I have a tasty-smelling homemade rosemary-crust, turkey pepperoni pizza in the oven, but I just got a wacky-tax phone survey and wanted to report. I wonder who is looking for what in the suburbs of our fair city?
The phone survey was voiced by Michael Reagan, “oldest son of Ronald Reagan who championed low taxes…blah, blah, blah” by way of introduction. He then proceeded to ask the following questions:
Are you registered to vote?
Do you believe taxes need to be cut or made more fair?
Would you like your taxes lowered?
(Description of the Fair Tax Bill – no income tax) followed by, Do you agree that congress should pass the Fair Tax Bill?
Have you ever contributed to a political campaign, political party, church, or other non-profit organization?
Are you male?
Are you over 55? (and when I didn't answer right away because I was writing frantically and trying to buy time) Over 65?
Call sponsored by (went to fast for me to catch it) but a hurried 1-800-FAIRTAX at the end.
This was obviously not one of those polls that is looking for the “right” answer or it cuts you off. My answers were pretty obviously contrary to what they were hoping to hear, but it didn't redirect to an automatic cut off, “Thank you and good-bye” message.
Pizza's almost done! Any thoughts on the fair tax and what's behind this phone survey?
4 Comments
thanks!
Another Bleeding Heartland reader e-mailed me to say he got the same call in the Des Moines area.
The “fair tax” is one of the worst Republican ideas out there, which is saying something. Click the link for details. The gist is that they would replace all income taxes with a 30 percent sales tax (really a value-added tax). They say it would be a “23 percent” sales tax, but really it would be around 30 percent. It would make our tax system much more regressive.
In Iowa, the most prominent supporter of the “fair tax” is Steve King. Mike Huckabee was the only Republican presidential candidate to support the idea in the last cycle, and some people think that helped Huckabee surge in Iowa in the summer of 2007.
desmoinesdem Thu 8 Apr 7:19 AM
your pizza sounds fantastic, by the way
I have never been ambitious enough to try making home-made crust. I don’t have experience with yeast-based breads.
desmoinesdem Thu 8 Apr 7:20 AM
I don't either,but
this is Mark BIttman’s basic pizza crust recipe and, although it’s much breadier than I would normally want in a pizzeria crust, my family loves this pizza. I use my food processor for the mixing, put the yeast in the bottom (before the flour), add crushed dried rosemary, and use 1/3 whole wheat flour which makes it really hearty. We let our boys dip their crusts in honey so there’s no waste, and one large pizza feeds my family with a slice left over for the next day’s lunch. Highly recommended.
Oh, and my dad makes a homemade beef/pork sausage that we’ve eaten for weekend breakfast most of my life. Just recently I discovered that if we have leftovers, I can dice it up and put it on the pizza with some feta cheese under the mozzarella. The flavor combination is just…yum!
urbandaleforobama Thu 8 Apr 8:29 AM
lower taxes
I am a granny and I live alone. However, and especially when I was younger, I would have gladly paid higher taxes for the advantages other countries have because they pay higher taxes. The cost of living adjusts to ensure that people live up to a certain standard of living in normal times (not including recessions and job losses). When I was younger, had small children, I would have also then gladly paid higher (even much higher) taxes to ensure the safety of our lifestyle. Health care, unemployment, free education, cheap utilities, excellent trains and subways and buses, pensions, etc. are things that the average family in our country lately has difficulty affording. In many countries, esp. in Europe, if you can’t find a job, they will send you back to school, pay good unemployment, or even therapy for depression, etc. Women having babies get a year or two of pension rather than having their children in day care. Hardly anybody NEEDS a car, because their metros and bus system is excellent. So they park their car until they vacation. A lot of European countries have a higher standard of living than a lot of Americans are enjoying. I would gladly pay higher taxes for the safety net they enjoy.
wahela Sat 10 Apr 11:01 AM