The Happenings at the State House

Federal Deductibility Open Forum

This evening there were over 600 Iowans kicked out of the Iowa House in a supposed open forum regarding the Federal Deductibility bill (HF 807) that will hit the house floor shortly (See earlier post regarding my opinion on that). I had the extreme pleasure of being one of these select few. The reason for us being kicked out was Pat Murphy and Iowans being passionate about the State of Iowa and its future. After multiple times Iowans let out burst of support or disdain for what people had to say in opposition or support about HF 807, House Speaker Patrick Murphy finally had enough after the shouts of joy with what IFCR Chair, Gregory Baker, had to say. Here check it out:

When people were asked to leave almost everyone was downright angry and immediately started to boo and yell angry comments. Some of which I heard were “Welcome to Soviet Russia” and “Could you point me to Kim Jong-il’s office, I swear we are in North Korea.” I guess I am not up to date on House rules but I would think in a public hearing the rules are a bit different than in session. I can defiantly understand having the “No Demonstrating” rule for in session but when you invite that many people into chambers over such a heated bill you have to expect a little outburst. As one of the speakers put it even some of the legislatures didn’t come to this forum to hear what Iowan taxpayers had to say. In the end this was a way for Pat Murphy to not have to listen to all the Iowans that are outraged by this bill. As you can imagine this act of totalitarianism enraged many Republicans across the great State of Iowa. As Matt Strawn, Chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa, said: “Tonight, House Speaker Murphy made it clear the Iowa House is his house as he sent hundreds of Iowans packing.” Also as Ed Failor, Jr., President of Iowans for Tax Relief, said in not so many words, this is the way that the Democrats get things done when they hear opposition they act like tyrants and find ways to silence them.

Here you can find some great articles and video about the events that unfolded:

Radio Iowa

KCCI Channel 8

Des Moines Register

The Bean Walker (multiple stories)

- The Weasel Watcher

Federal Deductibility

In case you have not been paying attention to the recent legislation going through the Iowa State House, top Democrats are on their way to a backdoor tax increase on you, me, your neighbors, and every business in Iowa. There is no doubt in my mind that most Democrats support this bill as well as my own representative Beth Wessel-Kroeschell. They want to eliminate the ability of Iowans to deduct the tax money they pay to the federal government from their state tax return. This flies in the face of down-home, common sense values that are the backbone of Iowa. There are many states that allow for this type of deduction and it just makes sense. This is just another step for the Democrats to take to being able to gather as much as possible from you and me to feed their spending addiction. If this bill gets passed it essentially means that you will be paying a tax on a tax. It won’t be long before they also repeal your ability to deduct your property taxes from your state income taxes.

I have been told many times now that the state of Iowa is in a budget crunch. The problem there is that it is only has a spending problem NOT a revenue problem. The way to fix a budget gap is not to raise taxes on hard working people that are just trying to get by and may already be in a crunch themselves. The way to fix this problem is to live within your means and go through and cut spending on projects and institutions that are not necessary. I know I am getting fed up with the way that our state government is starting to view us Iowans (cash machines) and if things don’t shape up I know there are multiple states that treat its citizens like people and strive to keep the tax rates low. I applaud our legislatures that have come out against this bill. I am ashamed of the primarily Democrat legislatures that have support this bill. If you would like to contact your representative you can contact them here.

-The Weasel Watcher

P.S. If you are reading this in time join us at the State Capitol Building on Tuesday March 31st for a hearing on the issue that starts at 6:30pm. The Democrats will be filling the hall with a bunch of their cronies to act like it has support. Lets show them differently.

"Fair Share"

Well the Iowa Democratic Legislatures are at it again. They are effectively trying to force every worker to join a union and pay union dues. The Fair Share Bill passed out of committee during funnel week and will be up on the floor in the coming weeks. Not surprisingly Beth Wessel-Kroeschell is in full support of “Fair Share.” This bill originally would only affect government workers (city employees, firefighters, teachers, etc.) which in and of itself is pretty bad. However, it has expanded to include anybody that gets a contract with the state as well. This would mean that if you work for the state, city, or get a contract to get work for the state you would have to pay union dues whether you want to join that union or not. This smacks in the face of Iowa’s Right to Work laws currently in place that have been working for decades. With the elimination of Right to Work laws, Iowa employers could decide to set up shop in a different state that continues to have Right to Work laws or the equivalent. If the entire state were to go the way that Beth Wessel-Kroeschell would want it to go I fear that most jobs would leave the state and the ones that remained would either be very competitive and/or very low paying. Either way it would make it very hard to make a living. Please call your legislatures today and make sure they vote the RIGHT way on this piece of legislation. You can find their contact information here: http://www3.legis.state.ia.us/ga/legislators.do?&ga=83

Thank You,
The Weasel Watcher

Introduction

Welcome to The Weasel Watch. No I am not going to just post pictures of weasels, well maybe a few (you'll get the joke later on), I see in the wild for you nature freaks that are into that sort of thing. Instead I will dedicate my time to keeping an eye on what the “weasel” Democrats (in particular Beth Wessel-Kroeschell ) are doing to our country as well as the fine state of Iowa. So stay tuned and bear with me; I am sure over the next few days the Democrats will give me something to rant about.

-The Weasel Watcher