Hey...it's tea party protest day!!!!

New Hampshire leading the way into the Abyss...

The tax was added late in the state budget process last summer, and as rules were being developed to administer it complaints from business began to grow. A lawsuit is still in court that challenges the state's attempt to collect the tax for all of 2009, even though the bill did not take effect until the middle of last year.

Lynch said he does not think the state "I don't see New Hampshire as becoming a place unfriendly to business that's not what I hear," he said. "In fact, many people tell me it is the best place in New England to do business."

The tax in question is the Limited Liability Company (LLC). Governor Lynch now wants to consider repealing it, as the purpose (closing a tax loophole) is null and void...since tax experts are already showing that there are other ways around it.

I just find it amusing that Lynch states outright that he doesn't think that New Hamphsire is becoming a place unfriendly to business...

Well?

CONCORD – New Hampshire's Senate has given preliminary approval to entering a 10-state regional effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions to preserve the state's climate and way of life.

The Senate voted 16-8 yesterday to ask its Finance Committee to review a bill that implements the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative known as RGGI.

Gov. John Lynch believes the initiative will help New Hampshire's environment and economy.

This is a state initiative to institute "Cap and Trade" legislation. View it at any angle and it kicks business in the teeth.

Environmental Services Commissioner Thomas Burack says New Hampshire's electric users will pay higher rates regardless of New Hampshire participating in RGGI. That's because New Hampshire buys about half its power from a wholesale market whose rates will rise as other states' power producers buy RGGI allowances and pass on the costs to ratepayers.

It's high time those wacky scientists in Korea create a genetic path so that we can create two separate mouths on politicians. That way, we can keep the rhetoric categorized.

Got your back, Mr. Geraghty...

From Jim Geraghty at the NRO Campaign Spot (via Instapundit)

My congressman, Jim Moran of Virginia, has introduced "the Plastic Bag Reduction Act of 2009 which would place a 5 cent fee on grocery bags, dry cleaning bags, take-out food bags, retail bags and service station bags, starting January 1. Under the proposal, that fee would escalate to 25 cents starting January 1, 2015."

No plastic bags for takeout? He deserves to be pelted with last week's Chinese.

Well, worry not, Jimbo. We here at "the Worm" are all over this nonsense. Back in December 2008, Toronto was playing around with the idea of calling plastic a dirty word as a precursor to a tax. I've got a plan should the festering scab of an idea invade my state...

I will refuse to give the Environmental Fundamentalists the satisfaction should this baloney ever reach my neck of the woods. Toronto is just the latest to levy a bag tax (and that’s what it is). Ireland charges the equivalent of 15 cents per bag and gives the money to environmental boondoggle projects. England charges 10 pence per plastic bag.

In the United States, Seattle charges 20 cents for a plastic bag at grocery, drug and convenience stores. Not to be outdone, San Francisco banned plastic bags altogether. As of January 22, there was a push to tax plastic bags across the entire state of California.

FINE…knock yourself out…

Me? I’ll be purchasing 1,000 volume crates of standard plastic grocery bags (MB-T-24TK) at a whopping cost of 3 cents per unit over the internet (unless I decide to get real nasty and form a coalition to purchase them bulk at a lesser cost). Yeah, I'll be paying 3 cents a bag…but the money goes into a private corporation and not in the pocket of some benevolent do-gooder bullsh*t artist.

I'm the kind of guy who would hand them out free to other shoppers just to piss off the whackjobs supporting this vapidity.

Dumber than a box of rocks...

ALBANY -- Personal income taxes for the upper middle class and the rich are about to skyrocket under a secret, soak-the-wealthy tax deal reached last night by Gov. Paterson and leaders of the Legislature, sources told The Post.

The two-tier tax plan would bring in $4 billion annually, in part by hiking income taxes a stunning 31 percent for all New Yorkers making more than $500,000 a year, the sources said.

Heh!

Has anyone ever noticed that Liberals are quick to point out that the decimation of the Two-toe Striped Tickle Fish will effect the ecosystem in such a way that all other animals are put under hardship? You know...predators have nothing to eat...and so on up and down the line?

Why is it they have a disconnect on trickle down economics? New York is about to lose their tax base altogether with this idiocy. New Jersey and Connecticut, however, are about to receive an influx.

Hawaii a Microcosm...

Democratic House and Senate leaders say they feel betrayed that Republican Gov. Linda Lingle, after promising to work with them, is now threatening to veto any tax increases.

"When we met with her, she said everything was on the table, and now she says, 'No new taxes,'" said Sen. Donna Kim (D, Halawa-Kalihi Valley).

The governor defended her change in position.

"I remain committed to balancing the budget without raising taxes or laying off employees. Either of these actions would further weaken our economy," Lingle said.

This is the scene playing out across the country. Republicans (with some minor exceptions) not wanting to raise taxes...Democrats wanting to hit the taxpayer with a two by four across the forehead.

