Huh?
Sometimes I wonder if the Tribune includes articles just so that they can put big headlines on them. In the Friday, April 29, 2005, edition, the paper headlined the Montana Section as follows: "State ranks low in tax burden". The Bob Anez article that followed, though, was less than clear. (By the way, I have been unable to locate the article online.) Don't you agree with me that if the Tribune is going to cover a story, they ought to do it in a comprehensible fashion?
According to the article, the State of Montana received $1,754.00 for every man, woman, and child in the state. This places us 37th in the nation "by that measure." What measure? Just the gross tax paid figure?
Anez goes on to state that "[e]ven when viewed as a portion of the average income, Montanans' state tax burden has dropped as well, from 7.6 percent to 6.5 percent over the decade." Ok, but note that Anez fails to give us the ranking of tax as compared to income. Why? Are we 37th in the nation "by that measure" too?
Anez then cites Doug Young, an economics professor at MSU, as pointing out that "state tax collections paint an incomplete picture of the total tax burden because they do not include local taxes, particularly those assessed for schools." Well, Mr. Anez, how do we rank if you do include those taxes???
He goes on to state that the "nation's highest tax rate per resident was $3,047 in Hawaii." Well, that's not a tax rate, that is a nominal tax burden. It tells us nothing. What percentage of income does that represent?
I don't think anyone can read the Anez article and really have a clue how Montana stacks up nationally or regionally. It reeks of cherry picking data, and incomplete analysis.
The bottom line is this: Anez and the Tribune want to make the point that it is not that bad here as far as taxes are concerned. Here's the question though. Will they use this 'conclusion' to a) justify or downplay their insatiable desire for more tax increases (no doubt on the "rich," since we have so many here), or b) give kudos to the Republicans for the last 10 years of tax cutting that resulted in our recent growth in income?
Stay tuned.
7 comments:
My property taxes went up 60% in the last 12 years while the Republicans onwed the legislature and Marc "I didnt know there was asbestos in my hometown" Racicot and Judge Judas ran the state for Bobby Gannon and the rest of the mobsters.
Who had their taxes lowered? Rich pettifoogers and MPC stockholders writing off huge losses?
What's a pettifooger? How do I know if I am one?
pettifogger
Dictionary.com says:
1. A petty, quibbling, unscrupulous lawyer.
2. One who quibbles over trivia.
Maybe I am a poor pettifogger.
As a Great Falls taxpayer, I'm more concerned about city employees surfing the web on company time.
Are city employees surfing the web on taxpayers' time?
Good post. Another useless Trib article.
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