Letter: Pork projects ought to be prohibited
Riders are more then those who are not driving the bus. No! They are the poor bills that won’t pass on their own merit, but will if they are attached to one that will pass.
One legislator says to another, “I’ll vote for your bill if I can attach my bill to yours.”
This type of bill often turns into a dollar bill. These are often “pet project” bills, written to fulfill a legislator’s campaign promise he or she made to become elected, and have no real meaning or value to the taxpayer, except to its own special interest group.
It is my opinion that every bill should be considered by itself, with no riders, on its own merit. And that half of them should not even be brought to the legislative floor. These are a waste of time, breath, and the paper they are written on.
I believe that these bills are what are holding up the budget negotiations — trying to figure out where to get the money for these
useless bills. Let’s make it a “temporary tax increase” so it will pass.
In the annals of government when was the last time you can remember a “temporary tax” being removed from the books? I wonder how many “temporary taxes” are still on the books and how long they have been there. These are often open-ended with no termination date. That means a permanent tax to me.
Do our legislators even go over these taxes to see whether they should be terminated? My guess is no. Once they get their hands on the money they won’t let go. That item should be on their annual session agenda.
I think we should put the pressure on them and reverse an old saying to “Don’t let sleeping dogs lie. They need a good, swift kick in the pants.” Any volunteers?
Why don’t they consider increasing the import taxes? Of course that would upset both China and Wal-Mart, to mention a few. Make it more tempting and profitable to manufacture some of these items to be made in USA. A vanishing label. For instance, go to a toy store and try to buy a present for your child that was made in USA. You’ll find your choices very limited. The people in these other countries work for about as much money as we would put in a parking meter per day. I doubt that the word benefits even exists in their language unless you are talking about their rich and powerful.
I’m not trying to be a “rabble rouser” here, but as common man I’m just trying to make sense of all this.
Larry Turner,
Madera
