Unbossed and unbought news and information you can use
Vol.
8 Issue 17…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…April
29, 2005
Intuit’s Vibe
Taxation Poem
Author Unknown
Tax his land, tax his wage,
Tax his bed in which he lays.
Tax his tractor, tax his mule,
Teach him taxes is the rule
Tax his cow, tax his goat,
Tax his pants, tax his coat.
Tax his ties, tax his shirts,
Tax his work, tax his dirt
Tax his chew, tax his smoke,
Teach him taxes are no joke.
Tax his car, tax his grass,
Tax the roads he must pass
Tax his food, tax his drink,
Tax him if he tries to think.
Tax his sodas, tax his beers,
If he cries, tax his tears
Tax his bills, tax his gas,
Tax his notes, tax his cash.
Tax him good and let him know
That after taxes, he has no dough
If he hollers, tax him more,
Tax him until he's good and sore.
Tax his coffin, tax his grave,
Tax the sod in which he lays
Put these words upon his tomb,
"Taxes drove me to my doom!"
And when he's gone, we won't relax,
We'll still
be after the inheritance tax
Pointing out that spoken word and other forms of oral presentation are the
oldest forms of entertainment, The
DISH kicked off Poetry Month to highlight their deep African
cultural roots. For centuries, especially in the United States, blacks
communicated family heritage, customs, folklore and accounts of our desperate
struggle for freedom, justice and equality through spoken word. The
significance of this oral tradition, which was maintained by African griots,
shamans and oracles, is the focal point of several venues this weekend as the
Atlanta Vibe closes out Poetry Month.
Beginning with the First Annual Stone Mountain Poetry Festival (April 29 - May
1, 2005), Atlanta Vibe poets Yohannes Sharriff, Karen C. Thames, Kemi Bennings,
William Harris, Pamela Plummer, Tanzania Nevels, Renita Walls, Betty Hasan-Amin,
Cherryl Floyd-Miller and festival organizer Felton Eaddy, among others, will
continue the age-old tradition by performing a creative array of styles,
including slam, free style and poetry readings for festival goers. For more
information, email globalart@aol.com.
A star-studded weekend, which includes Alicia Keys by candlelight in concert at
Chastain Park on Saturday (4-30-05), Poetry Month culminates with a tribute to two
forerunners of today's spoken word/hip-hop artists, The Last Poets and Amiri
Baraka. These spoken word artists gave voice to the civil rights movement as
they combined music and messages that chided the US for its history of
institutionalized racism. Local performers joining in this tribute include
Yohannes Sharriff, Aqyil Thomas, WeOne, Q Swan, Cola Rum, Jon Goode, Indigo and
Jessica Care Moore. For more information about The Last Poets, visit www.thedish.org/TheDISHv6no13.htm#history.
Call 678-698-8393 or 404-725-6466 for venue information.
Civil War Financing
On the eve of the US Civil War, the North and South faced the daunting task of
financing the conflict. Abraham Lincoln's administration and the Confederacy
employed similar measures to raise money. While the North was vastly more
successful with its taxation, borrowing and issuance of paper money, both sides
grossly underestimated the cost and duration of the war.
The North, which relied heavily on borrowing to finance its operations, had a
sizeable federal debt before the war started. To tackle the looming financial
crisis, President Lincoln appointed Salmon P. Chase, a former governor and
senator from Ohio, as Secretary of the Treasury. Despite his limited finance
experience, Chase moved quickly to address the problem.
Under his leadership, the Treasury Department began selling government bonds to
the general public to raise revenue and increase popular support for the war.
Congress passed the National Banking Act (1862), which stimulated the sale of
war bonds. National banks chartered under the act had to invest one-third of
their capital in federal bonds and to deposit those bonds with the Treasury
Department. The banks could then issue bank notes, which would serve as legal
tender, up to 90 percent of the market value of the deposited bonds.
In July 1861, Chase advised Congress the federal government would need more
than $300 million to fight the war in 1862. Customs from imports, an important
source of revenue, had dwindled as expenses increased, leaving the government
with a growing deficit. With the war costing nearly $2 million a day, Chase
asked Congress to make the government's paper money legal tender for all debts,
public and private. Congress passed the Legal Tender Act (1862), which created
"greenbacks." This measure placed in circulation $50 million and
created the basis for a national currency.
Making paper currency legal tender added to inflation, but it solved the
immediate crisis by promptly putting money into the Treasury. After
considerable debate and criticism, Congress passed the Internal Revenue Act
(1861), the first US income tax. It imposed a 3 percent levy on all incomes
exceeding $800. With such a high exemption, only the richest were expected to
pay. In addition, the act taxed manufactured goods and imposed sales taxes and
license fees. To collect the income tax and other levies, Congress created the
Bureau of Internal Revenue. While this legislation failed to fully fund the
war, it became the precedent for a national system of taxation.
