Critique On My Colleague's Blog Stage 7

Jordan Pocket's  article published on Friday, November 29, 2013 which he titled

"INCOMES TAX HER? I HARDLY KNEW HER" reminds me of comparing apples and oranges which do not make sense because apples and oranges do not physically look the same neither do they have same chemical composition.

In the area of revenue collection, the federal government and the state government differ very significantly. First of all, the federal government  and the state government have good working relationship in terms of revenue creation/allocation. Most business are situated in the inside cities, municipalities, local governments, and then state government, therefore the local government are in better position to collect taxes be it sales or income based taxes

We live in a representative government; therefore to say that Texas does not penalize employed individuals by taking part of their wage before they can spend it themselves is a wrong comparison to the federal income tax systems.  For the simple fact that we’re compelled to pay sales tax each time we buy certain things simple means we’re paying tax we have no control over, period.

While consumer ism has worked well for Texas, it is not by itself good for all Texans. If a state imposes 6.5% tax every time you buy something, you are forced to pay such by law whether you call it volunteerism or free willingness. Money is earned in order to spend in exchange for the things we need.  Why would Michael dell for example pay the same tax as me since Michael dell gets so much tax incentives from the government to build and operate his business? Michael for example gets to write off his business expenses while the poor worker gets not to write off when I buy shoe to go to work or earn a living.

 I think it is not fair that low income should pay the same tax s those in higher income bracket

How fair is it that tourists who come to Texas to spend money on our products get to be taxed for such exercise?  It would have been proper for the sake of argument for my colleague to specify how this could have worked well on the federal government level.

How could the federal government possibly collect sales tax; by deducting  from total state sales tax; maybe if the state collects 10 percent, for example, the federal takes the first six percent then living the rest for the state. The federal government will now depend on the state to generate her revenue.

Many companies and individuals would probably in trade by batter in order to avoid paying those taxes. Many people will result what I will consider to be ‘Craigslist’ market systems where good will exchange hands without anyone paying taxes. This will live the federal government broke, thereby wakening it.  

It is no secret that small percentage of population own most of the resources in this country, therefore why would such people pay the same tax percent s someone like me

Critique On My Colleagues' Blog Stage 7

First of all, I must commend Savannah Williams on her article “Going Green” for her candid observation of something most of us living in Austin would not consider relevant or important enough to address as an issue in our quest to make Austin an environmentally-friendly atmosphere for all of us to live.

Williams was meticulous in her observation of the things that go around in her neighborhood and something that appear to seem minor could have adverse consequences if unchecked.  While pointing a finger at a specific flaw about a problem at the city planners as in the case of the dog park in her neighborhood, she is also raising conscience of every one of us in Austin who bothers to care about how we manage our natural resources, and how small effort by everyone can make a huge difference.

I am somewhat disappointed for the simple fact that she failed to proffer a solution on how this wasted running water could have been better utilized in a more efficient way. I am not sure if my Williams is aware that it is against the city ordinance to let water run out of sprinkler onto the street. I would have also appreciated it if she had cited some positive efforts or measures that the city has taken so far in making Austin a more environmentally-friendly city such as the ban on the use of disposable plastic bags.

In the second paragraph of her write up, She cited several examples of how the city planners have failed by not providing more recycle/compost in more huge shopping centers, and how citizen throw away on continuous bases plastics, coke can etc. well it will take more than the effort of the city to get everyone to get on board to recycle. Every one of us must do our own part by making a conscious effort to recycle.  The save our springs’ coalition (SOS) was initiated by ordinary concerned citizens before it gained a city wide support, so let us all do the little that we can do before we blame everything wrong on the city, after all, we are the ones that voted for these people into office. While I applaud Williams  for making us aware of some of her concerns or observation, I would suggest that  she should have demonstrated a more balanced approach by citing some areas the city has done while pointing areas it could improve on, otherwise it would have sound like” giving a dog a bad name in order to justify a reason to kill her”.

Fallout From Texas Voter ID Law in November 2013 Election

According to article by Aviva Shen on December 23, 2013, in the thinkprogress.org, a Texas Judge was almost blocked from voting due to new Texas Voter ID law. Texas legislature enacted a new voter ID law effective November 2013. Proponents of this new voter ID law claim that it was intended to prevent voter fraud in Texas. Opponent of the law have argued that the law was intended to diminish the new emerging minority group (Hispanic), Women who traditionally vote democratic, and the young who were mainly responsible for President Obama’s victory both in the first and the second elections respectively. The Hispanic population, single mothers,  young people are becoming increasingly democratic in the last elections, and could make a huge difference as  to who gets elected in the next several elections in Texas. 

 Texas Legislative branch which is presently controlled by Republicans have recently enacted several provisions into law to check mate this emerging trend; be it cutting days from early voting,  Gerrymandering of legislative districts, to now the famous voter ID law. It is a known fact that Texas has no widespread voter fraud issue; in fact only about four persons have been prosecuted in Texas for voter-fraud related crime in the last 12years. It is sad news that during the last election, in Dallas County alone, over 13,939 voters were caught by this provision according Dallas morning news analysis.  The problem here is that only about 6% of Texas registered voters turned out in the November election. If a turnout of about 59% of Texas registered as was the case in the last presidential  election were to turn out in the next general election, Texas may well  experience long lines at the polls and this could translate to several hundreds of people either not vote or be disfranchised .  It is also documented that both the democratic candidate for Texas governorship  seat, Wendy Davis and her Republican opponent Greg Abbott  were delayed from voting in the last election due to minor disparities on their voter id card and those on their state issued driver’s license cards.

 There were also reports that a great number of minority voters, young people and the elderly population were largely affected by the new provisions. Since Texas has experimented with this new law and the results do not seem to auger well with the intended outcome of the law, this law should be scrapped immediately to avoid potential money costing law suits. Texas Legislators should be prudent enough and realize that this is a bad law and should rescind immediately. Those Texas elected officials who are good at pointing accusing fingers at the federal government when it makes mistake should stand up and defend the voters of Texas from this insane, and backward voters’ provision law. Texas Governor particularly who claims to be advocate of the tax payers of Texans should weigh in on this issue.