on thursday, 28 april 2009, the house committee on ways and means met to consider two bills. the first bill that they considered was state representative hollis downs' HB 456, a bill that would require that the tax on gasoline, diesel fuels, and special fuels to be adjusted annually in accordance with the bureau of labor statistics consumer price index.
incredibly, it seems that everyone has already forgotten last years SB 672 the massive legislative pay raise fraud bill, which, likewise, tied the "legislators" pay raise to the consumer price index. see house floor amendments: amendments proposed by representative tucker to reengrossed senate bill no. 672 by senator duplessis.
this meant that the legislators would likely receive an automatic yearly pay raise of an unknown amount without any further debate or public input. out of sight, out of mind.
furthermore, since the cpi represents all goods and services purchased for consumption by the reference population like food and beverages, housing, apparel, transportation, medical care, recreation, education and communication and other goods and services for example tobacco and smoking products, haircuts and other personal services and funeral expenses.
also included within these major groups are various government-charged user fees, such as water and sewerage charges, auto registration fees, and vehicle tolls. in addition, the cpi includes taxes (such as sales and excise taxes) that are directly associated with the prices of specific goods and services. see cpi faq what goods and services does the cpi cover?
do you understand what a mistake it is in allowing the legislature to tie taxes, etc to the consumer price index? because the legislature either outright or working in concert with their criminal friends in city and parish government and congress can manipulate the consumer price index!
think of karen carter peterson's HB 75 dollar a pack cigarette tax.you might be a nonsmoker thinking that the tax wouldnt affect you but it does. every tax and fee affects everyone else.
any sane, rational person should be able to understand that if the legislators were willing to tie something as important to them as a pay raise to the consumer price index, then its not a good idea to tie a tax on all the people to the same thing.
in case you're wondering, yes, hollis downs voted for SB 672. see SB 672 house final passage vote of 13 june 2008.
anyway, we watched the committee meeting on the live stream and saw hollis downs make his ignorant statement criticizing the governor (you cant believe one word that comes out of the governor or his staff's mouth but in this instance he appears to oppose HB 456 and rightfully so) where he called on the governor and his team "to be leaders, and not just philosophers."
how dare this asshole, hollis downs, who claims to be a member of that party which stands for lower taxes, etc., etc., (you know the drill) and who brings this sham of a bill before the legislature criticize the governor for opposing it.
whats more, where is the republican party leadership at? where is roger "daffodil" villere with his scathing press releases at? why isnt he taking to task hollis downs for his very unrepublican bill?
and not only hollis downs there is also rino eddie lambert's HB 254 and rino's kevin pearson a jim tucker's HB 687. this is just two out of many bills that come to mind that an honest, respectful, authentic gop party boss (which roger villere is not) would be raising hell over.
villere instead of doing his job is off harrassing rep. karen carter peterson with a massive public records request. [click here for one page .pdf 18 kb]
roger villere is the sorriest excuse for a gop party boss ever. what he needs to be doing is getting a grip on his own party and calling out all the rino's that so infest it. but years have went by and he does nothing.
are louisiana republicans ever going to get a clue and realize that roger villere is working a plan to destroy the louisiana republican party? will they ever run his ass off and not only villere -- but the rest of the criminals who are killing the la gop? it sure doesnt look like it from here.
if you're a republican, grow a backbone. have some integrity for a change. speak out against these rino legislators and demand the removal of all these incompetent, corrupt criminals from the leadership. or turn out the light on your way out -- cos the republican party is going down -- the sooner the better -- simple as that.
HB 456 was voluntarily deferred that means that it can come back up again. so you better get on the phone and call your representative and tell him or her to vote no to HB 456 as well as HB 254 and HB 687.
dont bother emailing them because many of them just delete their emails unread.
