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10.01.2008 0

Announcing: The Ubi Est Mea Awards of 2008

  • On: 10/13/2008 13:40:45
  • In: Taxes
  • As usual, the politicians have it exactly backwards.

    The economy is in the dumps (in no small part due to political malfeasance). Gas prices are going through the ceiling (in no small part due to political malfeasance). Foreclosures are at an all-time high (in no small part due to political malfeasance). The average American family is harder pressed than ever before to make ends meet (in no small part due to political malfeasance).

    And state budgets have gone bust (almost entirely due to political malfeasance).

    So, what do the politicians do? They spurn the tottering economy, skyrocketing gas prices, foreclosure deluge, and the American family in order to further pad their own bloated state budgets.

    And how do they do it? By imposing stiff new taxes on hard-pressed American families already facing financial ruin because of the tottering economy, skyrocketing gas prices and foreclosure deluge – all brought about in no small part due to political malfeasance.

    In short, here’s the message scores of politicians nationwide have for hard-working American families on the brink of bankruptcy: Drop dead!

    It’s the ultimate “Me-first, you-last” response to a crisis – in this case made all the worse since the response is coming from those who caused the crisis. One is reminded of the famous Mike Royko column some years back when, faced with local politicians displaying the same self-serving mentality, he suggested the city of Chicago change its slogan to “Ubi Est Mea?”“Where’s Mine?”

    Here, then, are the state-level nominees for the Ubi Est Mea Award of 2008 – every one a state where, according to information provided by Stateline.org, the official government response to the citizenry starving is “Let them eat dirt”:

    • Minnesota – where drivers will now have to pay 8.5 cents more for every gallon of gas they put into their cars, thanks to a higher gas tax.
    • New York – where hated smokers will pay an extra $1.25 on each pack of cigarettes now that state lawmakers raised the state tax to $2.75 a pack, already the highest in the country.
    • Maryland – where anyone who earns a million dollars is getting slapped with a new tax rate of 6.25 percent, up from 5.5 percent, thereby continuing Maryland’s longstanding reputation for punishing productivity.
    • Maine — where beer, wine drinkers, and soda drinkers will have a bigger tab to pay now that the state salons have doubled the excise tax on those items.
    • Illinois – where legislators have seen fit to raise the sales tax by a quarter percent in Chicago and surrounding counties (one has to wonder what corrupt political payoff spared the rest of the state).
    • Indiana – where sales taxes have been increased a full 1 percent (in fairness, it must be reported that the money from the new sales tax is said to be going to cut property taxes … in a bizarre scheme to punish the many in order to reward the few).

    Among those receiving “Honorable Mention” for the Ubi Est Mea Awards of 2008 are the following:

    • Virginia – where the governor of the state has proposed new taxes on motor-vehicle sales, as well as on just about everything else that moves across a counter.
    • California – where if the governor has his way, the patrons of strip clubs, porn-shops, and adult web sites can expect to feel the brunt of a 25 percent tax increase.
    • Rhode Island – where the salons want to make sure that anyone who eats, drinks, or walks through the door of an adult entertainment club forks over a 25 percent tax charge.
    • Massachusetts – where once again hated smokers may have to see an exorbitant tax increase pass through their nicotine-stained fingers.

    In each of the above states, the choice for the politicians was clear: either reduce spending – or raise taxes. Either help out the average America family struggling to make ends meet – or pad the pockets of the politicians already spending more than they’re taking in.

    You can almost see the conniving politicos weighing the options in their miserly little minds:

    “Hmmm … Let’s see now … Help the people – or help myself? … Help the folks barely getting by – or help myself to the slim pickings they have left? … Tax – or spend? … Spend – or tax? … Ummm, tough choice … Oh, what the heck, Ubi est mea!!!”

    And if that sounds far-fetched, stop by your state governor’s mansion or legislature and watch the politicians at work (if you care to call it that). They’re easy to recognize. They’re the ones walking backwards down the hall, pockets bulging, palms upturned, gaily humming “You Got Plenty of Nothing, and Everything’s Plenty for Me,” (in no small part due to political malfeasance).

    ALG Perspective: Mark Twain once wrote that “Congress is America’s only truly native criminal class.” But then, that was before state-level politicians began emulating their Washington icons. The solution: Roll back Big Government at every level, so that the American people can once again look forward to keeping the fruits of their own labor.


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