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Thursday, June 22, 2006
An outtake from the Abramoff report
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Every document like the one put out by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee today has a line or two in it that illuminates.
Let’s set it up for you. Reed’s most important task for the Coushattas was a campaign in Texas to close down an illegal casino operated by the Tigua tribe of El Paso. Yes, it was on the other side of a big state. But it was still competition.
After the casino closed, the man most responsible for its closing, Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff — one of Reed’s close friends — contacted Tigua representatives and offered to help reopen it. For $4 million or so.
Marc Schwartz, the Tigua spokesman, questioned Abramoff about his friendship with Reed — whom they viewed as an uncompromising “ideologue.�
“Schwartz recalled that Abramoff laughlingly replied, ‘As far as the cash goes,’� the report said.
Then again, to another Tigua official, Abramoff described Reed as “crazy, like other folks in the Christian Coalition.”
If you’re looking for a complete copy of the Senate document, go here.
But you’re in Washington and are looking for a friend, get a dog.
The little word no ones loves
Thinktank probes what to do about taxes
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Former Gov. Roy Barnes had a lot to do with the formation last year of the Center for a Better South, and he’ll be speaking at a press conference at the Atlanta Press Club Friday morning when the Charleston-based thinktank brings forth its first fruit, a book-length analysis of tax policy in the South, with recommendations for each state.
Authored by Sarah Beth Coffey of the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, which has contracted to do a series of studies for the center, the study urges a no-nonsense approach, such as eliminating sales tax holidays and exemptions on items like groceries and raising cigarette taxes to the national average.
One recommendation for Georgia: broaden the income tax brackets at the lower level and add a new bracket on the high end. Families making $20,000 a year would pay $57 less, while those making $100,000 a year would pay $27 more.
Georgia fares poorly a 11-point checklist of what the states should be doing – but then, all the Southern states do. It does get a positive check for eliminating corporate loopholes and conducting a performance review.
The report has a lot of interesting ideas, but the one we’d use for a conversation starter is, “Rethink tax preferences based on age alone.�
The report points that Southern states have been generous in giving out blanket exemptions for Social Security and private pension incomes, and preferences on property taxes. But in 2030, when the percentage of seniors is predicted to be 15.9 percent, that generosity may get a second look.
To measure how close the current political climate comes to this tough love approach, by the way, see the ad immediately below.
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