our magistrates know that we are watching and listening.  At the end of every meeting, they are presented with a list of expenditures -- bills to be voted on & paid.  At every meeting they vote to pay those bills while those of us in the audience have no idea what those bills are.  I have requested that we be shown these bills so we can at least see what they are.  I don’t know if my request will be granted, but we will soon know.  Please come out and participate in your local government.

WAR ON MIDDLE CLASS OVERVIEW - NATIONAL & LOCAL

            On this, the 27^th day since the Russell County Fiscal Court declared war on the working poor and middle-income citizens of this county, I’ve decided to present an overview of other battles being waged, almost exclusively by Republicans, against Americans who struggle the most to create a decent life for themselves and their families.  But first, I want to make you aware that President Obama, in his Facebook town hall last week, spoke directly to our very own Russell County magistrates:

            “Nothing is easier than solving a problem on the backs of people who are poor, or people who are powerless or don’t have lobbyists or don’t have clout.”

            Okay, he wasn’t speaking exclusively to our magistrates, but he was speaking directly to them, although I’m afraid I don’t have any faith that they were listening.  He was also speaking to a lot of other state and local governments as well as the Republicans in the House who just passed the Paul Ryan budget proposal that cuts Medicare benefits in order to give the wealthiest 2% even more tax breaks.  His ridiculous plan reduces the top tax rate 10% from 35 to 25% and reduces corporate taxes even more.  Although how corporate taxes can get lower than zero, which is what GE paid last year, I have no idea.  His plan does nothing to reduce the deficit; nor does it say anything about controlling health care costs or education.

            Then there is the President’s call to immediately end the $4 billion taxpayer subsidies for the big oil companies.   No way will the Republicans agree to that—no doubt because they get so much money from big oil to fund their campaigns and push their agendas.  It is anticipated that the first quarter profits for Exxon Mobile, Chevron and Conoco Phillips alone will be over $18.2 billion (that’s a “B” folks), a 40% increase over last year.  This, while gas prices are up 53 cents per gallon over the same 3 month time period and still going up.  So, while we are now shelling out nearly $4.00 per gallon to get to & from our barely-above-minimum-wage jobs here in Russell County (although employers here refuse to admit in public that they pay such low wages), and while we are paying our new 1% Occupation tax for the privilege of working those fine jobs (while the employers are NOT paying 1%), we are also paying for $4 BILLION of tax subsidies going to those fat cat oil companies.  Is there any sane human being out there who really believes this is a good thing?  Well, John Boehner, Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell and the other Republicans must think so—but then again, I said “sane,” didn’t I?

            That’s not really fair, though, because if your real goal is to make sure that President Obama doesn’t get re-elected in 2012 above and beyond any other concern – like say, the welfare of the average American citizen, then it is very sane to do everything in your power to make sure gas prices stay high.  Why?  When asked about Obama’s chances to be re-elected recently, John Boehner said, “…If gas prices are 5-6 dollars per gallon, he certainly won’t win…”  And with the wealthy, big oil and Karl Rove’s Citizens United behind him and other Republicans, they certainly don’t need to be concerned with the middle class.

            Now let’s take a look at what is going on in some other states with Republican governors and legislatures:

• Wisconsin – We already know about the illegal legislation passed by the Republicans and Governor Scott Walker to strip union rights.  In Milwaukee, Walker is starving public schools to pay for his new voucher system which puts private companies in charge of running the schools there.  The achievement testing in those schools show that his voucher program is failing because the students are doing the same or worse than the kids in public schools.  Not one to let details like this stand in his way, Walker now wants to expand this failed program to the entire state.  Oh and that pesky problem of low achievement?  He knows how to solve that too—he will just exempt those voucher schools from any further state achievement testing!  Now, there’s a real problem solver!
• Michigan – The Republican Governor of this state, Rick Snyder, has simply decided that Democracy, itself, is the barrier to solving his state’s problems.  He has expanded the power to simply go into a city or town and throw out all the duly elected officials and substitute his own dictator, which is what has been done in the very poor town of Benton Harbor.  The median income in Benton Harbor is $10,100.  The state appointed dictator/manager has decided to give the public park in Benton Harbor over to a developer to construct a huge golf resort.  The annual membership fee to play golf at this new resort will be $5,000.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that this resort is not being built for the residents of Benton Harbor since it would cost them half their annual earnings to play there.
• Michigan just keeps getting better—Republican State Senator, Bruce Casswell proposed this week in his new budget that the state’s foster children should only be allowed to get their clothing from 2^nd hand stores.  Really.  This is really a true story…
• Maine – Republican Governor Paul LePage is backing a bill in the legislature which would roll back many of the state’s child labor laws by eliminating the maximum number of hours a minor could work on a school day, allowing them to work until 11:00 pm on a school night and increasing the maximum number of hours they could work per week to 24.  And did I mention that they would also pay minors less than the legal minimum wage?  Does anyone remember the original reason for child labor laws in the first place?  That perhaps children should be in school learning instead of working???  You can bet that the children of wealthy folks won’t be spending their formative years working for less than minimum wage instead of getting an education.

