Support Jindal tax swap to give Saints chance to win more

Even with sympathetic Republicans commanding majorities in the Louisiana Legislature, Gov. Bobby Jindal still will have to pick up about a dozen Democrats in the House and at least a couple more in the Senate in order to get his income tax elimination/sales tax increase swap passed. And here’s the wedge issue to pick off enough votes: the Saints and soon-to-become Pelicans have better chances to be better teams with the swap.

By jacking its top income tax rate up to 13.3 percent, California effectively took an issue simmering in the background for professional athletes and put it into crisis mode. With its large population and conducive weather, the state disproportionately attracts athletes at the highest, and therefore most lucrative, levels of sport to call it home, either because teams are based there or because they participate in individual sports and they can choose where to live.

But, in statements the ideological content of which give lie his nickname, very successful golfer Phil “Lefty” Mickelson noted recently as a result of the hike he needed to evaluate whether he should continue to live in California. Fellow top linkster Eldrick “Tiger” Woods spent three years at Stanford and showed long ago he was no dummy: he quit the state years ago for income-tax-free Florida in part because of once-Golden State’s high rate even then.

Zoning fight requires political, not judicial, resolution

An interesting sideshow has developed where semi-perennial political candidate Steve Myers, whose livelihood involves brokering and renting houses in Baton Rouge, has challenged the ability of the local planning authority to prevent multi-family residences in single dwellings in certain parts of town. Even if there is a certain deprivation of property rights inherent to the idea, it’s a battle he’s unlikely to win.

Myers, who most recently ran and finished dismally in the 2012 mayor-president’s election, argues that the city-parish’s unified code is unconstitutional because it prohibits people unrelated to each other by birth, marriage, or legally (specified as through adoption) in one dwelling, excepting the provision mandated in the federal Fair Housing Act that allows this for up to four additional unrelated individuals if one is the owner. The city-parish has sued him at least three times for violations, and he counter-sued with this claim.

He asserts that the zoning law violated the Act and suggested that “family” be redefined to include people unrelated by birth, marriage, or legally. But while the Act says “family includes a single individual,” it defines it in no other way and does not speak to any other comprehensive definition. Further, it does not define as discrimination choices to rent on the basis of “family.”

Good budget reform attempt emerges, but with fatal flaw

We can stop holding our collective breath in anticipation as a result of the Pythian pronouncement by state Rep. Brett Geymann on behalf of the Louisiana Budget Reform Coalition that they have seen the future of budgeting in state government. While it’s high on drama and low on substance, it’s better than nothing – in which lies perhaps its fatal flaw.
  
Geymann, who went into legislative cloister to summon the final product, announced the vision as a series of bills ready for pre-filing for the legislative session. The package includes a constitutional amendment to explicate in the budget produced by the governor items funded in the general fund using both discretionary and non-discretionary dollars under times of assumed reductions in spending on health care or higher education, separating them into two bills; expanding the function of the Revenue Estimating Conference to declare all funding sources as recurring or nonrecurring instead of only when surpluses are declared and then prohibit the use of nonrecurring funds for operating expenses; and increasing time for legislator review of the budget including a provision that gives each chamber time to review the others work and that the budget be passed no later than 16 days prior to the end of the session.

While at first glance these might appear impressive, in fact with one exception they comprise very little that must change substantially or substantively. Starting with the multiple operating budget bill, the capacity presently exists to produce a budget bill with monies for every single line item apportioned out by discretionary status. It’s done already in aggregate form in the budget documents presented to the Legislature, which breaks down this money in broad categories. The only difference in presentation would be doing this separating on a line item basis.

Data grows confirming wisdom of LA Obamacare opt-out

As the federal government continues to delay the deadline for states to choose whether to participate in health care exchanges and waits on states to decide whether expand Medicaid coverage in order to entice more states to accept these things, Louisiana continues to look wise in not wavering from its decision to pursue neither.

