A Stitch in Haste

Of all the RINOs ("Republican In Name Only") in this country, the most brazen is of course New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. So RINO in fact, that he was a lifelong liberal Democrat until he realized that he could never win that party's mayoral primary, so he nonchalantly decided that winning was more important than political, philosophical or intellectual consistency, and rather than run as an independent, he simply bought the Republican slot from Rudy Giuliani.

Anyway, now that Bloomberg is up for re-election, he has been engaging in a series of well-timed headline-generating maneuvers to placate voters:

--He borrowed a page from President Bush's RINO handbook and issued a (highly progressive) tax rebate check to homeowners.

--He ordered his shills on the Department of Environmental Protection to deliberately manipulate water rates to keep them artificially low this year, knowing full well that they would have to increase exorbitantly in subsequent (i.e., post-election) years.

--He ordered his other shills on the Rent Guidelines Board to authorize an unusually low rent increase for regulated apartments this year. More tenants vote than landlords. Go figure.

Now, making nice with the person who may end up being his main opponent in November, lame-duck City Council Speaker Gifford Miller, Bloomberg is offering up even more vote-buying goodies:

Mayor Bloomberg praised political rival Gifford Miller yesterday as they shook hands on a $50.2 billion budget deal that restores $229 million in proposed cuts to social-service programs and lowers the sales tax on certain clothing items.
...
It also provides $10 million for 1,500 day-care slots, keeps city libraries open for six days rather than four, and funds after-school programs that link kids directly with city cultural institutions. The new budget will also pave the way for a permanent city sales-tax exemption on clothing and shoes under $110, and keep the $400 rebate for homeowners.

With the exception of the clothing tax exemption (more on that below), a true Republican would have been opposed to all these taxpayer-funded giveaways. Consider:

--None of these programs are related to a fundamental function of government.

--The tax rebate program is just plain obnoxious -- how about just lowering tax rates up front rather than going through the (logistically costly) motions of collecting the taxes and then refunding part of them back?

--None of the pork in any way helps to foster tourism in the city, the single easiest way to ease budgetary woes.

--The day care and after-school boondoggles only help those with kids. I see no reason to endorse programs that tax the childless to support those with children.

--To the extent that public libraries should be funded at all, perhaps their hours should be based on actual usage rather than warm-fuzzy-feeling budgeting.

Finally, regarding the clothing exemption, a few observations:

--NYC quite frankly has little choice but to exempt clothing, since all our neighboring states do so, not to mention those Internet retailers who do not collect the sales tax.

--This is just the latest example of why proposals to replace the federal income tax with a national sales tax are misguided, to the extent that their supporters believe that a sales tax would be less subject to manipulation (i.e., the unrealistic notion that "everything would be taxed equally"). How long would it be before Congress decided that food and clothing should be exempt, or diapers, or prescription drugs, or college tuition, etc.? There may be valid reasons to prefer a sales tax (e.g., privacy concerns), but "fairness" isn't one of them. For more on this, see my latest post on the subject.

It's early yet, but the latest polls suggest that Bloomberg may win re-election handily.

And the RINOs rage on...