Category: Government Finance
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Quote of the Day: Chuck Marohn
Great minds think alike. From today’s Strong Towns blog: “Any city that wants to be financially strong and healthy needs to stop making investments that cost more over the long term to service and maintain than they generate in wealth. They need to stop accepting grant funding or “donated” infrastructure that they ultimately will not…
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Is Maureen McDonnell “Madame Ten Percent?”
By Peter Galuszka When is too much, too much? That’s my thought when I read the Richmond Times-Dispatch‘s intriguing story this morning that Maureen McDonnell, wife of the embattled governor, traded thousands of dollars worth of Star Scientific stock supposedly without her husband’s knowledge. In May, 2011, Jonnie Williams Sr., head of the troubled Star…
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County Speak with Forked Tongue
by James A. Bacon To justify a proposed 4% meals tax, Henrico County officials have repeatedly invoked the fact that county government has cut $115 million from its budget (set at $785 million this fiscal year), and it just can’t cut no more. The county’s meals-tax advocacy website, Henrico County Meals Tax, frames the issue…
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Growing Skepticism of Proposed Henrico Meals Tax
Speaking of the Henrico meals tax… WTVR ran this piece asking whether Henrico County’s meals tax website was breaking the state law against spending state dollars on advocacy promotion. I’ll forgive the TV station for failing to credit Bacon’s Rebellion for raising this issue — I’m just happy the matter is getting some attention. Clearly,…
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What the Henrico Meals Tax Website Doesn’t Tell You
I wrote this op-ed for the Times-Dispatch, which published it this morning. JAB As an 11-year resident, I long deemed Henrico County a well-run locality. It has the lowest property tax rate among Virginia’s largest counties yet maintains an AAA bond rating. Its employees are helpful and courteous, and its schools are reasonably well regarded.…
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What Happens in Detroit, Does Not Stay in Detroit
Detroit seems a long way from the Old Dominion, and its bankruptcy woes seem largely irrelevant to a state and its local governments which, whatever else their flaws, have among the strongest bond ratings in the country. But it would be a mistake for Virginians to ignore events in the Wolverine State. It looks like…
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It’s the Debt You Don’t See that Kills You
In theory, state and local governments in the United States are required to balance their budgets every year. In practice, many have been running massive deficits. Count on slippery politicians to find the loopholes. The most widely practiced trick is the under-funding of pension obligations. Another is dishing off debt to independent authorities. Another is…
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Boomergeddon Watch: Uncle Sam’s Other Debt
by James A. Bacon The federal government is far more exposed to a rise in interest rates than commonly believed. As I frequently remind Bacon’s Rebellion readers, the national debt stands at $17 trillion, a sum that is increasing with no end in sight. But Uncle Sam’s total financial liabilities are far larger, says James…
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Henrico’s Imploding Case for the Meals Tax
by James A. Bacon Henrico County’s governing class justifies a proposed 4% meals tax, expected to raise $18 million a year, as necessary to ward off calamitous budget cuts. The revenues are needed, county officials say, because stagnant tax revenues aren’t sufficient to pay for rising pension liabilities and environmental mandates. There may have been…
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Boomergeddon Watch: The Interest Rate Trap
by James A. Bacon In previous blog posts, I’ve explored how the Federal Reserve Board’s near zero-interest rate policy has created drags on economic growth and job creation that have significantly offset its stimulative effects. First, by reducing yields on bank CDs, money market funds and bonds, super-low interest rates penalize savers. Low yields create…
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The Death of Harry F. Byrd Jr.
By Peter Galuszka One of the most important figures who defined much of what was wrong with Virginia in the 20th century has died at age 98. Harry F. Byrd Jr., the son of the man who set up the one-party system of control in the state smitten with the democratic ideals of Thomas Jefferson,…
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If It Looks Like a Skunk and Smells Like a Skunk…
Have Henrico County officials violated the Code of Virginia by publishing a website supporting a 4% meals tax scheduled for a referendum this fall? That all depends on where you draw the line between “information” and “advocacy.” I raised the issue yesterday in a blog post (“County Paid Propaganda?”) that took note of the newly…
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County Paid Propaganda? Citizens Want Answers!
by James A. Bacon Henrico County has launched a website to tout a 4% meals tax proposal that voters will accept or reject in a referendum this fall. With slick graphics and professionally produced video, Henrico County Meals Tax Facts, created by the West Cary Group ad agency, cost $20,250, reports the Times-Dispatch today. The…
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How to Help Renters, First-time Home Buyers and the Budget Deficit
by James A. Bacon Between loan guarantees, tax breaks and outright subsidies, the federal government exerts a $450 billion-a-year influence over American real estate markets. Smart Growth America proposes eliminating about $40 billion in federal largesse, reinvesting $7 billion a year in targeted programs to help renters, first-time home buyers and infrastructure investment, and… get…
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Will More Gov’t Spending Reduce Richmond Food Insecurity?
by James A. Bacon After two years of deliberations, a Richmond Food Policy Task Force has issued recommendations for tackling so-called “food deserts” in low-income city neighborhoods racked by obesity and food insecurity. I was anticipating a touchy-feely report full of good intentions divorced from real-world considerations. My worst fears were not confirmed. Although they…