The refusal to set up exchanges is a no-brainer. The federal government’s decision to impose a 3.5 percent surcharge on coverage sold through the exchanges indicates that states would expect similar costs to them that will go only higher in time. One ballpark estimate puts the per enrollee cost at $97, but Maryland’s looks to come in at over $200, and the federal government will pay for these costs only through 2015. With the probability that the whole unworkable law will unravel in the future, why should Louisiana commit itself now to extra costs requiring extra revenue when state exchanges hardly can deviate from regulations that would run federal exchanges anyway?

While some quarters complain about the expansion rejection aspect, which has no legal deadline for acceptance, the wisdom expressed by the likes of Gov. Bobby Jindal and Rep. Bill Cassidy for rejection continues unchallenged and, if anything, grows more compelling as time passes. The law allows premium support for non-disabled adults, such as single earner of income between $11,200 and $15,400 annually, through the exchanges. But for those individuals below that figure states would have to follow the fee-for-service model if they accept the expansion, which is paid for entirely by the federal government for the first three years but then tapers to 90 percent.

Unreformed LA legal code over-regulates, over-prosecutes

Louisiana has held itself out as the “Sportsman’s Paradise,” but, according to a new report, it sure has some strange jurisprudence to make this claim.

The Texas Public Policy Foundation reported that the Gulf Coast states generally had legal codes and a large number of laws that criminalized behaviors regarding environmental matters that would discourage outdoor pursuits such as hunting and fishing, or economic activity involving natural resources. In aggregate, Louisiana perhaps was the worst off, with several examples noted about what in an objective way should not be criminal behavior or, if boorish enough, should merit a minor penalty, yet is defined criminally with potential severe consequences.

Louisiana’s legal system creates these crimes with wildly disproportionate penalties that defy common sense, hence making it too easy for unwitting violation, for two reasons. First, the way many of the statutes are written, given that it does not presume that criminal intent in an action is lacking unless some is evidenced, exposes even the least negligent accused to the most strict penalties. By not having a “rule of lenity” that assumes, given no evidence of criminal intent that there was none, the lowest degree of negligence (which is typical when it comes to non-regulatory criminal actions), this puts great pressure on the accused not even to go to trial and accept a more lenient, but still disproportional, punishment.

LA should stop subsidizing use of convicted ex-officials

As if Louisiana and simultaneously its wasteful motion picture tax credit need any more black eyes, it turns out the reality television show starring Prisoner #03128-095 wants to make a go at it by pilfering Louisiana taxpayers. And maybe it’s something state policy-makers ought to do something about that also will improve its overall ethics climate.

Already being produced by the A&E Network, “The Governor’s Wife” features the former Gov. Edwin Edwards, his latest wife Trina, and their challengingly-blended family. Not only does the show wish to catch the eyeballs of the public with its slow-down-to-look-at-the-car-wreck premise, but also hopes to drain the state’s revenue sources by use of the credits. The producers likely will not use much of them; the rest they will sell at a discount to others at with demonstrated appetite (like this guy) to reduce their Louisiana tax burdens – money that otherwise would have been collected and used for state services, or to return to taxpayers if policy-makers wanted to use those funds as a basis for a tax cut.

Regrettably, these credits cost the state more than $7 for every $1 they bring in, having cost the state nearly $500 million more than the small revenues they have brought in since their inception. So it seems that the only thing worse than publicizing the activities of a geezer who brought disgrace on the state is that the state subsidizes others to do it.

Cut apron strings to improve LA higher education delivery

Despite the tepid reception received by legislators, Louisiana higher education officials have a point and ought to be allowed to have far more flexibility over tuition charged – but only if combined with a couple of needed policy changes.

The Joint Legislative Committee on Education heard a plea from Commissioner of Higher Education Jim Purcell to back some familiar ideas that he said would promote efficient delivery. One addresses the long-standing bane of state higher education: capping tuition at 12 hours paid even if a student takes more than that. This leads to overstaffing as some students deliberately load up and then drop classes in which they are doing the weakest, and makes for free education typically for 20 percent of a student’s career (most programs are designed to require 120 hours to graduate, meaning 15 hours taken a regular semester, and often financial aid pays for 12 hours only) and thereby unpaid-for use of resources. At the very least, any such limit should be raised to 15 hours.

