From Friends of David R. Craig:
Harford County Executive and candidate for Governor David R. Craig released the following statement today regarding “tax free” week:
“Anything that gives Marylanders some tax relief is better than nothing, and it’s a recognition from a stubborn political monopoly about the need to spur the economy, but the need for a so-called ‘tax free week’ raises a broader issue. Why is it just for a week, and why do politicians decide what items qualify?
“State government has collected nearly $4 billion since the enactment of a 20% sales tax increase in 2007. That is a lot of back to school clothes, and handing out some extra pocket change for shoes, shirts and pants is a sorry pittance considering this regressive, harmful tax hits working people the hardest.”
Nice B.S. statement D.C. Most states have a sales tax. Some are higher than Maryland and some are lower (and some have none, but they make up for it in other ways). The fact is, all states need multiple revenue streams to operate general government, infrastructure and many other things (and you know it!). Why don’t you concentrate on running Harford County (while we’re still paying your salary) and quit being a full time candidate for higher office?
Rock on! I don’t know Mr. Craig but for someone who was on the receiving end of big pay and big benefits from the taxpayer-funded public education system for the majority of his life to be passing himself off an anti-tax conservative is hypocritcal.
As County Executive Craig should know, Tax Free Holidays do not encourage economic growth or significantly increase consumer purchases. In fact, the evidence shows that they simply shift the timing of purchases and ultimately result in a disproportionately large revenue loss for the state / county in which they occur. The truth of the matter is that taxes = funding for infrastructure, emergency services, teachers, etc. and to significantly cut revenue for the sake of back-to-school shopping (which will occur regardless of a tax holiday) is irresponsible.
“Why is it just for a week, and why do politicians decide what items qualify?”
Why, indeed, have any taxes, and why have elected representatives to decide what is taxed?
Is this the way the GOP thinks?
Does he ever talk about anything other than taxes? This state and country has other issues other than taxes.
Speaking of regressive taxes….why haven’t you lowered the piggyback tax? Ours is one of the highest!
CDev,
If we want to talk about regressive rates, Maryland would be rich with targets. Sales Tax. Gas Tax. And on and on and on. Thanks to the Dem/Libs who run this state and have been running it and continue to raise taxes and fees ad nauseum. On the very people they claim to want to help.
Yes but David Craig has no control over them. He controls two rates property taxes and the piggyback tax! He chooses to keep lowering the property tax which only effects homeowners and not the PB tax which would help everyone equally!
Well then let’s crucify David Craig and let Barrabas O’Malley skate. He’s your guy, CDev, why are he and his Lib/Dem legislature buddies screwing over the little guy with tax after tax and fee after fee that disproportionately impacts the economically disadvantaged? After all, these are the people that you continually say need help. And your friend O’Malley and his buddies are raping them.
TITLE SAYS IT ALL.
TEA PARTY NOT GOP DUPES
Before we look at being GOP dupes it is necessary that we first review the Tea Party’s origins..
TEA PARTY GENESIS
Preamble: The Tea Party Movement is an all-inclusive American grassroots movement with the belief that everyone is created equal and deserves an equal opportunity to thrive in these United States where they may “pursue life, liberty and happiness” as stated in the Declaration of Independence and guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States.
No one is excluded from participation in the Tea Party Movement. Everyone, despite race, color or creed, is welcomed to join in seeking to achieve the Tea Party Movement goals, which are as follows:
Ending Deficits and National Debt, Lowering Taxes, and Making Government Smaller and More Efficient. These are and must remain the Tea Party’s Central Issues… Social Issues, abortion, same sex marriage and the like are best left to the political parties ie. Democrats and what ever is left of the Republican Party…..….
The fundamental concern of the Tea Party and the reason it arose as a grassroots movement is the concerns over a bloated, intrusive government, excess spending that is bankrupting the country and leaving an insurmountable debt burden for our children and our grandchildren.
That concern about the next generation is why such a diverse group of people gathered under the Tea Party banner – from soccer moms to Wall Street, from up-and-coming young professionals to those who are unemployed, seniors and retirees – people of all colors and religions and political persuasions are asking their local, state and national government to stop the ballooning bureaucracies and ever-higher taxes with less and less getting done.
More money won’t fix this problem, less money will. This is the essential difference between the Tea Party and the Democrats…
The Tea Party Platform wants to reduce the deficit and national debt not by raising taxes but by lowering them, that is the point that escapes many who are versed in the traditional mantras of Republican vs. Democrat politics.
The Tea Party movement’s significant effect on the 2010 midterm elections was focused on fiscal issues only, 100% focused on lowering both spending and taxes by reducing the overall size and scope of government, and in the process eliminating massive waste and restoring incentive to achieve the American dream.
In early 2009, out of a sense of frustration over a spiraling national debt and the devaluing of the U.S. dollar, the Tea Party grassroots movement took hold.
All across the country people were appalled at how the U.S. was losing its standing as a world leader due to the financial crisis, bailouts, massive new spending programs and huge deficits occurring not just nationally but in local and state governments that somehow were not able to balance their books and in the process were creating an unsustainable amount of debt with burdensome interest rates that would inevitably require large tax increases or lead to default. Once this was realized, the American People decided to act. Their child was aptly called the “TEA PARTY”. In a sense a form of peaceful rebellion……
Tea Party Platform 2012 Defines the Voice of the Tea Party Movement
The Tea Party does indeed hearken back to the days of the nation’s founding and the belief in that all Americans should be able to pursue, Life liberty and the pursuit of happiness however they wished.
“Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” as it is written in the Declaration of Independence, and that burdensome taxes thwart this possibility and crush incentive and ingenuity and effort.
THE TEA PARTY MANIFESTO:
The ELEVEN Tenets of the Tea Party Movement Are As Follows:
Eliminate Excessive Taxes -by ensuring that the government is fiscally responsible. Remember what Calvin Coolidge said, that “collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery.”
Shrink and Eventually Eliminate the U.S. National Debt – The skyrocketing national debt threatens to bankrupt the country and places a huge burden on future generations as well as threatening the good faith and credit of the United States in the eyes of the world.
The interest payments are unsustainable. The National Debt must be reduced in 2014 and 2015 with a goal toward eliminating it altogether. It was Alexander Hamilton who said the “it is essential that the credit of a nation should be well established.”
Stop All Deficit Spending – The people insist that the government spends just what it takes in each year and no more, just as an American business would be expected to do, and just as adults are expected to do in order to set an example for their children. Remember what Benjamin Franklin said, “A penny saved is a penny earned.”
Protect Free Markets -and allow the businesses to prosper in an open marketplace in which everyone has equal opportunity and competition engenders ingenuity and hard work to produce better products at a better price to the benefit of all. Overzealous government interference and involvement in private enterprise goes against the system envisioned by the nation’s founders who believed in the industry and innovation of the people first and foremost. Protect Free Markets – America’s free enterprise system allows businesses to thrive as they compete in the open marketplace and strive toward ever better services and products. Allowing free markets to prosper unfettered by government interference is what propelled this country to greatness with an enduring belief in the industriousness and innovations of the populace.
“That some achieve great success, is proof to all that others can achieve it as well.” –Abraham Lincoln
“You cannot build character and courage by taking away a man’s initiative and independence.” –Abraham Lincoln
“The government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.” –Ronald Reagan
Remember it was Abraham Lincoln who said that “the fact that some people are able to achieve great success is proof to all that others can achieve it as well.”
Adhere to the U.S. Constitution -which is the law of the land. Taxes and laws that are unconstitutional must be dismissed out of hand. Abiding by this founding document and its Bill of Rights is essential to limiting the scope and reach of the federal government and protecting the rights of states and individuals.
It was our first President George Washington himself who said that “The Constitution is the guide which I will never abandon.”
“We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.” –Abraham Lincoln
Promote Civic Responsibility – Arising as a grassroots American movement with no central leadership and all decisions made by consensus at the local level, the Tea Party is merely an amorphous mass representing the peoples’ voice in a sense of civic responsibility upon which the Republic was founded. Irresponsible spending only occurs because people allow it to occur. Remember the words of our founders who said that :
“All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.” –Thomas Jefferson
· “The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.” –Patrick Henry
· “To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.” –Abraham Lincoln
Reduce the Size of Government – both nationally and locally – to keep government in line with allowable budgets based upon reasonable taxes and an efficient government that does not overreach its scope and engender wasteful spending including deficit spending.
It was no less than the famed Samuel Adams who said, “If we can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them, they must become happy.”
Believe In the American People – who have the talent and energy and industriousness and genius to achieve great things unhindered by burdensome taxation due to wasteful spending by an oversized and under-efficient government.
Recall Benjamin Franklin’s saying, “Industry need not wish.”
Believe in the People – The American people, given their guaranteed freedoms, will thrive in a democratic, capitalist environment which allows individuals to strive toward ever greater achievements, innovations and the efficient production of needed and valued goods and services.
· “Industry need not wish.” –Benjamin Franklin
· “Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.” –Abraham Lincoln
· “The people will save their government, if the government itself will allow them.” –Abraham Lincoln
Avoid the Pitfalls of Politicization of Issues – Focus on fiscal responsibility and articulating a clear and passionate message of eliminating wasteful spending including government deficit spending and huge accruing debt that weakens the economy and leads to burdensome taxation. If this message is misrepresented simply refocus the issue on reducing taxes and spending. Understand that big money politics sometimes resorts to unseemly tactics and for a long time lobbyists have held undue influence, but the voice of the people is always the most powerful as long as people speak up with a clear and articulate message without hate or rancor-
The Tea Party movement is seen as a threat to the entrenched political parties and thus is the continual target of smear campaigns and misrepresentation of its ideals. The Tea Party chooses not to respond to these attacks except to strongly and explicitly disavow any and all hate speech, any and all violence as well as insinuations of violence, and any and all extreme and fringe elements that bring discredit to the Tea Party Movement. We are a peaceful movement and respect other’s opinions and views even though they do not agree with our own. We stand by the Tea Party beliefs and goals and choose to focus our energies on ensuring that our government representatives do the same.
The TEA PARTY can be difficult because it refuses to compromise it’s principals and that is something the GOP will never understand or be able to do..
“Here sir, the people govern.” –Alexander Hamilton in a speech to the New York Ratifying Convention, 1788
“Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves, therefore, are its only safe depositories.” –Samuel Adams, 1781
“This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it.” –Abraham Lincoln
PUT GOD BACK INTO AMERICA and regain our moral compass. We have been without it for too long….
“You do well to wish to learn our arts and ways of life, and above all, the Christian religion. These will make you a greater and happier people than you are. Congress will do every thing they can to assist you in this wise intention; and to tie the knot of friendship and union so fast, that nothing shall ever be able to loose it.” General George Washington 1776
Since 2010 Tea Party activities have declined. According to Harvard professor Theda Skocpol, the number of Tea Party chapters across the country has slipped from about 1,000 to 600, but that this is still “a very good survival rate.” After the 2012 debacle the Tea Party movement refocused their tactics away from national demonstrations to local issues.
A shift in the operational approach used by the Tea Party has also affected the movement’s visibility, with chapters placing more emphasis on the mechanics and tactics of getting candidates elected, at all levels of government rather than staging public events or going for national elections. Therefore the Tea Party has become quiescent but it is alive and well and getting ready.. By no means is it dead….
The tea party’s involvement in the 2012 GOP presidential primaries was minimal, owing to divisions over whom to endorse as well as lack of enthusiasm for the candidates.
Which is not to say the 2012 GOP ticket hasn’t had an influence on the Tea Party: following the selection of Paul Ryan as Mitt Romney’s vice-presidential running mate.
The New York Times, in an egregious error in judgement, declared that the once fringe of the conservative coalition, Tea Party lawmakers are now “indisputably at the core of the modern Republican Party.”
The Republican Party is obsolete and moribund, there is no modern party. They are so seeped in the glories of the past that they can not see the Forrest for the trees…They look backwards instead of looking forward. They are elitists that judge most of America as being beneath their Country Club memberships….
As you can readily see, the Tea Party has little if anything in common with the GOP….
In fact the TEA PARTY was recently expunged from the Republican Party by Boehner and the Republican Country Club elitists at the recent Republican Presidential Convention….…
The Republican Party and it’s country club elitists have no use for the maverick Tea Party…..who have the guts to place principal over the party line…
Boehner has moved to attack at least four “Tea Party” Congressmen and marginalize them by kicking them off committees. An unnamed source claimed that the Congressmen were influenced by the TEA PARTY….
“a GOP leadership aide told NBC News that the four members – Michigan’s Justin Amash, Tim Huelskamp of Kansas, Walter Jones of North Carolina and Arizona’s David Schweikert – were ‘clearly TEA PARTY SUPPORTERS and the Republicans did not want to deal with them….….'”
Because Team GOP has been such a wonderful gift to loyal Country Club Republicans, obviously anyone who won’t “play ball” with them must be ignored and marginalized. Of course, the entire starting group, which are a bunch of losers anyway (witness two disastrous elections), needs replacement, this includes the whole front team as well as the coaches..
Perhaps Amash, Huelskamp, Jones, and Schweikert are hoping that voters will select others like them and kick Boehner and his ilk off the team.
Ron Paul has recently stated the obvious. He said,
“They’re going to punish freshmen legislators? If you’re looking for dissension, then you’re going to get it… These congressmen will never cave. They’re going to get the support of the TEA PARTY people … They will become heroes.”
How can anyone argue with this?
But I think the most telling remark Paul made was his characterization of why some people get persecuted by their fellow Republican Congressmen: “You get punched for having sincere TEA PARTY beliefs.”
What I don’t understand is how Boehner and his fellows cannot grasp the fact that by turning their backs on the TEA PARTY they are burning down their own house. Whether candidates are sincere or lying, the voters want to believe they are choosing a candidate who has principles other than simply following the party line for no other reason than to stay in office and pursue personal gain.
To publicly advertise that anyone who believes in a balance budget and an unencumbered economy is simply going to be excluded from “the club” is to invite being kicked out of office. Boehner has got to realize that he can’t just pretend to care about the looming debt crisis and continue to not do anything about it.
As it stands now, Boehner has pretty much publicly demonstrated who in Congress belongs to the future of the Republican Party, assuming the GOP has any future at all.
As far as I can guess, Boehner hopes to see Democrats keep the White House and plans that Republicans will be forced to vote for, and lose with, the kind of candidates we have had to put up with for the last two election cycles. His value to the ruling class will be in diverting Conservative energy into supporting non-Conservative Republican candidates.
But I don’t think Boehner is going to get his way. The more desperate the American economy gets, the more Boehner will have to openly work to put down Conservatives in Congress. And the more Boehner’s evil work becomes visible to all, the more he is going to enrage conservative TEA PARTY voters.
My hope and prayer is that 2014 gives us a new GOP, which will essentially be a reconstituted TEA PARTY..
The recent past has made it clear that the Republicans dupe the Tea Party into supporting them by pretending to support anxieties such as abortion, gay rights and religion. Once the party has tricked the Tea Party into voting the party line, the real interests of the GOP such as insurance, the Federal reserve, big banks, big oil and Wall Street assume their normal place in the party hierarchy.
The sin of the Tea Party is to stick to its principals and this puts them at odds with the Republican elitists who want the TEA PARTY to blindly support the party line (as dictated by the elitists).
Also, the Tea Party should be concerned with sticking to it’s knitting (core principals) and ignore the social issues…
The Republicans are now in desperate need to have the Tea Party fight Immigration Reform.. So now they are sucking up to the TEA PARTY again…but we remember how we were treated at the convention. We will not be burned twice…
IMMIGRATION:
And why the Republicans are sucking up to the TEA PARTY….
“IT IS ALL ABOUT the VOTES THAT THE elitists REPUBLICANS WILL NOT GET” Tony Passaro 2013
GENESIS IMMEGRATION:
Originally Democrat controlled unions were responsible for the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, America’s first serious piece of immigration restrictionism.
They also authored the national-origins quotas — the precursor to the country-specific quotas on green cards — which imposed strict limits on immigrants from all but Western European countries.
The high-skilled/low-skilled distinction was the Democrat way of tightening the labor supply in union-dominated sectors and artificially boosting their wages. And although now Big Labor supports immigration reform, it hasn’t dropped its long-standing opposition to a guest worker program for unskilled workers, no doubt because it means competition but no prospect for recruitment.
Indeed, the entire undocumented “problem” was created in 1965, when, thanks to union opposition, America scrapped the bracero (OPEN ARMS) program, a guest worker program with Mexico, leaving Mexican workers few options but to come and live here illegally and take advantage of the “FREE STUFF”, which the system so readily provides…..
Now Americans have been made angry by telling them that the illegals come here for the free stuff……Well if it is for free, why are we complaining??? Is it not the system that recklessly gives away so much that is at fault and not the “takers” who take it and then are made scapegoats for doing so???……….
I, for one like free stuff too, don’t you???,,,
The immigration issue is about votes and that is why the Republicans oppose it. When the flood of illegals come onto the voter rolls the Republican party will be so out numbered that they could not get dog catcher elected…..and that is why they need the TEA PARTY, to keep from becoming obsolete…..But once burned, twice as wise….
Republicans fight your own battles and keep the TEA PARTY out of it…..this time we will not be your dupes….
“Truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains to bring it to light” –George Washington
“All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.” –Thomas Jefferson
“Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.” –George Washington STAY AWAY FROM RINOs
TEA PARTY will not be duped into being the patsy for the elitist country club Republicans – We will go our own way……
The TEA PARTY must maintain Local Independence – The strength and resilience of a grassroots movement is the ability of it’s citizens at the local level to determine their own platforms, agendas and priorities free of an overriding central leadership. Exercising the clearly stated message of the Tea Party movement by its nature involves discourse about which policies and candidates best hold to our stated principles, and these various opinions should flourish and evolve at the local level.
LONG LIVE AN INDEPAENDANT TEA PARTY ALWAYS AND FOREVER….
The word you were looking for was Independent. After all that writing I would have expected you to edit and get that right.
And quoting yourself comes across as arrogant if not downright stupid.
So tell me why the folks who align themselves with you and speak most vehemently about their affiliation with you, all come across as classless racist morons who seek to divide and obstruct rather than work for the common good?
Are you a grass roots group if you receive lots of financial assistance from Koch industries and ALEC? I agree the Tea party started out similar to what you describe but it has been high jacked and y’all are pawns for rich libertarians.