These are just a few of the shots being fired at the poor and middle class across the country.  I would have to have this entire paper not just this week but every week to discuss all the efforts being made by Republicans to demolish the middle class.

      However, the middle class are not giving up and rolling over (except for maybe here in Russell County, that is).  After the Republicans in the House passed the Paul Ryan budget they came home to their districts to hold town hall meetings where they are being met with anger and hostility.  They are learning that 80% of Americans don’t want Medicare and Medicaid changed.  They don’t want the wealthiest 2% to get even more tax breaks funded by removing benefits from the elderly and poor.

      In Wisconsin, even though they want everyone to believe that there is just as much backlash against the Democrats who left the state in opposition to the illegal bill they pushed through their legislature, the facts say differently.  As of yesterday, the Democrats’ grass roots efforts to recall some Republicans from office have been successful—they have obtained enough signatures to file recall elections on 5 Republican legislators and expect to file the 6^th one today.  On the other hand, the conservatives targeted Democrat Senator Lena Taylor for recall, but they missed the deadline to file because they needed 13,498 signatures and they only got a few hundred (embarrassingly enough, some of those were only obtained by buying their signatures with booze—true story—caught on audio tape).  Democrat Senators Fred Risser, Spencer Coggs and Mark Miller were also targeted by conservatives, but alas, they also missed the deadline on them as well due to not enough signatures.

      As far as the local war goes here in Russell County, I might be wrong and I hope I am, but I believe that the topic of amending the new unfair Occupational Tax to make it more proportionally shared by the rich is dead unless more of us show up and continue to bring it up at the Fiscal Court meetings.  The next meeting is Monday night, May 9^th at 6:00 p.m.  Are you going to show up?  Or, are we satisfied to surrender to the wealthy and powerful and just call this war against us lost?

(Note:  If you’d like to receive the Russell County Fiscal Court’s notices of meetings—special-called and regular, agendas and minutes please send an email to minutes@rckygov.com requesting to be added to the email list.  I urge ALL concerned citizens to do this and stay informed.)

RUSSELL COUNTY WAR ON MIDDLE CLASS - DAY 13

            As I begin writing this column, it has been 13 days since the Russell County Fiscal Court declared war on middle- and low-income wage earners by passing the new 1% Occupational Tax on everyone making less than $80,000 per year.  Those making more than $80,000 per year are allowed to pay less than 1%-- in fact, the more you make, the less you pay.

            I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t disappointed at the lack of turnout of regular wage-earners at last Monday night’s Fiscal Court meeting.  However, the place was packed with local business owners who are terrified that the Fiscal Court might remove the abhorrent cap on their new tax, thereby making it fairer for their employees, but costing them a bit more money.  They do have a legitimate concern and some valid points concerning the corporate net profits tax.  This, to me, should be a totally separate issue and should most certainly be dealt with in a very carefully considered way in order to avoid running off potential industry and jobs in this county.  The last thing this county needs is fewer jobs.

            That does not change my position on the how the current ordinance taxes personal income in a grossly unfair way.  It was said at the meeting by one of the numerous business owners that “no tax is fair”.  Well, that may or may not be true, but this tax is certainly fairer to some than to others; namely, the wealthy.  It saddens me that the room Monday night was virtually empty, except for a handful, of the people in this county that it penalizes the most.  However, I do understand it.  Most of the hardworking wage earners who are being nailed the hardest by this unfair tax work for the people who did show up the other night and would, no doubt, be fearful of repercussions should they show up and speak up against something their employers are so staunchly in favor of.  Sad, but true.