Purcell also broached the idea of charging higher tuition for programs more in demand. This might be a double-edged sword, however; higher rates may discourage students from entering these programs and, worst of all, drive them to proprietary schools that disproportionately offer these kinds of programs. He counts on the relative inelasticity of demand for these at state schools, but that may be a miscalculation which bears further investigation.

Tax swap must expand social responsibility, shrink govt

As discussion continues about Gov. Bobby Jindal’s tax swap efforts to eliminate income (and, for corporations, franchise) taxes, the correct policy will emerge only if there is proper understanding of the purposes of government and how to achieve them – something already policy-makers and commentators are missing.

As is evolving, the plan envisions tax neutrality requiring striking a short-term balance needing increases in other taxes. Discussed to accomplish this are an increase in excise taxes, in sales taxes, and in the reach of sales taxes, such as by adding some services subject to it and in making greater efforts to collect it from more difficult channels to enforce such as Internet sales. Even sketched in general terms, the swap’s desirability is obvious.

Some have cautioned about a heavier reliance on sales and use taxation – but outside of the proper context. One is Louisiana’s Public Affairs Research Council, which quickly put together a group to provide a rough analysis of the general information and produced a generally valuable and helpful brief on the matter.

Advocate prints gossip, devaluing public policy discourse

Of course what we know as the “mainstream media” has a political agenda, but those who think for themselves can see right through it and discount it as they review the products of newspapers and television (although local television news tends to have less of it). Certainly it gnaws at  outlets’ credibility and extends to the entire industry (large majorities now do not think they can believe most of what comes out of the media and rank them near the bottom of all industries/institutions in terms of public confidence). But sometimes it becomes so obnoxious that it makes one wonder just what kind of bubble do these journalists live in to be so oblivious to the nakedness of their narrative-building attempts.

Just such an example appeared in the New Orleans edition of the Baton Rouge Advocate. There, a story goes into how a rehired (at a salary cut of $5,000 per year) former state worker at what was the previously state-run Southeast Louisiana Hospital describes her experience there – with absolutely no independent corroboration – under new private management in the very first days of the facility’s management transition. Essentially, she claims she saw lots of chaos unhelpful to patient care, she got put into a job that was not in her primary professional field, and then she quit in disgust after just a few days. The remainder of the article deals with officials responding to the self-described events asserted by the disgruntled employee to be demonstrating declining care.

Several things about this should set off alarms concerning basic tenets of journalism I learned in my first day of journalism class and/or the first day I was on the job as a newspaper reporter. First, why is one woman being upset a story to begin with? Now, if you had a relatively large number of staff resignations, or an unusual number of patient emergencies, or many visiting families reporting significantly different conditions, or any systematic data from multiple sources showing an unmistakable change in care and in a negative direction, maybe the media ought to snoop into this. But one person subjectively upset in her workplace and this merits a story? How is this news?

Proportional electoral vote system promises accountability

Pretty much after every quadrennial set of national elections comes various “reform” efforts involving the indirect election method of the presidency. One seems to be gathering some headway, enough for at least for one Louisiana party official to speak to it, and thus bears some investigation, for it has the potential to create better policy-making and parties more in touch with voters’ concerns.

Currently, 41 states of the 43 that have multiple congressional districts provide for at-large, winner-take-all selection of Electoral College electors, with only Maine and Nebraska of two districts each providing for an electoral vote apportioned to the winner of each district and the two remaining given to the winner of the entire state’s popular vote. Now, some states are thinking of joining them, provoking outrage from Democrats.

That’s because of the top-heavy dynamics that favored them in the previous presidential election, won by Pres. Barack Obama with 332 of 538 electoral votes – but only from 26 states plus the District of Columbia, this 53 percent of electoral units only slightly higher than the 51.7 percent of the popular vote her received instead of the exaggerated 61.7 percent of electoral votes. But in terms of congressional districts, he won only 315 of those, easing that percentage win of 58.5 percent (including D.C.’s electoral votes) closer to his popular vote total.