BCT Editorial – 12/12/05

This page was last updated on December 17, 2005.

Salutes & Boots; Editorial; Beaver County Times; December 12, 2005.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“Salute: To the state House of Representatives for voting 142-49 to exempt people whose total income is less than $12,000 a year from paying the emergency and municipal services tax, which can be as much as $52 a year. The bill goes to the Senate. Let’s hope the Senate acts on this.”

[RWC] Let’s hope the Senate has the good judgment to kill this bill. Regardless of your income, it’s only fair to pay taxes as everyone else. When we eliminate a group from taxation we do two things. First, we drive up the taxes on everyone else. Second, people are insensitive to taxes they don’t pay. This tends to result in their quick approval of taxes they don’t pay. Again, taxes rise.

“Salute: To Pittsburgh-based Alcoa on its being named by Business Week magazine, the Climate Group and a panel of experts as one of the top five companies when it comes to reducing greenhouse gases. The magazine cited Alcoa’s 80 percent reduction of perfluorocarbon gas from its smelters as the reason for the company making the list. Doing so made good business sense as well. Annual cost savings are expected to reach $100 million next year.”

[RWC] Leave it to the Times to get this story backwards. The editorial implies Alcoa’s primary goal was to reduce so-called greenhouse gases and the cost savings were merely a happy byproduct. I’m willing to bet the exact opposite is true. That is, efficiency improvements intended to cut costs had the happy byproduct of cutting emissions.

“Salute: To Westin Hotels & Resorts for its decision to go smoke free next month. The chain, which has a hotel in Pittsburgh, is the first major American hotel chain to do so, and it deserves to be recognized for taking this bold step. Don’t be surprised to see more chains follow it. It’s an idea whose time has come.”

[RWC] If this improves Westin’s business, as a non-smoker I’m all for it. If it’s merely to be politically correct and business suffers, Westin likely will revert to setting aside smoking rooms as nearly all motels/hotels do today. For what it’s worth, I can’t remember the last time I requested a non-smoking room and didn’t get one.

“Boot: To anyone who believes that a bill that cuts the state’s income tax from 3.07 percent to 3.05 percent wasn’t politically motivated. The headline on the news release from the Republican State Committee of Pennsylvania said it all: ‘Rendell to Veto Decrease in Personal Income Tax.’ This so-called tax cut is all flash and no substance. As we pointed out in an editorial on Sunday, reducing the levy by 0.02 percent would result in a tax cut of 83 cents a month, 19 cents a week or 3 cents a day for a family with an income of $50,000 a year.”

[RWC] Of course it’s politically motivated. What actions by politicians aren’t politically motivated? Leave it to the Times, however, to oppose any tax cut. Make no mistake; the Times would oppose any tax cut regardless of magnitude. I suspect the Times is also one of those outlets that claims cuts in spending increases are cuts in spending.