            But, be of good cheer all you hard working low- and middle-income wage earners of Russell County!  I have good news!  While waiting for the meeting to start, I found myself engaged in a conversation … well, no… actually that would suggest that 2 or more were actually contributing to a discussion; rather, I was listening to a lecture by the owner of Superior Battery, Randy Hart, who has the solution to all your financial woes, thus enabling you to pay that 1% tax with little or no pain.  Apparently, in addition to running a successful battery company, he also dispenses financial counseling to those who come to him quite often, he says, with trouble making ends meet.  (It is not clear whether his door is open to one and all or if this service is free—perhaps this is his volunteer work and how he gives back to his community.)  At any rate, he disclosed to me that the real problem is that you all are just wasting too much money on things you don’t really need.  So, basically, if you just tighten your belts a bit more and stop wasting so much money, then you wouldn’t worry so much about having to pay an additional ¾% on this dreaded occupational tax.

            One more thing I’m having trouble figuring out is how the people who compile all those statistics for the state are getting things so wrong here in Russell County.  They publish that the median income for Russell County is $22,042.  That works out to approximately $11 per hour.  The weird thing is that so far, every time I have mentioned to any of these employers something about their employees who make 8-12 bucks an hour, they say, “Oh no, we pay substantially more than that…”   I guess those folks who compile those statistics for the state just have it wrong.  The median income for Russell County must be much higher than that.  I bet all those wage earners out there have fabulous healthcare benefits and paid sick days and all the paid holidays, vacations galore and wonderful profit-sharing and retirement plans as well.  In fact, I should really stop worrying about the unfair burden this Occupational Tax places on them because one of the business owners the other night said that he “spoke for” his employees as well when he was defending the cap.  That must be why none of them showed up—they knew their employers would speak for them.

            Really, people, we have nothing to worry about.  Our benevolent employers and the wise sages on our Fiscal Court will look after us, why, we shouldn’t even bother to stay informed or show up for those pesky Fiscal Court meetings.  Let’s just trust that they have our best interests at heart.

            Now, don’t you feel better?    I know I don’t.

WAR ON RUSSELL COUNTY’S MIDDLE CLASS - DAY SIX

            At this writing is has been 6 days since the Russell County Fiscal Court declared war on this county’s middle and lower income earners by passing the new 1% occupational tax ordinance with the cap that allows anyone making over $80,000 per year to pay less than the rest of us.  This war has just begun.  Make no mistake—it is nowhere near over.  This ordinance can, should, and if I and other good folks in this county have anything to do with it, will be amended to make sure we are ALL treated equally and fairly.

            There was a full house at the Special Called Meeting last Thursday night with nearly all but two lone individuals standing in favor of eliminating the cap that favors the wealthy.  I was even optimistic a few times during the meeting that the magistrates were going to do the right thing and eliminate the cap.  Judge Robertson recommended on at least three different occasions that they vote on the ordinance without the cap.  But, unfortunately, the two members of the audience who opposed that option, Mr. Terry Stephens and Mr. Mike Adams, had no intention of allowing that to happen.  Every time Judge Robertson made that recommendation, Mr. Adams would pop up like a jack-in-the-box and bluster about how it would hurt jobs, while assuring us that he was “not defending” his boss, Mr. Stephens (which of course only convinced most of us that that was exactly what he was doing).  If he didn’t pop up (or off), then Mr. Stephens would implore, accuse and threaten the Court; he implored them not to pass the ordinance without a cap, he accused the Court of being arrogant and he threatened that he would not move one of his operations from Casey County to Russell County as he was supposedly planning to do.  It became clear that the issue of providing his tax return was far more of a concern to Mr. Stephens than the issue of paying a large sum of money.  He told the Court more than a few times to “raise the cap—make it $10,000, $50,000, whatever you want...”  He “guaranteed” that other counties in Kentucky did not have occupational taxes that did not exempt or cap businesses.  In fact, he made that “guarantee” several times.  Oddly, the first Occupational Tax Ordinance I checked—Pulaski County’s does not have a cap or exempt anyone or any business… so much for Mr. Stephens’ so-called guarantee.  In addition, at one point Mr. Stephens flat-out told the Court if they passed it without the cap that no corporation would provide their tax return.   “I won’t,” he said.  I shudder to think what would happen to one of us regular Joe’s or Joann’s, if we just flat refused to cooperate with the law.

