Unbossed and unbought news
and information you can use
Volume 10 Issue 14…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…April
6, 2007
Intuit Vibe
Making Freedom a Verb
By Rodney Coates
Prostituted dreams pimped
within the circle of destitution.
Freedom delayed is freedom denied,
freedom's noun limps
on.
Faded hopes drawn on
the screen where screams go unheard.
Seductive illusions released
into the void of
hopelessness.
Freedom played on stolen
dreams refuses to be a tune.
Secrets publicly viewed
while insanity sits enshrined
within cathedrals
lined with guilt.
Excuses tolerated as expediency,
as reality mimics media distortions
created to mimic reality.
Freedom silenced by
drums of hate continues
to waffle in the
belfry.
Ring the bell,
sound the trumpet,
marshal in the new dawn of the night.
Ask a question, read a book,
think new dreams, flip the switch,
change the script,
own a new reality.
Only change produces change,
only dreams produce new realities,
only choice makes
freedom a verb.
Telephone Tax Refund
In 1898, Congress passed the federal excise "luxury" tax on
long-distance service to help fund the Spanish-America War and pay for
increased military spending as the US became an overseas empire. At the time,
there was no federal income tax and only the very rich had access to
telephones. However, while the war lasted less than a year, the tax lasted more
than a century.
Initially, the war between the US and Spain was fought over the conduct of
Spanish colonial authorities in Cuba. Stories of cruel treatment meted out to
Cuban rebels and hardships suffered by US business interests fomented strong
anti-Spanish feelings in the US. Ripe for war, an explosion aboard the US
battleship Maine (1898) in which 260 died was blamed on the Spain;
Congress declared war on April 25. On December 10, 1898, the parties signed the
Treaty of Paris, which ended Spanish rule of Cuba and made the US an overseas
empire as it gained the islands of Guam, Puerto Rico and the Philippines as
spoils for the victor.
Finally, after losing several court challenges, the US Treasury is refunding
telephone taxes consumers paid after February 28, 2003 and before August 1,
2006. Taxpayers should request this refund on their 2006 tax returns, which are
filed this year. The deadline for filing the 2006 tax return is April 17, 2007.
Even if you are not required to file a return, you may be eligible for the
telephone tax refund, if you paid taxes on a landline, wireless, or Voice over
Internet Protocol (VoIP) or bundled service over the above period.
To receive a refund based on the actual amount of excise taxes paid, taxpayers
must complete Form 8913, Credit for Federal Telephone Excise Tax Paid, and
attach it to their 2006 income-tax return. Eligible taxpayers that do not wish
to complete a separate tax form can claim the standard amount, which ranges
from $30 to $60 depending on the number of exemptions claimed on their tax
return. For more about the telephone tax refund, see www.irs.gov.
MARTA (1960-2007)
The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority is a public authority operated
under Georgia law. Known as MARTA, it is the only rapid rail system in the
southern USA. The push to create MARTA began in 1960 with a proposal presented
to the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce by its president Ivan Allen Jr. Allen's
proposal called for a rail transit system to solve the city's transportation
problem. Elected mayor the next year, Allen made the transit system a priority
and began to work on making it a reality. He assembled a board and solicited
architectural and engineering plans.
In the fall of 1968, the referendum to create MARTA appeared on ballots in the
city of Atlanta and Fulton and DeKalb Counties. While the city's business
community supported the measure, it failed in all three jurisdictions due to a
lack of support in the black community. Blacks objected to the service
inequality inherent in proposed routes, which favored white neighborhoods over
black ones, the limited black representation on the MARTA board, and the
absence of minority employment guarantees.
Using criticisms voiced by blacks, the board took steps to become more
representative, changed routes to better serve black neighborhoods, implemented
a minority employment plan, secured some federal financing, and proposed
extending the system into the suburban Atlanta counties of Clayton and
Gwinnett. In 1971, the referendum calling for a one-cent sales tax to support
MARTA was again placed on ballots in the city of Atlanta and the counties of
Clayton, DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett.
Voters in the predominantly white suburbs of Clayton and Gwinnett Counties
chose, by a four-to-one margin, not to support the creation of a public transit
system. MARTA's white critics cited expedited racial integration, lowered home
values and federal school busing programs in opposing the referendum. Despite
white opposition, MARTA was established with the approval of voters in the city
of Atlanta and DeKalb and Fulton Counties.
Following its establishment, the MARTA board purchased the Atlanta Transit
System, a privately owned company that operated bus routes in the city. With
federal assistance and a 1-cent special sales tax collected in Fulton and
DeKalb counties and the city of Atlanta, rail construction began in 1975.
Today, MARTA is the ninth-largest transit system in the United States. Daily,
it serves more than half a million passengers.
