Happy Constitution Day! Congress created Constitution Day in 2004 and chose September 17 as the day to celebrate it based on that being the last day of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787. Take the quiz at the Washington Post site here if you want to learn more. Hint: Apparently Benjamin Franklin is never the correct answer… <sigh>
Take a moment today to remember the 39 brave men who signed that document in 1787. Their courage and commitment should be celebrated.
Today is National Tax Freedom Day for 2015. Fortunately for those of us in Indiana, ours was back around the 18th of April, so this week’s paycheck is ours!
When I was reading this, I ran across this article talking about how poorly Americans did on understanding the U.S. Tax code. I think I got 80%, but I’m going to agree with the article in saying some of the questions were a bit tricky. I knew what they were talking about at least, though maybe not the specifics.
If you choose to read the article, check out some of the comments as well. There was an interesting argument thread between the Taxed Too Much crowd and the Taxes Pay For Benefits group. I tend to lean toward the former, but the latter made a few good points.
Happy Tax Freedom Day!
Image Source: Tax Foundation
A friend sent me a link to this article from Inside Indiana Business. The article cites a Ball State University brief titled, “Some Economic Effects of Tax Increment Financing in Indiana“, which postulates, per the article, that the overall effect of TIF districts in a community is negligible in the creation of economic development because it is just a function of moving development from one area (outside the TIF) to another (inside the TIF) at the expense of taxpayers outside the TIF. If you’re really interested in this, I would suggest you follow the link to the full “brief” as there is a lot more information there than what has been condensed into the article.
“Our governments and our business and political elites are not mainly made up of stupid people. One of the shocking things about getting to know people in government, whether in elected office or in the bureaucracies, is that they are mostly bright, well-intentioned, and honest. Together they represent a sterling example of one of the most important and least understood of modern social paradoxes: None of us is as dumb as all of us.”
Kevin D. Williamson from his article Davos’s Destructive Elites