These financial measures and subsequent reforms enhanced the power of the
national government and became targets of well-financed campaigns to eliminate
taxes, especially the income tax. Anti-tax movement critics felt it was little
more than an effort to shift the tax burden down the income scale. Ultimately,
Republican political leaders heeded wealthy taxpayers' demands and abolished
the progressive rate structure in 1867 by imposing a flat 5 percent tax on all
incomes over $1,000. In 1870, Congress again reduced the rate and eliminated
inheritance taxes. Having served its original purpose in helping to finance the
war, Congress agreed the income tax was near the end of its useful life and
voted to let it lapse after 1871. (Sources: www.taxhistory.org/Articles/civilwar.htm
and American History: A Survey by Current, Williams and Friedel)
The
Dark Knight-Batman/White Ninja/Zorro recently completed the
Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (CRCT). Like students in public school
systems nationwide, DeKalb County students spent most of April testing. When
queried for comments, the Dark One/Ninja/Zorro exclaimed, "I hope I passed
the CRCT so my TV and other privileges can be restored!"
Disgruntled feels:
Sanitized! Like
beauty, terror is in the eye of the beholder or more specifically its victim. Patterns
of Global Terrorism, a country-by-country report, which normally includes
statistical tables, has been published annually since 1986. This year the
publication was stripped of its data, which show the number of significant
terrorist attacks rose from 172 in 2003 to 655 in 2004, a nearly 300% increase.
The existence of such data, like real US unemployment and inflation rates,
makes it difficult for the Bush administration to claim it is winning the war
on terror. This is especially true, since a large chunk of the 655 terrorist
acts occurred in Iraq, a country occupied by the US military and proclaimed by
Bush to be the front in his war on terror. Given the Bush administration's
knack for telling lies about everything for the state of the economy to its war,
no one should be surprised that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ordered the
report withdrawn and sanitized of its pessimistic statistics.
Disgruntled says: Historically, the US raised taxes to
finance its wars. US citizens were expected to make some sacrifice. To maintain
the public's faith, former Treasury Secretaries, such as Salmon Chase, seemed
reluctant to increase the debt and worked to safeguard the nation's ability to
raise revenue via its good credit. A striking contrast, the current conflicts
in Afghanistan and Iraq are financed with deficit spending. Moreover, rather
than raise taxes, the Bush administration provided huge tax cuts for the
wealthiest US citizens.
Disgruntled wants to know: Blacks fought and died for the right
to vote. By exercising the most fundamental right of citizenship, blacks
believed that by voting to elect their representatives, government would be
more responsive to their needs. Ironically, blacks make up the majority in
DeKalb County; the titular head of county government and the majority on the
county commission are black. Yet, conditions for blacks have not measurably
changed since white elected officials ran DeKalb County government. What have
blacks gained in exchange for the sacrifices made to get the vote, when elected
black officials fail to make meaningful change?
John Burl Smith
Quietly
appointing a so-called Future Funding Commission (FFC) to prioritize
infrastructure needs over the next 20 to 50 years, DeKalb County, Georgia CEO
Vernon Jones tried to sneak one pass predominately black South DeKalb.
According to DeKalb County resident Adrion Bell, this commission developed a
"wish list" that would cost more than $237 million to pay for
transportation, parks and recreation, economic development and the library
system.
Tolling
the disastrous implications of this pea and shell game, Bell sounded the alarm.
"Nearly all of the funding options presented involved raising taxes or
putting the county in long-term debt. Who pays this type of debt? Taxpayers!
Furthermore, many of our citizens are on a fixed retirement income. We are in a
time when the cost of basic needs like gasoline and grocery prices are
skyrocketing. Water and sewer rates just jumped 20 percent. Unemployment is up
and I don't know many people who are receiving 20 percent pay increases."
Except CEO Jones, whose salary just increased to a whooping $142,891, making
him the highest paid elected official in the state of Georgia.
Clamoring
home the point that since CEO Jones took office DeKalb County taxes and fees
have tripled, while property assessments continue to rise every year, Mr. Bell
echoed a note sung by most DeKalb residents. Beguiled, South DeKalb residents
labor under false hopes that elected officials will spend revenues from sales
and property taxes to improve their communities. Inundated with unrestricted
home construction, South DeKalb schools are overcrowded. Streets, such as
Gresham Road, which serves as a major access corridor to the Ellenwood/River
Road community from I-20, has not been paved in more than two decades. Outdated
when constructed, current recreation facilities on the South end of the county
were built based on population estimates compiled before the home construction
boom.
Conversely,
North DeKalb has enjoyed a commercial construction and economic development
boom for more than ten years. During this period, South DeKalb, particularly
its unincorporated portion, paid the same level or taxes as high as the
northern end of the county, yet tax revenues consistently flowed North to
improve infrastructure in predominantly white communities. Consequently, large
office complexes, hotels, restaurants or business districts went North, while
predominantly black South DeKalb got nothing for its rising taxes. Ringing loud
and clear, Mr. Bell's wake-up call resonated like chimes. His warning should
alert South DeKalb residents to the fact that Jones' sweet music is as much a
sour note as the MARTA sales tax and the lack of South DeKalb rapid rail
service.