Governed by an eighteen-member board of directors with representation from the
city of Atlanta and Fulton, DeKalb, Clayton and Gwinnett counties, the
authority employs more than 4,500 employees and provides bus and rail service
in metro Atlanta's most urbanized areas. MARTA operates more than 700 buses on
125 routes. Its rapid rail system includes nearly forty-eight miles of track
and thirty-eight stations. MARTA operates 350 modern electrically powered rail
cars capable of operating at speeds of up to seventy miles per hour. Fares and
the one-cent sales tax accessed in the city of Atlanta and DeKalb and Fulton
Counties provide the bulk of MARTA's operating revenues.
In recent years, the suburban counties of Clayton, Cobb and Gwinnett launched
mass transit systems using buses that tie into MARTA. Cobb Community Transit
began operating in 1989. Clayton County's C-TRAN and Gwinnett County Transit's
systems opened in 2001 with support from the Georgia Regional Transportation
Authority (GRTA). (Sources: www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
and www.thedish.org/MARTA)
SPLOST
On March 20, 2007, DeKalb Country, Georgia voters went to the polls to approve
or reject the third consecutive one-cent sales tax to fund special DeKalb
County School System projects. The Special Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST)
referendum was the only item on the ballot. This and the fact that this
off-year vote was not well publicized might to some extent explain the dismal
turnout.
Only 5.4 percent of the county's registered 357,101 voters went to the polls. A
mere 13,409 voters approved extending SPLOST another five years. Over this
period, the public school system is expected to raise close to a billion
dollars to issue bonds, build new schools, buy buses, etc. DeKalb Schools
receive their primary funding from the property tax, so SPLOST is supposed to
provide the extras that prevent overcrowding and provide amenities that are not
otherwise funded by the county's property tax.
Based on complains frequently expressed by parents, DeKalb is failing to
educate black children; they claim the schools are only teaching the test.
Given this, why did DeKalb parents reward the system with more SPLOST?
MARTA: Taxation
Without Representation
The great train robbery, taxation without representation for citizens in
Atlanta, DeKalb and Fulton Counties, continued unabated last week (3-29-07) as
Atlanta's City Council voted 12 -1 to extend the MARTA one-cent sales tax from
2032 to 2047 without the benefit of a referendum. In this instance, the
citizens of Atlanta, DeKalb and Fulton are not being given a choice.
MARTA officials claim the extension is necessary to raise $16 billion over
twenty-five years to fund ongoing maintenance, replace equipment and other
upgrades. MARTA's one-cent sales tax is the region's sole dedicated source of
public transportation funding. In addition to funding MARTA, it is used by the
state of Georgia to secure federal matching dollars to fund the Georgia
Regional Transportation Authority (GRTA) - supported bus services and
state-issued bonds.
MARTA wants the extra funds for three new major projects. Sitting atop this
list is a Beltline rail loop around Atlanta, bus-rapid transit on I-20 and a
transit link to Emory University. MARTA has not been able to expand its system
since it began funding GRTA's bus service to Clayton and Gwinnett Counties,
which do not pay the one-cent MARTA sales tax. Since being taken over by the
state of Georgia through GRTA to secure its dedicated source of public
transportation funding, MARTA's sales tax revenues have been used to fund the
state's regional transportation system, although the state does not give MARTA
a cent.
The MARTA board claims the tax will fall to a half cent in 2057. If the
extension is only until 2047, why would residents of Atlanta, DeKalb and Fulton
Counties still be paying anything in 2057?
Only one member of the City Council, Felicia Moore, voted against the MARTA
extension. Her opposition was not against funding MARTA, but against the
current way the MARTA tax, which pays operation and expansion cost, is being
siphoned off to pay for bus service in counties that have repeatedly voted not
to pay the tax. Moore says of the fundamentally unfair transit situation of
taxation without representation, "I am uncomfortable with 'locking in' a
sales tax that effectively handcuffs.... the City without hearing from the
voters."
Fulton County Commissioner, Lynne Riley, who also sees the situation as
taxation without representation, went one step further, "I truly believe
that no tax increase or extension should be imposed on voters without their
approval. MARTA has never truly been a regional transit system, and never will
be until the core counties which benefit from it, all contribute their
financial support."
In 1776, colonials took up arms against taxation without representation. When
opposition to England's taxes began, no one thought a revolution was down the
road. Taxing colonials to make life better for Englishmen is no different than
taxing two counties to pay public transit costs for eleven counties that refuse
to pay for their own bus and rail service.
Disgruntled says: Thanks
to the Chicago Tribune, the Internet and public protests most folks have heard
something about Shaquanda Cotton. For those who missed her saga, Cotton was
fourteen years old when sentenced by Lamar County Judge Chuck Supeville to up
to seven years in a Texas Youth Commission prison for shoveling a white
teacher's aide. Cotton, who is black, had no prior criminal record. This same
judge sentenced a white girl convicted of arson to probation. According to
press reports, Cotton's harsh sentence "occurred against a backdrop of
persistent allegations of racial discrimination inside the Paris public
schools--allegations that are the subject of an ongoing probe by the U.S.
