BY RUSSELL TURNER
UNRELIABLE JUNK HEAP
We Americans have become a people that like to look good on the outside even though the inside is rotten. I have seen individuals purchase an auto that on the outside looks pretty, but the engine, transmission and other vital points are in terrible shape. For some perverse reason many people will tolerate a junk heap that is totally unreliable as long as it looks good. Myself, I try to be a bit more realistic, I am willing to tolerate a few dings and scratches as long as the vehicle is trustworthy and sound mechanically. We conservatives look at life much differently than non-conservatives. Instead of trying to show off we tend to look at problems more in black and white and use logic to solve them. I have been keeping up with the Oklahoma State Legislature over the past few days; while there is an abundance of legislators with R’s by their names, their actions prove them not to be conservatives.
For months all we could hear on the news media was the budget hole our state is experiencing, and without all kinds of new taxes civilization would cease to exist. In my opinion too many of our legislators worship at the altar of big government. Their view seems to be that all of government must be funded regardless of the cost to the people actually paying the taxes. One bill that was voted down spoke volumes on the disrespect to the taxpayer. The bill to end the Political Swag was soundly defeated; this bill, according to its supporters, would have saved the Oklahoma taxpayers 28.5 million dollars per year. What is Political Swag? It is the practice of using taxpayer money for non-essential trinkets to promote agencies and departments; it is the same kind of junk that hucksters hand out to entice you to buy something you didn’t need in the first place.
Next was increasing the tax on cigarettes; while I have never smoked and don’t intend to start, their logic for passing it is an insult to our intelligence. The supporters of the bill like to sit on their high horses and claim that their intent is to help people stop smoking. The whole idea to increase taxes on tobacco is just a way to get more money in the general fund. For untold years the taxes on tobacco have put millions of dollars in government; if tobacco is so dangerous just ban it and be done with it, but they know that there would be millions less to spend.
Another grand idea was to increase the tax that we would have to pay when we buy a new car. Right now if you purchase a new car when you go to the local tag office it seems like you are buying it all over again just to pay the excise tax and purchase a tag. One question I have, will any proposed excise tax increase apply to the Oklahoma Tribes, or will it only apply to non-tribal citizens?
While there are some great legislators in the capitol there is an oversupply of those who are trying to put a slick paint job on a rotten system. There are too many legislators who are treating state government like an unreliable junk heap but it is we taxpayers who have to live with it.
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