Ultimately, the magistrates caved in to their intimidation and bullying tactics.  I think the most disappointing moment for me was when Magistrate Popplewell, whom I have always admired for standing up for regular folks, responded with a shrug and a “so-what” attitude when right before the vote he was asked how passing the ordinance with a cap was fair to anyone making less than $80,000.

            Basically, as it stands right now, it is even more unfair than it was before the meeting.  Originally, the cap was only eligible for those who were self-employed or corporations.  County Attorney Shearer informed the Court that previous case law made it illegal to single out certain segments to benefit from a cap—that it had to apply to everyone or no one.  So now anyone making over $80,000 per year can benefit from the cap, whether they are an employee, self-employed or a corporation.

            It became obvious based on Mr. Stephens’ own statements that if the ordinance was passed without the cap that our budget shortfall would be solved almost immediately.  In addition, if they were to amend the ordinance eliminating the cap, it would no longer be necessary to raise the tax to a full 1%, making it possible for us all to pay less.

            Here’s the thing:  The Court promised to study other occupational tax ordinances throughout the state to see how they are doing it.  (Why this hadn’t already been done, is a complete mystery to me—should have been a “no-brainer”.)  They also promised to look at this cap again and perhaps amend it.  I say that we keep the pressure on—that we continue to show up at the Fiscal Court Meetings and continue to make the magistrate’s phones ring.  Let’s make sure they earn the $600.00 per month salary and the $300.00 per month expense allowance.  Let’s make sure their cell phones, provided and paid for by us, are ringing continuously on this subject, so they don’t think we have forgotten or that we have accepted defeat.  They voted not to contribute anything to the health insurance with which we provide them, so let’s make sure we get our money’s worth by giving them headaches, indigestion and high blood pressure from the stress of answering to us until they do the right thing.

            The next Fiscal Court meeting is this Monday evening, April 11^th at 6:00 p.m.  Judge Robertson has instituted a new rule that anyone who wants to speak must sign up on a list.  I understand that is supposed to help keep order, but I see it as a deterrent—an effort to discourage people from speaking up.  I urge EVERYONE to come to the meeting and sign the sheet whether you know you want to speak or not.  How do you know whether or not you will want to speak?  You may hear something that gives you an idea or something you disagree with or you may form an opinion that is important to share.  If you sign the sheet and then don’t want to speak, you don’t have to—no one is going to force you, but if you do, you’ll have the opportunity.

            One more thing about the Fiscal Court meetings—why, for Pete’s sake, are the magistrates seated around a table, some with their backs to us, the public, that they serve?  When I asked Judge Robertson about this, he answered, “That’s the way it has always been done.”  Well, I believe you all know what I think about that answer.  (Hint:  not much.)  First of all, I think it shows absolute disrespect for all of us who take our time to be there.  Second, it makes it difficult to hear what is being said.  And third, I want to be able to look my elected officials in the face and have them look me in the face when they are voting on something that concerns the welfare of this County and those of us living here—and that means everything they vote on.

            My good Readers, my question to you is this:  Are you going to stand by and take this unfair treatment or are you going to stand with me and attend the Fiscal Court meetings?  We CAN affect a different outcome.  Come to the meeting Monday night and sign up to be heard!

WAR ON MIDDLE CLASS COMES TO RUSSELL COUNTY

            For the last two weeks I’ve been writing about the war on the middle class taking place all over the country.  We no longer have to look to places like Indiana, Wisconsin or Ohio to see the battles being waged against low and middle income Americans.  It is taking place right here and right now.  The Russell County Fiscal Court will be voting at a Special Called Meeting at 6:00 pm on March 31^st to raise the Occupational License Tax 300%.  That is a whopping increase.  The current tax rate is .25% and they are proposing to raise it to a full 1%.

            Apparently, this is necessary because our county is in dire straits.  We are facing a budget shortfall of $1.254 million.  (The reason for this shortfall itself is a good subject for a future column.)  According to County Treasurer, Kathy Tupman, this figure doesn’t include many unforeseen expenses like the rise in fuel costs or replacing county equipment when necessary, so it is practically certain that the deficit will be even greater than predicted.  So, those of us who earn a living, no matter how meager it is—and most of us in Russell County do earn meager livings; the most recent data says the median income in Russell County is $22,042 annually—will have to ante up more money for the “privilege” of working in Russell County.

