Bismarck Tribune - North Dakota News - Overcharging the taxpayers again

Overcharging the taxpayers again

Apr 02, 2007 - 08:10:18 CDT

By DUSTIN GARYLOW
Mandan

The people of North Dakota were overtaxed to the tune of $580 million. While the Legislature managed to sock about $100 million of that away in the “rainy day fund,” the fact remains that spending likely will increase above the governor’s 24.1 percent recommendation, without the explicit consent of the people.

Only time will tell if the people of North Dakota will accept having representatives who approve “fully funded budgets,” overcharge the taxpayers and assume that by the mere fact they are still in office they have permission to use the overcharge to increase the burden of government by 24.1 percent.

Hopefully, our elected representatives will come to their senses in the 2009 session and have what it takes to make the necessary corrections to trim back the bloated budget that is almost sure to make it through the conference committee process in these final few weeks of the 2007 session.

Perhaps next time they will consider that the state does not collect property taxes and should not be in the business of rebating a tax it never collected in the first place. If a property tax rebate plan makes it through this session, maybe the principle of redistributing income from all North Dakotans to the 70 percent who own property will be proved foolhardy by the 2009 session so that sustainable and real tax relief at the state level can be achieved.

Voters will have 18 months to decide whether they like elected officials overcharging them and then spending the overcharge. There are sure to be numerous initiated measures and referrals addressing everything from the legislative pay hikes to agency budget increases to abolishing the income tax so that the state does not have the ability to overcharge its people in the first place.

Once a more fiscally conservative group of legislators is elected in November 2008, perhaps the pieces will be in place to allow the people, who make North Dakota work, keep their own money. As this 2007 session wraps up, we can see once again that the people, as always, can be better trusted with their money than the politicians ever can.

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Comments

Figure it Out wrote on Apr 2, 2007 12:07 PM:

" How did the Bush Administration cut forty billion to education without having and effect on North Dakota??? "

Brian wrote on Apr 2, 2007 10:10 AM:

" The money all spends the same, whether it came from oil or the people makes no difference. If the oil tax could allow for the income tax to be reduced or eliminated on individuals that would be a good thing. The less people pay on income taxes, the more they can afford their property taxes. "

The Point wrote on Apr 2, 2007 9:48 AM:

" Didn't the State budget surplus come largely from the State's collection of oil and gas taxes and money from the lottery? I highly doubt the people of ND could be the victims of the $540 million budget surplus from the measly wages made in this state. "

to FIgure It Out wrote on Apr 2, 2007 9:07 AM:

" You obviously are a blind party follower. If you did your homework, you would already know that ND decoupled it's State taxes from the Federal taxes a few years ago. Your state taxes are no longer based upon the federal tax return. Your comments are typical of the democratic party's "blame someone" mentality "

Figure it Out wrote on Apr 2, 2007 8:18 AM:

" Goerge Bush cuts taxes on the Wealthy, somewhere the money has to be replaced. Simple minded people in North Dakota cannot see that property taxes go up because of what the Federal Government does. Are people so stupid that they cannot figure out the little game the Republicans play. "

WHATEVER wrote on Apr 2, 2007 7:59 AM:

" The premise of this letter is absolutely false. The taxpayers haven't been overtaxed (at least on state income tax), the state government has deliberately and consistently UNDERFUNDED major committments such as education. This is why property taxes have skyrocketed - the local communities have been kicked in the teeth by the state government and have had to jack up property taxes just to keep their schools open. If the state had adequately funded education, there would not be a surplus, AND our property taxes wouldn't be as high as they are. But of course the people who caused this crisis in the first place will "fix" it and then pat themselves on the back for fixing a problem they themselves created. Great job. "

Question wrote on Apr 2, 2007 6:56 AM:

" When Dustin writes these letters, is he writing them from his own personal perspective, or is he writing them in his capacity as a P.R. person for his radical, far-right, big-oil funded think-tank employer? "

Dumbfounded wrote on Apr 2, 2007 4:23 AM:

" The legislatures in this state are not in tune to the wants or the needs of the people. I emailed my two representatives on a subject with a request for an answer on why they voted the way they did on a certain subject. Neither responded the first time, one did the second time on the same request. They feel that they are not ordinary citizens of the state, a prime example of this is that their health care is paid for by the state. Working the hours that they do, a regular state employee would not qualify for the health insurance. Spending must come down on all levels of government, we make less in this state than in most areas, yet our taxes are just as high. "

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