Archives for July 2012

July 6, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson issued today the following statement in response to the U.S. Labor Department’s June unemployment report:

“The only really good news out of the just released unemployment report is that it wasn’t worse.  When you look behind the headline numbers of an 8.2 percent unemployment rate and the shocking admission that only 80,000 jobs were created last month, it provides further evidence that the employment situation is heading in the wrong direction.

“With a quarter of a million more Americans unemployed in the past five weeks, and almost 300,000 more Americans forced into part-time employment due to slack business conditions, this report should serve as a last nail in the coffin for anyone who has clung to the delusion that Obama’s economic policies have been anything but disastrous for working families and our nation as a whole.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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July 3, 2012, Washington, DC—Although traditional fuel costs $3.60 per gallon, the U.S. Navy has opted to power its so-called “Green Fleet” with a biofuel blend that costs $26 per gallon.   Apparently oblivious to staggering budget deficits, the Pentagon has funded the “Green Fleet”—which recently began its 6-week-long exercise in the Pacific—through its green fuels initiative.

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Arkansas Citizens for Taxpayer Rights chairman Ron Bartels and Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson respond

Fairfax, VA, July 3, 2012—Arkansas Citizens for Taxpayer Rights Chairman Ron Bartels was joined by Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson in commenting on the just-released study by Lyons College Professor, Dr. Bradley Gitz, Ph.D. showing that dedicated taxes are manipulated by politicians and increase the size and scope of government by issuing the following statements:

Ron Bartels reacted strongly to the study saying, “Professor Gitz’s study serves as a wake-up call to any Arkansan who believes these so-called dedicated taxes go to where the politicians promise they will go. Gitz shows clearly that once the tax gets entrenched, a number of so-called dedicated taxes have undergone mission creep to the detriment of the ma and apple pie causes they were sold to the public as funding. The beer tax is a perfect example of this phenomenon. It was originally sold to the public as necessary to help provide child care for working families and, over time, the child care for working families became forgotten and the monies were placed directly into the general fund.

“This type of bait and switch is common with flim-flam men and politicians, and in a twist on the old saying, it is time for the voter to beware, when being promised a dedicated tax, because it always turns out to be nothing more than a way to get deeper into someone’s pockets to fund bigger government at the public’s ultimate expense.”

Bill Wilson agreed stating, “The bait and switch is even more egregious because if these causes were so important to the politicians, they would already be fully funded through the proper prioritizing of expenditures.

Instead, Professor Gitz shows how politicians manipulate voters emotions to pass these tax increases for ‘worthy’ causes, but the money for the causes, like education, is often not increased by the amount of the tax revenues. Instead, the politicians just transfer the money that would have been allocated to that cause without the dedicated funds to other, less popular
items.

“This fund shifting shows that dedicated taxes are largely a lie, designed to put lipstick on the tax-increase pig.”

A copy of Dr. Gitz’ study titled, “Dedicated Tax Increases in Arkansas: Providing Public Goods or Growing Government?” can be found on the Arkansas Citizens for Taxpayer Rights<http://artaxpayerrights.org/> website.

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