WHERE IN THE HELL IS THE LEADERSHIP IN THE REPUBLICAN PARTY???!!!???? GET YOUR SANCTIMONIUS FACADES ON TELEVISION AND INFORM THE AMERICAN PEOPLE OF THIS SCENARIO!!!

It will do two things:

1. The Democrats will again and rightfully be associated with tax and spend legislation.

2. Some Democrats in shakey districts will be forced back into a more taxpayer friendly position.

Solar and Wind energy makes great hot air...

Wind and solar power have been growing at a blistering pace in recent years, and that growth seemed likely to accelerate under the green-minded Obama administration. But because of the credit crisis and the broader economic downturn, the opposite is happening: installation of wind and solar power is plummeting.

Factories building parts for these industries have announced a wave of layoffs in recent weeks, and trade groups are projecting 30 to 50 percent declines this year in installation of new equipment, barring more help from the government.

"The credit crisis and the broader economic downturn" is only part of the puzzle reflected in the failing wind and solar energy industry. How about the growing skepticism on necessity? Or, more importantly...how about the concerns that the wind energy farms are turning out to be a scam of inefficiency.

Wind is seasonal. So in the months that our electric demands are highest (June, July, and August), wind-generated electricity in non-existent or practically nil. Even during our supposedly "windy months," wind is often too weak to be useful and much of the time these windmills will sit idle producing nothing.

Even if our entire landscape were covered with wind turbines it would not reduce our dependence on foreign oil, clean our air, or lower global warming. Only 2.45 percent of all electricity in the U.S. is produced by oft-fired electric plants. And for every megawatt that is expected from wind turbines there must be the same number of megawatts in standby mode from conventional power stations, which must be kept idling, ready for immediate cut-in for when the wind turbines fail. And fail they do, with the fluttering and inconsistency of wind.

You can find examples of the absolute inefficiency and undependable aspects of wind farms all over the globe. Even at optimum performance (which seems to be rare) the production of usable electricity rivals the act of rubbing a balloon against your head.

Though its potential is large, solar radiation has a relatively low energy density and is intermittent. The low energy density requires solar energy to be harvested over large areas, affecting the size and material intensity of collection systems. Modern solar energy collection devices are inefficient and expensive compared to other energy conversion technologies. These drawbacks cause direct solar energy to continue to be a minor component of the global energy system.

The only reason the major banks were willing to support these two "going nowhere fast" industries was predicated on large tax credit incentives. Now, as everyone tightens the belt, those industries that are losing their funding are being weeded out of the portfolios of the investors, because THEY DON'T WORK...and likely won't work on anything resembling an efficient capacity.

The only way this industry continues is if Congress and our new 'Green' President hand these boondoggles tax money. Each day, more voters are getting the education that "Earth First" folks don't want you to get...Climate Change cannot be defined by models...wind and solar energy are not a valid all encompassing answer to oil dependency.

Massachusetts is growing Tentacles

Massachusetts has ordered a tire chain to charge Bay State residents a 5 percent sales tax on their purchases in New Hampshire in an unprecedented move that could have huge implications for consumers and other merchants.

Town Fair Tire Centers, which is based in Connecticut but has six shops in New Hampshire and 25 in Massachusetts, is fighting back with a lawsuit now before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court that accuses the state of violating the US commerce clause. If Massachusetts prevails in the case, which is likely to be heard next month, it could drive up costs for consumers and retailers such as Best Buy and Sears that sell expensive home appliances and other goods in New Hampshire, which doesn't have a state sales tax. It also could mean millions of dollars in new tax revenue for the Commonwealth as it faces a $1.1 billion budget deficit, according to tax analysts.

This is gold, Jerry….GOLD!!!

It seems that Massachusetts got bored fleecing people in their own state and have expanded there greedy little mitts to the businesses outside of their boundaries.

Follow me here for a second. Will this allow Massachusetts (which uses a 5% sales tax rate) to require a .5% collection from Oklahoma (which has a 4.5% rate)? Will Connecticut (which has a 6% sales tax in place) be able to require a 1% contribution from Massachusetts (right next door) when the Nutmeggers cross the border to buy some batteries or something?

Or how about this? Would Massachusetts be able to require foreign countries catering to a vacationing Bay Stater to collect 5% sales tax on all goods purchased if they have no such tax in place?

Now the big question…How exactly do you enforce this little fiasco of greed from the most corrupt and “progressive” state in New England if the consumer uses cash to make the purchase? Do you have to show ID to buy a television in New Hampshire.

How about we make a deal? I’ll go along with Massachusetts’ experimentation in overreaching if we require ID from every voter nationwide in each election. How’s that sound?

No?

Fine…stuff it Bay State Bureaucrats.

Taxing the Rich

This is how they tax the rich in China:

HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Mystery surrounded the whereabouts of Huang Guangyu, one of China's wealthiest individuals, a day after reports surfaced that he was recently detained by the Beijing police for questioning over alleged financial wrongdoing.

This article places his worth at about $2.7 Billion. It's probably closer to $6 Billion...and Guangyu is, arguably, the richest man in China...or was.