Department of Education to determine whether black students in the district are
disciplined more harshly than whites." Just days ago, it was announced
that after serving a year in the youth prison, Cotton will be freed, thanks to
all the negative publicity and the abundant sunlight shown on Texas injustice
and duplicity.
Disgruntled wants
to know: In an address before the National Federation of Republican
women, a partisan crowd, Newt Gingrich showed why he is a darling of the
conservative right. Quick witted, he facilely creates code to show his racist
bent. His most recent rant equating bilingual education with "language of
living in the ghetto" shows he is unfit to be president, much like the
current White House occupant. While Gingrich bad-mouths bilingual education,
claiming English, the language of prosperity, should be the official language
of government, George W. Bush, "king" of the world's sole superpower,
mangles it so horribly every time he speaks Bush must be bilingual. If
bilingual education is so bad, how does Newt explain Bush's success?
Disgruntled feels: Unacceptable! In what appeared to be an
unscripted press conference in the Rose Garden, George W. Bush attacked
Congress for failing to provide a supplemental bill to fund the military prior
to leaving on Easter break. He vowed to veto any bill that contains
non-military spending and timelines for troop withdrawals. He claimed the
American people would find it unacceptable if troops had to stay longer and/or
return to combat sooner as a result of the delay; both are already happening.
Unacceptable are Bush's theatrics before a cowed press, more bloodshed and this
illegal occupation.
By John Burl Smith
The problem with MARTA is that it's the hole in the donut. The hole is always
used to make other donuts. This metaphor describes the situation of Atlanta,
DeKalb and Fulton Counties’ residents. Residents in these jurisdictions
represent the hole. The donut is the 13-county area surrounding Atlanta. The
center is where the majority of blacks in Georgia live. The majority of whites
are a part of the donut. A donut hole's value lies in giving shape to
everything around it. Unfortunately, in this instance, outside of the hole is
where all the goodies lie.
When MARTA was created, it was not a case of taxation without representation; it
was simply a black and white thing and a need for public transportation. Voters
in the City of Atlanta, DeKalb and Fulton Counties gladly chose to support
public transportation by voting to pay the one-cent sales tax proposed in the
1971 referendum. Clayton and Gwinnett Counties voted not to pay the tax. These
counties joined Cobb County and the State of Georgia in fighting MARTA's
creation. Fighting MARTA was a way of opposing integration; the newly created
Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) and the state built roads and directed funds
to aid white flight out of the City of Atlanta.
Uncontrolled sprawl was the result, as new communities dotted the landscape,
like sprinkles on a donut. Environmental pollution, traffic congestion and
federal matching rapid transit funds made MARTA an asset, and the eyes of white
politicians, who made careers out of fighting MARTA expansion, glazed over with
greed. Led by former Gov. Roy Barnes, the state stole MARTA from the residents
of Atlanta, DeKalb and Fulton Counties under the guise of creating a regional
transportation system called GRTA.
Barnes' plan enabled the state through GRTA to takeover MARTA without
compensating the people in the counties that owned it by virtue of having paid
the one-cent sales tax for years. He added state representatives to MARTA's
board, which reduced Atlanta, DeKalb and Fulton representation to virtually
what the state gives MARTA -- nothing. Now, not only is the ARC funneling money
away from Atlanta, GRTA is siphoning off MARTA's revenues and using this
dedicated source of public transportation funding to obtain matching federal
funds and issuing bonds.
The donut hole has remained the same size, while the donut continues to grow.
Today, there are 13 counties, as well as the State of Georgia, looking to suck
up MARTA's one-cent sales tax. They are licking their chops looking at the
gravy train headed their way until 2047. Clearly, being made the hole in the
donut is a new type of taxation without representation or an old kind of
economic slavery.
Citizens in Atlanta, DeKalb and Fulton are the only ones who pay the bills, but
they have less representation on MARTA's board than counties that pay nothing.
This unfair and unequal situation does not display black and white signs as
during segregation, when blacks paid taxes for schools they could not attend,
libraries they could not enter, parks and swimming pools they could not use.
Today, young blacks wonder why their forefathers accepted such treatment during
segregation. Now, they see in stark relief that blacks they look to for
leadership still accept disparate treatment. Black elected officials sitting on
the Atlanta City Council, DeKalb and Fulton Counties Commissions are classic
examples of why blacks endured segregation so long. Carbon copies of black
leaders that accepted second class citizenship because they benefited, our
black officials justify buying buses for counties that refuse to pay the MARTA
one-cent sales tax.
The donut hole should not be our greatest worry; the hole in the heads of black
elected officials should be our greatest concern. They just do not seem to get
it. It is one thing when one has an unfair and unjust condition imposed on
them, but it is something else entirely when you vote to continue imposing it
on yourself. Blacks can never expect the white man to let them up off the
ground when every time he takes his foot off their heads, they put their heads
back underneath his foot. Voting to continue taxation without representation is
like voting to sit in the back of the bus and pay double so white people can
ride free!!!!
|| 2007 Issues || The DISH ||