August 24, 2010
Letter to the Editor Aug. 25, 2010
CNHI

To the Editor:

Rich Lowry’s and Brian Howey’s commentaries in the Aug. 11 Hendricks County Flyer were a great PR job for Gov. Mitch Daniels. However, the recent Indiana unemployment drop from 10.5 percent to 9.8 percent was probably the result of the Bush and Obama bailout of GM and Chrysler, discouraged job applicants dropping out of the labor force (100,000 manufacturing jobs were eliminated since Daniels’ election and prior to the financial/banking crises in 2008), imported cheap foreign labor (some who are illegal), and the Obama stimulus ($11 million in Hendricks County instead of collecting impact fees on new development) including energy grants and tax cuts for the middle class.

WTHR TV 13 of Indianapolis investigated Daniels’ jobs claims and has found inaccurate numbers. Eli Lilly was given a $700 million tax cut a few years ago to create good paying jobs; since that time, they have eliminated thousands of jobs. The $8,701 tax incentive per new job that Daniels claims has saved Indiana taxpayers money includes retaining existing jobs and does not include local tax abatements, TIF, tax-free bonds, and new business infrastructure paid by taxpayers. The overwhelming majority of jobs created in Hendricks County are poverty wage jobs in warehousing and retail (good paying manufacturing jobs have been exported to foreign countries as the result of U.S. taxpayer incentives and bad trade deals) that are eligible for EITC ($5,700/family), Medicaid, and many other subsidies paid by taxpayers or added to the federal debt.

The Indiana budget surplus is due to Daniels owing the federal taxpayers billions of dollars for unemployment and Medicaid; and the Obama bailout of states including Indiana. Business development costs and property taxes were shifted to wheel taxes and residential property owners. When those taxes increased by 700 to 800 percent in some cases, Daniels raised sales taxes from 40 to 80 percent (restaurant and bar food and drinks) to buy down these excessive increases by raising the homestead tax credit which has since decreased by 80 percent in 2009 and another 45 percent in 2010.

Stagnant home prices due to Bush’s housing bust have contributed to lower property tax increases. Teachers, police, fire, and other public employees are losing their jobs; if not for the Obama stimulus funding earmarked to keep these jobs and to maintain school class sizes. Tolls on the Indiana toll road sold by Daniels have doubled for infrequent drivers, fees have increased up to 300 percent (e.g. state drivers license), Indianapolis water and sewer rates will skyrocket due to corporate ownership, and my fixed wire phone basic rate has increased 22 percent since Daniels deregulated.

Obama and Democrats are wrong by basing their job creating strategy on “borrowing and spending” and bailing out states like Indiana. Good paying American jobs would be created that pay employee health/medical insurance costs with no bailouts/incentives to banks and corporations and no $13 trillion debt, if Democrats and Republicans would do the following: First, repeal all sales taxes and replace the lost revenue with an import tax/tariff on imported labor and manufactured goods. Second, repeal all local tax incentives that shift business costs to taxpayers and that create poverty wage jobs; or change these incentives to pay a living wage, minimum wage of $14 per hour (parent with one child).

Where are the Tea Party endorsements for these strategies?

Brent Pittman Brownsburg, IN