|
Tax Dollars and the Soccer Stadium
The latest edition of Taxing Times, published by the Utah Taxpayers Association, addresses the wisdom of using public money to help fund the new Real Salt Lake soccer stadium. The Taxpayers Association argues it makes no sense to subsidize the stadium because the sports team and related developments will create little new wealth or economic growth, but instead will simply move around retail and entertainment spending that would have been spent anyway.
One excerpt: “Utahns can promote economic growth, create more jobs, and earn higher wages by focusing on high wage ‘upstream’ industries such as pharmaceutical, biotech, IT, and manufacturing instead of subsidizing ‘downstream’ industries like retail and sports entertainment. A thriving upstream economy creates economic growth which the downstream economy follows. A prosperous upstream economy creates high wage jobs that allow households to spend more money on downstream economic activity, such as retail and entertainment.”
To read the entire report, go to Utah Taxpayers Web site and click on Taxing Times under Publications in the left column.
USTAR Presentation Today
Today at 1 p.m. University of Utah and Utah State presidents and some business leaders will present an update on the USTAR Economic Development Initiative to the Executive Appropriations Committee of the Legislature. For background, see the Pignanelli/Webb Sunday Morning News column.
Thanks for Taking Survey
We appreciate those who have taken the survey telling us how you read Utah Policy Daily. It will help us make decisions as we improve this publication. If you haven’t yet taken it, click here. It takes just a few seconds.
Whining for Bucks
I’ll be groveling for dollars with Lara Jones on KCPW (1010AM 88.3FM 105.3FM) Wednesday from 10 to 11 a.m. We’ll be talking politics and inviting listeners to support public radio. Lara said KCPW asks all of its volunteer co-pitchers to invite family, friends, enemies, etc., to call in or go online (you can click through at UtahPolicy.com) and pledge some moola.
Since everyone who reads Utah Policy Daily is my friend (well, at least one or two of you), I expect some big results. And just in case you happen to think I’m an idiot, please call in and for a hundred bucks I’ll let you yell at me. If KCPW gets at least 300 on-line pledges, the station wins a $5,000 challenge grant from Overstock.com. Yesterday, Attorney General Mark Shurtleff called in his pledge and said every elected official should become a KCPW member. So should everyone interested in politics. Check out all the cool stuff you can get with your pledge here.
Washington Watch
Hatch, Baucus Introduce EMPOWER Act
Sens. Orrin Hatch and Max Baucus (D-Mont.) are holding a media event today to introduce the EMPOWER Act, “which would establish a Property Rights Ombudsman and Property Owners’ Bill of Rights aimed at empowering property owners faced with federal eminent domain actions.” Others participating include Craig Call, Utah Property Rights Ombudsman, and representatives from the American Farm Bureau, American Association of Small Property Owners, and Defenders of Property Rights.
Hatch Announces Women’s Conference
U.S. Treasurer Anna Escobedo Cabral will be the keynote speaker at the 2005 Annual Women’s Conference, hosted by Sen. Orrin Hatch and his wife Elaine.
Entertainer and author Naomi Judd will headline the event. The 21st annual event, "Discovering the Diversity and Unity of Women" will be held Monday, Nov. 7 at the Grand America Hotel starting at 8:30 a.m.
Wilderness Wars Continue
The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance has posted a press release on its Web site that articulates the rationale behind its new suit against Kane County for opening ORV routes on public lands (the story was covered by the Morning News.)
It's the latest salvo in Utah's never-ending Wilderness Wars. According to attorney Ted Zukowski: “We’re filing this lawsuit because Kane County is attempting to seize control of the management of some of America’s most spectacular public lands. The Constitution and federal law require that these lands be managed for all Americans. Kane County's bluster and bullying don't give it the right to trash national parks and other lands by turning them into dirt bike and ATV playgrounds.”
Rep. Mascaro Feeling Left Out
Rep. Steve Mascaro is unhappy with the current state of tax reform in Utah, particularly because he doesn’t think he’s being listened to. In a press release he said the Jones/Mascaro tax reform proposal was sent to the Tax Reform Task Force but, “They did not want to discuss it. Why? Could it be because it was a tax reform recommendation carried by two Utah Mainstream Conservative, moderate thinking legislators? That is, two legislators who are not right-wing extreme conservatives or left-wing extreme liberals. Legislators that have a Mainstream Conservative, moderate position, which is where most of the Utah voters are.”
Mascaro said under the Jones/Mascaro proposal, “Everyone with $75,000 or less of annual income, and with a total of 5 or less family exemptions, gets a tax decrease. You can keep your charitable deductions and your mortgage interest deductions. This plan will reduce taxes for 85% or more of Utah Taxpayers.”
Mascaro questioned why the Tax Reform Task Force did not even consider the Jones-Mascaro proposal, even when the House Revenue and Tax Committee had sent it to the Task Force “for study.”
“Could the reason be that the importance of tax reform legislation is more about who carries the legislation rather than about what the legislation is? Could it be that two Utah Mainstream Conservative Legislators, one Republican and one Democrat, are considered unacceptable to be the carriers of such important tax reform legislation? Is tax reform legislation a policy that only strong right wing conservatives can carry? Could it be even more unacceptable if one of those Mainstream Conservative Legislators is a Utah Democratic woman? . . . I sincerely hope this tax reform effort is about content of the legislation, and not about the politics of the carrier of the legislation.” For more information, contact Mascaro at: (801)273-6389.
Leadership Tip
From: Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence, by Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, and Annie McKee (More information at Amazon.com)
"Each of the four domains of [primal leadership] -- self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management -- adds a crucial set of skills for resonant leadership... Self-awareness [is the foundation] for the rest: Without recognizing our own emotions, we will be poor at managing them, and less able to understand them in others. Self-aware leaders are attuned to their inner signals. They recognize, for instance, how their feelings affect themselves and their job performance. Instead of letting anger build into an outburst, they spot it as it crescendos and can see both what's causing it and how to do something constructive about it... Self-awareness also plays a crucial role in empathy, or sensing how someone else sees a situation... Social awareness -- particularly empathy -- supports the next step in the leader's primal task: driving resonance.
By being attuned to how others feel in the moment, a leader can say and do what's appropriate, whether that means calming fears, assuaging anger, or joining in good spirits... By the same token, a leader who lacks empathy will unwittingly be off-key, and so speak and act in ways that set off negative reactions... Finally, once leaders understand their own vision and values and can perceive the emotions of the group, their relationship management skills can catalyze resonance. To guide the emotional tone of a group, however, leaders must first have a sure sense of their own direction and priorities -- which brings us back again to the importance of self-awareness.” |
Utah Policy Daily
is a service