The SF City Council is salivating over raising taxes and spending our money

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In Item #’s 3 and 8 in last night’s council meeting the council proves again they like raising taxes on citizens for special interests.

In Item #3 they approved an ordinance to fund the zoo with entertainment tax revenue, while this can be looked at again and readjusted in the future, it bothers me a little that now the zoo will also be receiving those funds. According to who you listen to, the zoo receives around 36% of their funding from the city, while this has gone down under the new director I’m afraid if we start funding the zoo in this manner, they will be receiving more money instead of less in the future;

Elizabeth Whealy, zoo president and CEO, said she was pleased with the council’s decision. “We just need to make sure we have a reliable and stable funding source for the zoo,” she said.

This is the problem with special interests in our community, instead trying to move away from city subsidies, they only want more, and our city council goes along with it, like it’s no big deal (Anderson, Entennmen and Litz voted against it). I have said all along that the zoo should strive to be independent from the city and strive to cut city funding to a minimal amount. They have proved themselves it is possible, where do you think the other 64% comes from?

They also seem to get all giddy inside when it comes to raising our taxes;

SIOUX FALLS, SD – One of the biggest questions surrounding a new events center is how the city is going to pay for it.  One idea that got shot down this past legislative session is resurfacing. But just like last time, it could be a tough sell.

Monday night, the city council will vote on a resolution establishing its legislative priorities for the 2011 session.

That includes asking state lawmakers to pass a bill that would give municipalities the option of adding a local tax in order to raise money for a specified purpose.

It got shot down for a reason, it is a bad idea to raise a regressive tax to subsidize entertainment. I’m sure this will be dead in the water again in Pierre. Let’s hope so!

Helga’s odds and ends; Noem & Thune

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At Least 13 New Republican Members Of Congress Hire Corporate Lobbyists To Manage Their Office

To many Americans, Washington is fundamentally broken. While corporations enjoy record profits and executives reward themselves with million-dollar bonuses, lobbyists have gamed the system so corporate behemoths like ExxonMobil and GE pay zero corporate income taxes. During the economic crisis, with high unemployment and stagnant wages, middle class Americans seem to be bearing the sacrifices. Riding a wave of this popular discontent, Republicans won a historical congressional election this year by channeling anger against “Beltway insiders” and Washington corruption.

• Rep.-elect Krisi Noem (R-SD) selected Jordon Stoick as her chief of staff. Stoick is a vice president at the lobbying firm Direct Impact. Direct Impact also specializes in building public support for corporate causes, boasting on its website that it once generated hundreds of letters to the FCC on behalf of the telecom industry.

Thune Demands Unemployment Benefits Be Paid For, But Not The Bush Tax Cuts For The Wealthy

At the end of November, unemployment benefits expired for 2 million Americans in the midst of the holiday season, thanks to repeated Republican obstructionism in the Senate. The White House tax compromise announced this week will extend these benefits for 13 months, but a number of Republicans are opposing the extension because it would increase the deficit, and are even threatening to scuttle the entire deal over aid for the jobless.

“I don’t think we need to extend unemployment any further without paying for it,” Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) told conservative talk radio host Hugh Hewitt Tuesday. “Thank you, @JimDeMint” former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin tweeted yesterday in response. “Obviously Obama is so very, very wrong on the economy & spins GOP tax cut goals; so fiscal conservatives: we expect you to fight for us & America’s solvency,” Palin followed up in another tweet.

Of course, at the same time, these self-described “fiscal conservatives” have been demanding a permanent extension of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, which would add $830 billion to the deficit over ten years. The White House compromise only extended them for two years, at a cost of $120 billion. The unemployment extension would cost far less — only $55 billion.

Nonetheless, on Fox News host Sean Hannity’s show last night, Sen. John Thune (R-SD) joined DeMint and Palin, saying “we need” to pay for unemployment benefits, while completely ignoring the cost of the Bush tax cuts:

HANNITY: What do you think of what Jim DeMint and Governor Palin had said about this that, you know, we need to extend unemployment. We can’t do it without funding it. Number two, we don’t need temporary economy. We don’t need temporary tax rates, businesses need to look five, 10 years down the road. What do you think of that criticism?

THUNE: I don’t disagree with any of that. … But I do agree with what Senator DeMint is saying and that is we need to try and come up with a way to pay for this $55 billion extension of unemployment benefits. We will be offering amendments in the Senate to do just that.

Watch it:

Of course, Thune did not say he would offer an amendment to pay for the Bush tax bonus for the rich. As the Wonk Room’s Pat Garofalo noted yesterday, “Unemployment benefits are providing a vital lifeline to millions of Americans struggling in a weak economy,” but Thune, DeMint, and their cohorts “would cut them off, while lavishing tax breaks on the wealthy.”

Seems the SF City Council still has a hard-on over taxing us more.

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You would have thought after the state legislature told municipalities that they cannot raise taxes to build ‘whatever‘ they would have gotten the clue, apparently not. According to the SF City Council’s LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES (Item #8);

The Sioux Falls City Council strongly encourages the legislature to enact legislation enabling municipalities to levy a local option tax, to raise funds for a specified purpose, to include a sunset clause, and to be voted on by the citizens.

C’mon already. People don’t want regressive sales taxes raised to build monkey crappers. Wanna improve SF? Enact a strict and heavy corporate tax on all the bottom-feeding, scum-sucking national companies that come here and take advantage of high productivity and low wages. Milk them for all they are worth so you can pay for your EC’s, HR’s and BJ’s.