Disaster Daniels raises tax

This idiot actually has a serious shot of getting reelected?

I read this morning that Indiana has a new tax law. Most of it takes effect this coming Tuesday, but part of it has been in force since April: the increased sales tax.

Although it took effect on April Fools' Day (suitably enough), it's really no joke. Indiana's already high sales tax of 6% was pushed up to 7%, one of the highest in the country.

Now, Kentucky 40 years ago had Nickel Louie, who raised the sales tax to 5%. (It's now 6%.) But at least that paid for schools. But the tax hike in Indiana doesn't, like, buy stuff. All it does is provide "relief" for large property owners by paying for slashing property taxes.

I know that if you rent, you're paying property tax indirectly, but I've whipped out the calculator to see if you save any money from this. A person who lives alone in a small apartment probably doesn't save anything. A family of 3 or 4 certainly doesn't: By my calculations, the average family already pays hundreds more per year in sales taxes than in property taxes (even with property tax included in their rent). The wealthy exurbanite with a lot of capital investments and a lot of land probably comes out ahead, but few others do.

The less money you have, the smaller your digs, and the more you get hurt by Indiana's new tax "reforms." It's a reverse Robin Hood.

I immediately knew right-wing Gov. Mitch Daniels had to be behind this, considering that he tends to provide a steady stream of bad ideas. I knew that at minimum he must have signed it into law. Turns out the whole thing was his idea.

We had Nickel Louie. They've got Disaster Daniels.

(Source: http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080629/NEWS02/806290496)