“For every dollar that is spent on the (boondoggle) bridge a dollar will be taken away from taxpayers … which they would otherwise have spent on the things they needed most.” – Henry Hazlitt, Economics in One Lesson: The Shortest and Surest Way to Understand Basic Economics.
Figure 1: T-SPLOST Regions
Much is being made of the Transportation Special Local Option Sales Tax (T-SPLOST) vote on July 31, 2012 and rightfully so. The T-SPLOST was created by HB277 Transportation Investment Act 2010-2030 signed into law by Governor Sonny Purdue. HB277 will use the 12 Regions in Georgia. (See Figure 1) Forsyth County is in Region 2 – Georgia Mountains. Region 2 will most likely contribute ~$91 million per year for an anticipated $1.5 billion per year from regions across the state for roads, bridges, sidewalks, municipal airports, etc. In order to understand what is really going on you need to look closely how the dollars are distributed.
The dollars are generated by a 1% tax on everything you buy except for gasoline. This 1% is in addition to your county 1% SPLOST and 1% E-SPLOST. It makes the effective sales tax in Forsyth County 8%. The problem with this T-SPLOST is that you will be short changed in your county.
Forsyth is expected to generate approximately $29 million in collections per year. This figure is taken directly from the Georgia Department of Revenue website for reported SPLOST collections in Forsyth County 2011. Forsyth County is guaranteed to be reimbursed $3.6 million or 12.37% of the total tax collected.
Forsyth County’s $29 million was added to all county collections in Region 2 to equal $91 million. All $91 million is sent directly to the The Georgia State Financing and Investment Commission (GSFIC) acting as the regional trustee for Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT). GSFIC disburses funds to the counties and GDOT manages the projects; 25% of these dollars will be sent back to the counties by GSFIC and 75% is given to the GDOT for projects. The 25% returned to the counties will be redistributed based on a formula using county population and county road miles – 20% (1/5th) based on your percentage of population as compared to the entire region; 80% (4/5ths) based on the percentage of county roads as compared to the entire region.
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Total Forsyth Collections Forsyth 1/5th for Population Forsyth 4/5ths for Roads Forsyth Total Returned Percentage of Collections $29,071,380.00 $1,294,019.00 $2,302,832.95 $3,596,852.03 12.37%
Forsyth is 28.41% of Region 2 population and 12.64% of total Region 2 county roads. A spreadsheet with all the formulas can be downloaded from this URL. T-SPLOST calcs
Before this money is returned GDOT will chop off an undetermined amount as administrative fees, leaving you with less than you contributed. Figures 2 illustrates the money flows.
Figure 2: T-SPLOST Money Flows
The money is collected and sent to GSFIC to be managed, assigned, and redistributed back into the regions and counties. [In Region 3 the Georgia Regional Transit Authority (GRTA) is the entity that will manage, assign and redistribute money back to Region 3.]
There are three major issues with T-SPLOST:
1) “Home Rule” – the concept of “Home Rule” as written in the Georgia Constitution on Page 66 is obliterated. There is a large disparity between the voters of smaller counties and voters of larger counties in a region wide vote. Herein lies the danger to county “Home Rule” and possible violation of the Georgia Constitution. Two out of 13 counties in Region 2 have 58% of the voters – Forsyth and Hall. Why should any small county even consider the expense of the vote and the commissioners allow their citizens to be disenfranchised? Counties are not allowed to opt-out, the votes are regional and that undermines “Home Rule”. Georgia would be the first State to implement a 1% optional sales tax for transportation if this passes according to a study by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
2) “Short Changed” – you will never get back 100% of your collections as you would with a county 1% SPLOST tax. Why would any citizen in a county vote themselves a tax knowing they will get less than 100% of those benefits? They could just vote themselves a local SPLOST. Some claim Forsyth will get the majority of their total collections back by funding for projects on the constrained list. The problem with this argument is that only 12.29% of our roads are state mileage; 87.70% are county. Why not vote your own SPLOST to pay for repair of your own roads?
3) “Taxed Enough Already” – at some point in time county taxpayers will get tired of taxes. The first to go will be local and county SPLOST’s and ESPLOST’s simply because they are of shorter duration and come up for votes more ofter. When these initiatives fail the county will have nothing, little benefit from the T-SPLOST and no benefit from their local SPLOST’s and E-SPLOST’s monies.
