Professor Elam

Weekend Sept 30 2012

This is the true headline but one you will never see in the Express News. Apparently few to none of our students read the local paper. If there were truth in advertising the name would not be the Express News but the Castro Cheerleader. Opinion articles are supposed to be on the  opinion page with news articles on the front pages. News would should be unbiased. Opinion articles on local politicians hold hold their feet to the fire, ask tough questions, demand answers in defense of proposals. 

When I was at UT Austin in the 1960s and 1970s the Daily Texan was an independent newspaper. It questioned everything the administration did. The Administration hated it of course but it was there for all to see and examine. 

Instead the Express news leads with puff pieces (today's title, the Sons Also Rise)  slavishly praising the Castro Brothers. I frankly can't tell that either has any particular accomplishment.   They did graduate from Stanford and harvard . (This would be in contrast to lots of others in San Antonio  that work for a living re-upholstering furniture and car interiors for example, you know the ones that did not go to Harvard or Stanford). 

So to establish a track record, your Mayor actually managed to find an approved tax which is not maxed out. The sales tax is approved up to  8.75% but now stands at 8.5%. On the presumption that college  students are not paying enough taxes, the Mayor proposed to increase the sales tax to the max of 8.75%. This will only cost about $7.50 per household. Yes and a speeding ticket now only costs $186 to support the local City Management Team.

The City Manager makes $355,000 , did you know that? More on that here.  Good work if you can get I say, more than the City manger in Dallas or Los Angeles.  By the way in a Manger Council form of government the City Manager does the heavy lifting and managing, the Mayor is a figurehead who presides at ceremonies and promotes the city. 

But I digress. The express purpose of this tax increase is to haul your four year old out ofyour house and into the local school system. The idea is that this will help them get started for that tough grind that lays ahead, kindergarten. 

There has not been a single article or interview but there have been some letters comparing this to the 50 year history of a similar progarm, Head Start. After fifty hears of Head Start, test scores are lower not higher and there is no particular outcome which can be shown. 

Of course if this passes years from now when information regarding outcomes might be available, you can bet the Mayor will have gone on to higher office, unaccountable for what happened. But of course that tax will still be in place. By the way I was  upset by the tax increase from Bush I which retroactively changed the law such that he snatched $75,000 out of my IRA, just in case anyone thinks I am aiming at one party over another here.  Seventy five grand may not have been much to the Bushes but around my house that is real money.  I don't like tax increase schemes from either party. 

Here is an alternate idea. 

I have a dream. My dream is that sales taxes will be eliminated. A once a year sales tax holiday results in huge demand and sales on that weekend before school starts when all rush to avoid the tax. Why not make that an everyday event?

America existed for hundreds of years with no sales taxes, and a lot less government. Exactly what would a four year old learn in this tax supported class anyway?  How to color, paint, and possibly begin reading or counting.?  My Grandad ivy Lee Elam taught me the mearning of the word circumference when I was five years old, not bad for the age. He had a story bout a couple visiing the circus. The outline of the elephant's foot made a circle. The distance around that circles as the length or circumference. A good story then, a good story today. 

If in fact this is a great idea, I propose the Sr Teacher Volunteer Team. Retired teachers, business leaders and such would volunteer to read to young children at public libraries during certain hours. Handily the library is full of books for just that purpose. Who knows they might even meet in your garage in your neighborhood where you yourself could watch over them.  Team Volunteers would receive plaques for their efforts. I am betting there are plenty of retirees and interested grandparents who would engage in such an activity. 

Sales taxes would decrease one point a year. After nine years the city would have had time to throttle back on spending, and such. College students would be 8.5% better off on every purchase they made. By the way when the sales tax was first passed the promise was that it would never exceed1%. 

Has anyone asked the Mayor if he would like to raise that tax over 9%, once it maxes at 8.75, how will he finance the next grand scheme?  What do you think? 

Women have increasingly  entered the work force as the tax burden at all levels has risen higher and higher.  Higher Property taxes, sales taxes, excise taxes, medicare taxes, increased social security taxes are upon us. And a host of new taxes to kick in next year. The great irony is that the government then demands more taxes to take care of your kids since they taxed you to the point you had to leave them to go to work to support the government. 

In my dream Mom gets to stay home and raise her children. Mom takes her four year old to the library and reads to her or him.  Or perhaps Moms organize neighborhood Reading Teams that take place in their own neighborhoods, forget the school bus. 

The Mayor likes it the other way, you work, you pay taxes, your child is day cared by a stranger.  

I report, you decide, which is the better scheme, zero taxes with you in charge or 8.75% with a stranger in charge?  Of your four year old that is…..

We have numerous Moms at TAMUSA, what is your take on this?

One last point. At age 38 with degrees from a couple of the best regarded universities in the US, surely the Castro Brothers can start looking out for themselves without front page coverage to bolster their campaigns. Tucked away on page B3 is a story about two local characters named Rosca and Jet who are in serious need of help. There are 26 dogs at the Animal Friends Humane Society.  looking for homes. 

Animal Friends is a no kill shelter working to find homes for deserving dogs. If the Express news really wants to help someone, how about putting Rosca, Jet, and Redmond on the front page?

If this post gets me in hot water, well so be it. I mean you aren't paying enough sales tax, right?