The Walking Dread

The Minnesota Republicans in charge of the State House are talking about implementing a new tax.  That's right, the party which claims to be anti-tax has seemingly reversed course and is discussing a brand new, never before seen tax on Minnesotans, but it's what they are willing to tax which is even more outrageous.  The Minnesota GOP wants to tax walking.

First, let's address the myth that modern Republicans are against taxes and are for responsible economics.  Quite the contrary, the modern Republican politician invokes the most reckless and foolish economic policies this country has ever seen.  They're for government spending at unsafe levels, and insist it's okay we don't actually pay our bills.  Some examples: they used a credit card model on the national level, making the bills for two wars, Medicare Part D and the W. Bush era tax cuts due in early 2009, after W.'s term, and they did an insanely dangerous shift of an entire segment of the Minnesota state budget into a future fiscal cycle, when Pawlenty used slight of hand on education spending. They then argue, with a straight face, they're somehow not the fox in the hen house.  It's what I expect from people who allowed the Minnesota State Chair, Tony Sutton, to bankrupt them to the point of near eviction.

The modern GOP'er is working an economic strategy which is best described as a horribly mutated version of trickle down economics, a flawed plan initiated by Reagan.  The proven false theory is to give the wealthiest people their tax dollars back, and they in turn spend it, trickling down to the rest of us heathens, who easily confuse sewer run off for a fresh Spring rain.  The problems with trickle down, as documented, fall into three categories:  1) wealthy people are not going to buy 6 more gallons of milk or 5 more loaves of bread every week, so day to day spending remains stagnant, 2) when they do buy high end items such as yachts, planes and 4th vacation homes, they buy them in foreign markets, immediately nullifying any benefit to the US economy, and 3) since there were no rules or incentives to spend, all this really did was pour money into long term investments, ensuring the grandkids of the wealthiest are never for want, but with the updated version of trickle down, the modern GOP is trying to ensure Millionaire and Billionaire's great, great, great, great grandkids never have to work a day in their lives.

The Republican slight of hand begins, without any consideration for the consequences, by giving massive tax breaks to the wealthiest individuals (people who make a million or more a year) and corporate welfare to the largest of corporations (no mom and pop operations allowed, unless their last names are Walton or Koch).  They give away a third of their income at the very beginning, insisting it's some sort of prerequisite before they can start addressing the budget.  It's not, it's creating a no win scenario which impacts every other aspect of the budget.  The Republicans are so committed to this first step, they treat it as an untouchable reality.  It's exactly what they have done in Kansas, and even though that state is looking at draconian budget cuts, most Republicans act as if the tax cuts for the wealthiest and corporate welfare they implemented are off the table, un-revisable in any way.

This 'guaranteed to fail' budget system is responsible for most of the political conflict of today.  Roads verses mass transportation, education funding verses vouchers, initiatives for public safety verses budgetary limitations.  Almost all of our political divisiveness stems from the flawed idea of first giving the wealthiest of wealthy all of their money back, and then some, and then never asking "why did we do something so fiscally irresponsible?"

Here's the ugliest part of this flawed economic policy, the GOP knows it doesn't work.  They know, even with deficits, they still need to bring in enough money to continue their high spending agenda.  The question Republicans have tried to answer is "how do we continue to outrageously spend money when the income in our budget model is fatally chocked off?  They've come up with two options.  First, don't help people who don't usually vote Republican.  In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the coasts of Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, GOP stalwarts, got the money and resources they needed fast, getting their clean up taken care of quickly.  Not the case for mainly African American, Democratic leaning New Orleans, which still has segments of that town showing the effects of a Federal government who said F-You.  How about the north Minneapolis tornado from a few years back?  Minnesota Republicans couldn't find enough reasons to say we can't help, but when tornadoes hit Hugo and Rogers, they couldn't get the aid to those commutes fast enough.  For Republicans, it's no longer about stopping the funding for education, the environment and the arts.  Now they need to rip away funding from Democrats at the base level, emergency relief.  And a reminder, they call themselves Christians.

The other path is to implement taxes they're okay with, taxes they deem to mostly burden non-Republican voters.  They'll go after electric cars, wind power and other sectors they think will impact the left more, which gets us back to the Minnesota GOP's Walking Tax.  The GOP led house is discussing imposing a fee on people who walk and bike on state trails.  Representative Tony Cornish insists this new tax is justified because we charge snowmobilers extra to maintain the trails, so it's only fair.

Ignoring the reality that state tax dollars are already used in the creation, maintenance and promotion of the state trails, let's just focus on the obvious.  One snowmobile can do far more damage to a trail than 20,000 walkers or 5000 bikers.  This new GOP walking tax comes from the right wing ideology that wealthier people are more likely to have snowmobiles or ATV's, and liberal hippies are more likely to walk or bike.  Cornish even refers to the people being on their bikes in "leotards," an ill-informed, unintelligent, and slightly homophobic, swipe at people who bike.  In Republican minds, if the net outcome is a tax which hurts Democrats and their voters more, the GOP will give their hearty stamp of approval.

Quick side note to any Republican who says, "Matt, that is a fee, not a tax.  Label it correctly!"  First, the rightos are the ones who insist any fee collected by the government is an unfair tax, and secondly, the GOP tries to hide their new taxes by calling them everything but; fees, levees, bounties, penalties, charges.  It's a new fine Minnesotans will have to pay to get access to something they have already paid for.  It's a tax.

If you really are an anti-tax advocate, or if you have Libertarian leanings, this proposed Walking Tax should make you livid.  If you are for fiscal responsibility, ask your politicians why do we give the wealthiest of wealthy their money first and make the rest of us pay for it.  If your against wasteful spending, ask why Wall Street, the millionaire farmer, or the extremely profitable oil executive are getting money for just being themselves, paid for by us, with interest.  And then ask your GOP representation why the first tax cut proposed every year isn't one for all incomes under $100K a year.

Or you can say nothing, as you either don't want to disparage the GOP, or, down deep inside, you like penalizing people who politically disagree with you.  I'll be waiting for your outrage, but I won't hold my breath.  If the Minnesota Republican Party is willing to try to tax walking, I can't wait to see what other day to day bodily functions they will try to tax next.