Slammed
David Strom on Governor Pawlenty's loss in court over the "Health Impact Fee":
According to the Ramsey County Court, the administrator for the settlement, the answer is that the state violated that agreement and must refund the money collected.
The air is thick with irony.
First of all, it was the smokers who got reamed, and they won’t see a dime of this money. I assume it will be rebated back to the distributors, who will pocket it, as is their right.
Secondly, as far as I can tell, while this ruling strikes down the HIF on cigarettes, the so-called "other tobacco products" (OTP) will still be subject to the increased fee. So cigars and snuff, for instance, still have to suffer under a 100% increase in their taxes, while cigarettes will go back down to prior levels. Of course, cigarettes are by far the most dangerous of these products, although studies show that smokers already more than pay their fair share in taxes.
Thirdly, the democrats are right on this point: Pawlenty is in this mess because he wanted to avoid using the word "tax," so he invented out of thin air this "Health Impact Fee," which violates the contract with the tobacco companies, and still took the heat for raising taxes. Lose, lose, lose!!!
Fourthly, Pawlenty is flirting with completely destroying his reputation as a conservative. Rather than admitting this was a mistake and taking a (very) temporary hit to his pride, he is apparantly considering violating the constitution again by trying to impose this fee on his own.
It wasn't one of Pawlenty's better moment.
Posted by Mitch at
December 21, 2005 06:06 AM
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David Strom?
A bridge in Middle Earth is missing its troll.
Posted by: Kevin from Minneapolis at December 21, 2005 09:05 AMWell Kevin, you can move right in then. After all, you're already living in a fantasy world.
(I've got to stop this angryclown streak!)
Seriously, why are you complaining? I thought you lefties liked it when the conservatives fought amoungst themselves. Strom was right to slam Pawlenty on those points. He was just playing politics with the name and that's caused many of his problems. I could have forgiven a temporary tax hike, but this cutesy game he tried to play was disingenuous and an insult to the intelligence of the voters.
Posted by: nerdbert at December 21, 2005 11:12 AMPawlenty got his tax (and head) handed to because he passed a tax increase without calling it a tax.
Secondly, the Ramsey County judge saw it as a violation of a previous 1990's tobacco/devil weed settlement.
Them guys just want to keep altering them Indian treaties, so to speak. Settlement one week...forked tongue the next.
Posted by: Greg at December 21, 2005 12:50 PMWow, there's an understatement, not one of his best moments?
Let's see, he runs on a foolhardy platform that locks him into an inability to address a depressed economy with depressed revenue, lies to his constituants by calling a tax a "Health Impact Fee", uses the fees to address General Revenue shortfalls, and then this.
He gets told his plan is full of crap because it was.
I'd call that "not a good moment" when he proposed it, and a really "not great time" now. Or, if I weren't a right-wing political hack, I'd say his conduct at the time was deceitful (at best), and he is now politically at risk because he has no real alternatives because of stupid comments made during the campaign, but you know, I'm just a politician who puts politics behind ethics.. as opposed to Mitch.
PB
Posted by: pb at December 21, 2005 01:57 PMan inability to address a depressed economy with depressed revenue
If that's the case, why then is state tax revenue consistently exceeding expectations (and has been for quite some time) and why is our unemployment rate continuously lower than the national average.
And for the record, I am not a lefty. I think the HIF was a marginally good idea at best. I just can't stand David Strom and his never-ending quest for political relevance. I hope I can not like a member of the sacred base and still be allowed.
Posted by: Kevin from Minneapolis at December 21, 2005 02:05 PMSteve Sviggum was calling this a tax when he spoke at Bethlehem Lutheran tonight.
http://lloydletta.blogspot.com/2005/12/fee-is-tax-is-fee-i-heard-speaker.html
Strom has it nailed on this one. This was a self-inflicted wound for Pawlenty.
Posted by: Eva Young at December 22, 2005 12:02 AMbounties,binders chinned overworked flagpole Hume!tangible
Posted by: at July 1, 2006 04:21 AM