The View from Right Field

Illinois Government: “Fair Tax” or Not, What Comes Next?

On Tuesday (or so), we will know the results on the Illinois “Fair Tax” proposal.  More interesting, however, will be what happens next year in Springfield.  Regardless of whether the Fair Tax passes or not, Illinois taxes will be going up.  The state has had billions of dollars of unpaid bills for a decade (don’t try this at home) and an unpaid pension deficit of either $137 billion or $240 billion (depending on whom you believe).

Governor J.B. Pritzker sent his Lieutenant Governor out last month to say (threaten-?) that if the Fair Tax was not passed, the flat rate state income state would go up from 4.95% to 5.95%, and the Governor said it would be the Republicans’ fault.  So, taxes are going up.  The real question is what happens after the increase.  Will the legislature and the governor use the extra money to finally pay the unpaid bills and pay down the unfunded pension liability?  Or will they all of a sudden say that Illinois has lots of unmet needs (besides paying its bills and funding its pension promises) and that the money needs to be used for new programs and expanded benefits?

Supreme Court or Supreme Election Board?

Three weeks ago, I asked “Will Courts Be Changing Voting Rules Right Up to Election Day?”  Since then, some of the more extreme examples I mentioned in that post have been walked back.  On Monday night, the Supreme Court upheld, by a 5 to 3 vote, a decision by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals that overturned a federal district court decision in Wisconsin to extend the period for getting absentee ballots back to the election board until six days after Election Day.  (Wisconsin law provided that absentee ballots had to be received by Election Day.)   

What I wanted to talk about here are a couple of things Justice Elena Kagan said in her dissent in that decision.  Justice Kagan said: “As the COVID pandemic rages, the Court has failed to adequately protect the Nation's voters." and "[T]he Court's decision will disenfranchise large numbers of responsible voters in the midst of hazardous pandemic condition.”

Honesty In Taxes: We All Have to Pay

There is a trend in tax increase proposals around the world.  Voters in Illinois this November will vote on a “Fair Tax,” i.e., a constitutional amendment to allow the Illinois legislature to pass a progressive income tax.  The key selling point in the campaign for the amendment, other than the name that the PR people gave to it is that only 3% of the people in Illinois will pay a higher tax.  Everybody else will pay less.

In New Zealand, which had an election last weekend, the Green Party proposed a wealth tax, but said it would only apply to the top 6% of people.  The center-left Labour Party rejected the wealth tax idea, but they did propose increasing the tax on income above NZ$180,000, which includes about 2% of taxpayers, from 33% to 39%.

What the Fair Tax Needs Is New Politicians in Springfield

We are told that the solution to the problems in Springfield is the “Fair Tax.”  I would suggest that what we need more than a new tax is new politicians.  Illinois’s main problem isn’t that the state doesn’t have enough money.  It’s that the people in Springfield don’t know how to use the money they already have – and haven’t known how to use it for years.  Which is why we are in the mess we are in.

Giving more money to the politicians we have now will not result in better programs and more things done well.  It will, rather, result in more of what we already have: Poorly-run government that spends too much and accomplishes too little.

Two Pandemic What-Ifs: Getting Through This One; Getting Ready for the Next One

First, the economy.  Most of the projections of where the economy is going and how long it will take to get back to where we were before the pandemic started are based on things going reasonably well in the future.  But what happens if there is a really bad wave this winter?  Can we afford to shut down¹ again?  Can we afford to not to?

People need to be safe, but how long can people get enough money to buy food and pay rent and utilities if they don’t have a job?  Some businesses won’t be able to continue – or reopen if they have to shut down again.

President Trump Can Tweet But Can He Actually Do Things?

There is so much going on that it is sometimes hard to comment on things on a timely basis.  For example, I only yesterday read that President Trump tweeted, the day before the Vice Presidential debate:

“We should have the small remaining number of our BRAVE Men and Women serving in Afghanistan home by Christmas!”

Wow.  That would be a big deal – if it happens.  Which is the thing, of course.  VOA (i.e., Voice of America) reported the next day that “[s]pokespersons for Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley and U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees military operations in the Middle East, declined to comment and referred VOA to the White House.”  Also, Secretary Esper did not answer questions about a speeded-up withdrawal from Afghanistan during a press conference the day after the President’s tweet.  In fact, per VOA, “[o]ne military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told VOA the president’s tweet was the “first word” anyone had seen about an accelerated withdrawal timeline in Afghanistan ….” 

Do Uighur Lives Matter? – Part Two: Do We Care?

In an earlier post I talked about why I thought saying “Uighur Lives Matter” could be problematic.  But beyond that, I don’t think “Uighurs Lives Matter” would carry the day in the United States, even if saying it wasn’t problematic.  Let me mention a couple of reasons.  First, a number of Americans just don’t care about what is going on elsewhere in the world.  It is part of their America First approach.  They feel we need to make economic deals with China.  We have to take care of ourselves; we can’t worry about the Uighurs.  This is certainly what former National Security Adviser John Bolton says that President Trump told President Xi Jinping. 

Second, lots of individual Americans and American companies are intimidated by China.  They see over a billion Chinese and decide sales and profits are more important than principles and doing what is right.

Hunter Biden and Ukraine: Old News – And Still Wrong

There is a big brouhaha about Twitter and Facebook not allowing the re-tweeting or posting (or whatever the proper verb is) of reports in the New York Post about what Hunter Biden allegedly did for the Ukrainian energy company he got a job with when his father was Vice President under Barack Obama.  Apparently, Twitter and Facebook did this because there wasn’t proper sourcing for the reports in the Post, it was based on hacked materials, etc.  (See here and here.)  If Twitter and Facebook really start enforcing a policy requiring stories to be properly sourced, there’s going to be a lot less traffic on those sites.

But back to the Bidens and Ukraine.  If Twitter and Facebook wanted to cut down on posts, etc., about Hunter Biden and Ukraine and his father, a better explanation than a lack of proper sourcing would have been “It’s old news.”  I wrote about this in May of 2014 when reports first came out about Hunter Biden taking the job.  Hunter Biden getting paid by a Ukrainian energy company when his father was Vice President didn’t become wrong because he made an introduction to his father or something else.  It was wrong from the beginning, and it was whether he made the introduction or not.

So, Hunter Biden, Ukraine, Vice President Biden.  Old news.  And still not enough of a reason to vote for Donald Trump.

Probably Not the Best Lincoln Quote for Right Now

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum¹ in Springfield had a quote from Abraham Lincoln at the top of an E-News email I received from them today, along with references to two websites, “CoronaVirus.Illinois.gov” and “PresidentLincoln.Illinois.gov”.  It’s this quote, which I am sure is intended to refer to the pandemic:

“Let us confidently hope that all will yet be well.”

It is a great quote, but given that the date and context of the quote, i.e., it was from Lincoln’s Farewell Address to Springfield on February 11, 1861, I am not sure it is the best quote for right now.
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¹ A great place to visit, though you might want to wait until the virus settles down a little

Do Uighur Lives Matter?

Black Lives Matter has swept the United States.  It is on tee shirts and signs outside churches.  It is painted on city streets and basketball floors.  Along with the pandemic, it is the thing most associated with 2020. 

My question is: What about “Uighur Lives Matter”?  The Chinese have been cracking down on the Uighurs for years.  The repression has gotten worse since President Xi Jinping took office.  Uighurs are labeled terrorists, and police are everywhere.  Reports are that over a million Uighurs are in forced labor camps, which the Chinese call re-education or training centers.¹