            Here’s the kicker:  The wealthiest among us won’t have to pay as much as the rest of us.  This is not being talked about much.  There is a lot of hullabaloo about the “Sunset Clause” which will cause the Fiscal Court to re-visit this tax increase in two years and that’s just great.  But, it’s a non-issue.  How many of you really believe that in two years they are going to vote in favor of lowering it 300% back to .25%?  If they do then you’d better go buy some ice skates because hell will have just frozen over.  The real issue that no one is talking about is Section 4, The Alternative Tax.  This provision allows self-employed individuals and corporations to pay a flat sum of $800 instead of the 1% that the rest of us will have to pay.  So, let’s say you are a successful attorney here in Russell County and you make $200,000 (or more likely much more), instead of paying 1% or $2,000, you get to pay only $800.  Or, let’s say you are the owner of a very successful company employing many workers at say, $7 or $8 per hour—your company is so successful, largely because you have the “privilege” of  locating it in Russell County, Kentucky where you have access to workers you can exploit by paying them practically slave-wages with no benefits, thereby reaping great profits which allow you to own a private jet and live large—you only have to pay $800, which is probably only one hundredth of one percent.  Of course, no one really knows what percentage a person like that will pay because that very same provision waives the requirement for them to show their tax return revealing what they make.  But make no mistake; the employees of that company will pay their full 1% or $166.40 if you are making $8.00 per hour.

            Once again, the low and middle income earners are being asked to shoulder the largest burden, while the ones who are most able to afford it get the break.  They will tell us that the reason for this provision is to encourage industry to move to Russell County.  That is a crock.  In this economic climate industry is not flocking to Russell County or any other county and is not likely to be doing so in the next two years, so why couldn’t they eliminate this provision and re-visit it in two years?  Additionally, if we are so desperately in need of funds to correct this budget shortfall, then why are we giving anyone a break?—Especially since estimates are that the increase to 1% won’t even cover the entire deficit?  Shouldn’t we, more than ever, require EVERYONE to shoulder the same burden?

            I have spoken to each magistrate, and every one of them made reference to this provision as a “cap”, which it is, even though it is not worded that way in the ordinance.  Oddly, every one of them indicated to me that they are in agreement that this provision is not fair and that all individuals should have to pay the same percentage—that there should be no break for those most fortunate among us.  However, they all seemed somewhat resigned that “this is the way it has always been,” as if some indefinable power, other than themselves, was forcing it to be this way.  My magistrate, Larry Holt, promised me that if he could get at least one other magistrate to stand with him, he would fight to have this provision eliminated.  I informed him that that should be easy since they all agree that it is wrong.  The big question, of course, is whether they are just telling me what I want to hear, or are they telling me the truth?  We’ll soon find out.

            Fellow citizens of Russell County, I urge you not to be silent on this issue!  I don’t want to see my taxes go up any more than the rest of you.  I would rather that this particular tax be abolished altogether.  Unfortunately, it seems apparent that not only is it not going to be abolished; it is going to go up.  I don’t know about you, but it will be a whole lot easier to swallow if I know that everyone is doing their part and paying the same percentage.  Call your magistrate and let him know how you feel and if you aren’t sure who your magistrate is, call them all.  Here are the numbers:

                        Greg Popplewell                     866-1157

                        Brook Cochran                        566-4521

                        Ronald Johnson                      566-1887

                        Jimmy McQueary                    566-1787

                        Larry Holt                               585-2002

            We still have time, folks, but not much.  They will argue that the State is requiring that something be done by April 1, so they can’t change this provision because it will require them to start the process all over again and they don’t have time.  I’m not buying what they are selling.  If that was the case, then they knew about this deadline a long time ago and why did they wait so late that it is now such an emergency?  Maybe just so they could ram something through and use the deadline as an excuse.  Regardless, I have absolutely no doubt that there is an alternative other than doing something, even if it is the wrong thing, just because of some deadline.

            Don’t just call your magistrate—come to the meeting on Thursday, March 31^st at 6:00 pm.  If they tell you, like they did me, that they are against this provision, then hold their feet to the fire, show up and let them know that you are watching and taking note of their actions—words are cheap.  The unfair burden of this tax is not.