Thursday,
May 3, 2001
by Jacquelyn Horkan, Editor
RAISING A STINK
Tempers always flare during the final days of
the annual legislative session, but this time you might say the s*** has hit
the fan.
On Wednesday, May 2, the third-to-the-last day
of the session, AIF lobbyist Jodi L. Chase was on duty in the Capitol
rotunda when she received a large, heavy box containing 25 pounds of cow
manure.
The — er — gift was sent courtesy of one
Nancy Argenziano who, believe it or not, was actually elected to office.
When she’s not delivering shipments of animal waste, Argenziano serves in
the House of Representatives as a Republican lawmaker for the people of
House District 43, which encompasses Citrus County and slices through
Hernando and Marion counties.
According to Argenziano, the favor was bestowed
on Chase because of disrespect shown by the latter. "She lay on my
couch and put her feet up," the esteemed lawmaker complained to a
newspaper reporter. The real source of Argenziano’s fit of pique is more
likely related to the two women’s tangle over the terms of nursing home
reform bills.
Chase is an ardent and aggressive advocate of
business interests in the state Capitol. You might say she doesn’t take
s*** from anyone, despite the Argenziano incident, an attitude that has
ruffled some feathers and earned her the nickname, "In Your Face"
Chase.
Whether you find this event amusing or
tasteless, it has a deeper, more troubling aspect. We are all guaranteed the
right to petition our government by the state and national constitutions.
Whether politicians like it or not, their highest responsibility is to honor
that right.
If Argenziano cannot — or will not — uphold
that duty placed upon her when she accepted public office she deserves
censure from House Speaker Tom Feeney (R-Oviedo), which sources say is
forthcoming. Voters in her district may want to plan similarly appropriate
punishment when Argenziano comes up for reelection in 2002.
THE SPIGOT RUNS DRY
As Florida’s drought continues, news comes of
another source of nourishment that is faltering. According to the quarterly
MoneyTree Survey, a project of Pricewaterhouse Coopers and VentureOne,
investments in venture-backed companies dropped 40 percent between the last
quarter of 2000 and the first quarter of 2001. The $10.1 billion in
financing equity during the first three months was the lowest in two years.
The report found that sources for seed and first-round financing suffered
the largest decrease, coming in at approximately half of the level in the
previous quarter.
Regional date on equity investments will posted
to the MoneyTree Web site (http://www.pwcmoneytree.com)
on May 7.
This report just adds to the argument that the
problem seeking a solution in the tax-cut debate is not decreased
consumption, but decreased investment. In other words, now would be a real
good time for a cut in the capital-gains-tax rate.
A WHOLE AWFUL LOT OF TAX CODE
In 1977 the Congressional Joint Committee on
Taxation issued a 129-page study on methods to simplify the federal tax
system. This year’s update of the study (http://www.house.gov/jct)
required 1,300 pages in three volumes. These days, when it comes to the
Internal Revenue Code, even simplification is complex.
How bad is the problem? Here are some numbers
compiled by the joint committee.
- 1,395,000: the number of words in the Internal Revenue Code
- 8,000,000: the number of words contained in regulations issued by the
Treasury Department as of June 2000
- 13,000: the number of pages in the 340 publications put out by the IRS
in 1999
- 693, 1,501, and 445: the number of sections in the code applicable
respectively to individuals; businesses; and tax-exempt organizations,
employee plans, and governments
- 55: the percentage of income tax returns filed in 1999 that required
the use of paid return preparers
The report also identified some causes for the
complexity of the tax code, including lack of clarity and readability of the
law, use of the federal tax system to advance social and economic policies,
and the convoluted interaction of federal and state laws. The effects are
similarly predictable: decreased levels of voluntary compliance, increased
costs to taxpayers, and reduced perception of fairness.
Here’s another interesting statistic, this
time from the General Accounting Office: taxpayers contacted the IRS 117
million times in 1999 for advice and clarification, getting the wrong answer
47 percent of the time. That means that the people largely responsible for
the tangled web of the tax code can’t understand it themselves.