T-SPLOST is the most ill-conceived plan devised to actually invest in infra-structure. Gasoline is not taxed, so the $1.5 billion per year is reduced by gasoline tax contributions. Local SPLOST’s and E-SPLOST’s include tax on gasoline, so the money expected by the GDOT is reduced by that amount. Then the monies are further eroded by the expense of the bureaucracy. Then money is spent on impact studies in your counties constrained list of projects. There is no guarantee that you will get any of that 75% being laundered in the GDOT on projects on your counties constrained list of projects.
The fact is T-SPLOST has NOTHING to do with infra-structure, because gasoline is not taxed. Citizens get upset when gas prices rise. The poorest counties and the poorest citizens in Georgia are impacted by this tax. A single mom in Hart County trying to make ends meet will be subsidizing projects for moms in Forsyth County driving their children to daycare. Likewise, that mom driving her children to daycare will be subsidizing a bloated bureaucracy and unethical politicians and bureaucrats in Atlanta.
T-SPLOST is nothing more than a bailout of a bloated bureaucracy called the GDOT. The truckers benefit, because their costs of fuel do not rise even though these are the people who break up the roads. The fuel depots benefit because they pay less fuel excise upfront. The Chamber of Commerce benefits, because they work with GDOT bureaucrats to reward cronies. The Chamber of Commerce claims to be the voice of businesses in Georgia or in local communities. It is the voice of the government. Remember the propagandizing and lies during the SPLOST VII debate that benefited the Forsyth County government at the expense of the citizens and businesses? The Chamber of Commerce rewards politicians and in turn politicians reward crony Chamber officials. At the state level, politicians create legislation that funnel dollars to the GDOT, which are redistributed to Chamber cronies. The Chamber is simply the go between.
Vote NO on T-SPLOST July 31, 2012.
Ron Paul is criticized for using the term “Blowback” and claiming that the 9/11 terrorists were motivated by our foreign policy in the Middle East. Veterans understand exactly what Ron Paul means when he refers to “Blowback”. More veterans contribute to Ron Paul’s campaign than any other candidate, because many of us share his perspective of “Blowback”. Let me explain in more detail.
“Blowback” is a CIA term first used in March 1954 in a report on the 1953 operation to overthrow the government of Mohammed Mossadegh1 in Iran. “Blowback” is used to describe the unintended consequences suffered by a civilian population due to actions by its own government that were deliberately kept secret. In the case of 9/11 the American civil population suffered at the hands of al Qaeda terrorists, because of missteps by the United States Federal Government (US). Civilians caught up in “Blowback” see it as a random act of violence, when in fact there was a direct cause. After 9/11 we were told the terrorists attacked us because we are free and independent. The George W. Bush (Bush 2) administration did not tell us real reason we were attacked. Not until the release of the 9/11 Commission Report were the American people told the truth. It all starts in the summer of 1990.
On August 2, 1990 Iraq invaded Kuwait. Five days later, August 19, 1990, US started deploying forces to Saudi Arabia. The 33rd Tactical Fighter Wing comprised of the 415th, 416th, and 417th Tactical Fighter Squadrons deployed 42 F-117 Nighthawk Stealth Fighters to Khamis Mushayat King Khalid Air Base, Saudi Arabia. By January 17, 1991, the initiation of hostilities against Iraq, nearly 1,000,000 personnel, equipment, and 4,000 combat aircraft were based in Saudi Arabia. The map below depicts US and coalition forces on the Saudi Arabian peninsula. The X’s mark two US Army Corps the 5th and 7th.
Figure 1
Is it significant that we based these assets on the Saudi Arabian Peninsula? You bet it is.
Islam was founded in Saudi Arabia and it is home to the two holiest cities, Medina and Mecca. Medina is the second most holy city in Islam with three of Islam’s oldest Mosques. Mohammed the prophet is buried in Medina and unbelievers are forbidden within the city. Mecca is the most holy city in Islam and the faithful pray in the direction of (Ka’abah) in Mecca five times per day from anywhere on earth. It is the birthplace of Muhammad and the place where the archangel Gabriel revealed the Koran. The fifth of the five pillars of Islam is to make a pilgrimage (Haj) to Mecca at least once in a Muslim’s life. