[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvW_DmfKfSk[/youtube]
I love this part of the article;
When the victim attempted to pull the money from the bank, bank employees warned him that it was probably a scam. However, the victim sent the money anyways.
P.T. Barnum was right I guess.
So a friend threw this ‘game’ out to me a week ago, when it came to the price of the new administration building in Sioux Falls.
Play along.
Let’s guess what the square footage price is of the new building before the city managers release it.
The premise (for example);
The lot has 45,000 sq ft of building space per level. Â If the building is 4 floors take the cost per ft by $150 XÂ 4 levels XÂ 45000 per level = $27,000,000.00
What is your guess?
I can’t give a big prize, but let’s just say it is worthwhile.
I have often admired the work he has done as a lawmaker. This movie is worth watching, it gives you a little hope that there is still a few lawmakers in Washington that care about us.
A statement showing up in the news lately is misleading, in that “Sales tax has not been raised since 1969†is only a small peek into our sales tax history since 1969.
Consider food. In 2003 we paid 5% on groceries. Now we pay 6%. This is equivalent to 3 weeks worth of food out of a year. The tax on food went up at the city level, but the customer feels the whole 6%. State tax law changes brought this on. (Thankfully, SNAP purchases, aka food stamps, are not taxed. However, most low-income households with SNAP receive only partial allotments. They must pay the sales tax to buy the rest of their food. Some, especially seniors, receive SNAP benefits as low as $16 a month.)
Another way to raise sales tax is to expand the tax base. Many more items, mostly services, have become subject to SD’s sales tax in years 1969, 1978, 1979, 1995, and 1996. For examples: newspaper subscriptions, haircuts, taxi fares, snow removal, tree trimming, pest control, cell phone bills, cable TV, internet access, funeral services, music lessons and sports coaching, auto repair parts and labor, services of lawyers, architects, personal trainers, and plumbers, . . .  The list goes on.
Sales tax is inherently regressive and is a large factor in SD’s ranking among the “Terrible Ten†states for regressive taxes.*  I think it’s a cryin’ shame and a failure of creativity that sales tax is being considered for funds for teacher pay. Higher sales tax would raise the tax on some basic necessities and make South Dakota’s taxes more regressive!
That being said, I sincerely hope anyone possibly supporting any form of a sales tax hike would insist that the proposal include taking tax off food and heating bills. There is no tax on food in any of South Dakota’s bordering states. Only 2 of our 6 neighbor states  (NE, WY) tax home heating bills.
Note that I recommend “food and heat,†not “food and clothingâ€. Here’s why: Low-income people tend to spend little on clothing. Between the poor and the wealthy, there is a much narrower range of spending on food or heat than there is on clothing. I believe taking tax off clothing is more a gift to the wealthy than a help to the poor. You cannot buy used food. You cannot buy used heat.
*Some argue that being regressive isn’t so important because overall taxes are lower in SD. However, for the lowest-income 20% of the non-elderly population, state and local taxes in SD average higher than the national average.
Thank you for reading this and considering it for the sake of people burdened by our tax structure, which is stacked in favor of the well-off and against the lower-incomes. Please share this information with people who may not be informed or may not be remembering all this, especially if you see or hear the sentence about sales tax not being raised.
I had a good chuckle while watching this preview. If Jill Johnson solves this ‘supposed’ crime at Tuthill Park, I guess we will all be eating crow for Thanksgiving this year. It think her story will probably just be a bag of excuses from the SFPD, I guess someone has to deliver the pathetic outcome, while the rest of us just giggle.
Gobble, Gobble!
Which got me thinking about the new and improved investigative reporter at Stormland TV, Angela. Angela is a nice lady and all, but she ain’t NOÂ sociopath (we will get to that in a moment). A former national high profile journalist sent this to me today referring to the current state of journalism;
“Do you want to know what kind of person makes the best reporter? I’ll tell you. A borderline sociopath. Someone smart, inquisitive, stubborn, disorganized, chaotic, and in a perpetual state of simmering rage at the failings of the world. Once upon a time you saw people like this in every newsroom in the country. They often had chaotic personal lives and they died early of cirrhosis or a heart attack. But they were tough, angry SOBs and they produced great stories.
Do you want to know what kind of people get promoted and succeed in the modern news organization? Social climbers. Networkers. People who are gregarious, who “buy in†to the dominant consensus, who go along to get along and don’t ask too many really awkward questions. They are flexible, well-organized, and happy with life.
And it shows.”
l3wis