But what the hell did they say? I think they said that they are schizophrenic. They slapped down the Republican governor of Ohio's push to crush public-sector unions, while passing by a slightly larger margin what would appear to be an unconstitutional state Constitutional amendment nullifying the federal health care reform law, which happened to be upheld yesterday in the DC District Court of Appeals, with the majority decision written by a highly-respected, Reagan-appointed, conservative judge.
On the local front, people who work for a living in my school district voted to raise taxes on themselves by 75%, while exempting income from interest, dividends, capital gains and cash rent on farm ground. So an elderly couple owning 150 acres of farm ground, with a current market value of at least $500,000, receiving $22,500 in cash rent a year ($150 an acre) would pay $0 in local school district tax, while somebody earning the same $22,500 a year in income at a job would pay $393.75. That doesn't make much sense to me. But I'm just a simple-minded farmer.
Update: I failed to mention that under the previous system, which was replaced yesterday, the couple and the worker would have each paid $225 a year. The school needed to raise more revenue, and people (generally older) didn't want their taxes on unearned income going up, so we get this newer, elderly-friendly (read: people with savings) earned income tax. It doesn't seem to make sense to exempt cash rent when the district is almost entirely farm land, the land prices and cash rent are at record highs, and property taxes on the value of farm ground are already significantly reduced (approximately 67%) with CAUV.
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