The
FFC is another scam. A bait and switch money grab from South DeKalb to pay for
economic development that disproportionately benefits North DeKalb. Reminiscent
of the HOST sales tax for sidewalks, curbs and gutters, which went mostly for
improvements in the North, the FFC proposal will give Tucker an amphitheater.
Over five years ago, South DeKalb was promised a performing art center to be
built on the old Mathis Dairy site to replace Soapstone. Instead, the money was
redirected and blacks cannot get an art project funded in South DeKalb. This
new FFC is just another way to coverup how South DeKalb's art funds have been
shifted to North DeKalb, while depriving South DeKalb of a performing art
center and its rightful share of art funds. Given DeKalb's black elected
officials are silent, they support the use of South DeKalb's taxes to improve
North DeKalb communities.
Appraisal Inflation
Real estate prices are rising across the USA. Many analysts see the surge in
home prices as part of a real estate bubble fueled by low interest rates and
easy credit. Disturbingly, foreclosures are also rising. In addition, the
number of new single-family homes for sale and percentage of homes purchased by
people that do not intend to live in them are at historic highs.
These worrisome signs of a real estate bubble do not receive much in the way of
media coverage. But, housing experts worry that these signs portend serious
trouble for the housing industry and the economy. They see 'appraisal
inflation' as one culprit responsible for the steep rise in home prices. When
real estate appraisers inflate property values, purchasers pay more than homes
are worth and/or homeowners obtain refinance loans in excess of their homes'
resale values to pay off credit card debt, make home improvements or cover
daily living expenses. Of late, the latter is the case as the cost of living
rises and length of unemployment grows.
"Home Insecurity: How Widespread Appraisal Fraud Puts Homeowners At
Risk," a research paper at www.demos-usa.org/pub485.cfm,
highlights aspects of this fraudulent practice. Its key findings include the
fact that serious conflicts of interest exist between lenders, brokers, and
real estate agents. Appraisers feel pressured to inflate property values. As
government oversight is weak or non-existent in some states, predatory lending,
which targets minority and sub-prime borrowers and involves appraisal fraud,
goes unchecked. Moreover, unscrupulous developers and dishonest appraisers
collude in aggressively marketing new homes at inflated prices to aspiring
low-income homebuyers.
With the Ney-Kanjorski bill, Congress is considering legislation to prohibit
agents and others from pressuring appraisers through coercion, bribes or
extortion and to force physical inspections for high-cost loans instead of
computer appraisal software that can be manipulated. Critics of the legislation
say it does not go far enough to address structural problems in the appraisal
business, such as the fact that many lending institutions that hire appraisers
profit from the outcome.
Some states, such as Texas, are looking at ways to address appraisal inflation.
The Texas legislature is considering a bill to end the use by local city and
county elected officials of rising property values to increase revenues rather
than outright tax rate increases.
For the vast majority of US families, the home represents their most important
investment and sole source of wealth. Appraisal inflation is fraud; it erodes wealth
and places many at risk of losing their homes.
Appealing Property Appraisals
DeKalb County, Georgia is one of the fastest growing areas of the country. Many
Northern blacks are returning to the South, and South DeKalb County has drawn
them like a magnet. Accompanying this growth, real estate values are rising in
DeKalb, especially in its unincorporated areas, which account for more than 80%
of the county's property tax revenues. Rising appraisals mean higher tax
assessments, which unfairly burden low-income families and elderly residents
that own the existing stock of homes, rather than the newer more expensive ones
sprouting up on postage stamp-sized lots in unincorporated South DeKalb County.
Built in 1957, a typical home in unincorporated South DeKalb County appraised
at $69,300 in1996 for property tax purposes. The 2005 notice of assessment
change show an appraised value of $115,000. This is an increase of 65.9% over
the nine-year period. On closer examination, most of this increase occurred in
the last four years. For example, in 1999, the house was appraised at $73,400.
This increase came on the heels of modest improvements to the structure. Since
then, no capital improvements have been made to explain the $41,600 increase or
56.7% rise in the appraised value of this residence. Over this relatively short
period, the annual increase in the appraised value exceeded ten percent, which
well outpaces the national inflation rate. The homeowners plan to appeal this
assessment.
If you received a Notice of Assessment Change and disagree with the appraised
value of your home, you have the right to file a challenge on the grounds of
taxability, uniformity of assessment (values are uniform as compared to similar
properties), value (if the County Board of Tax Assessors changed the appraised
value), and denial of a homestead exemption. Appeals must be filed with the
County Board of Tax Assessors by the deadline shown on your Notice of
Assessment Change, which should include information concerning the appeal
process. For more information about the appeal process and your rights as a
property owner, visit the DeKalb web site at www.codekalb.ga.us/propappr.
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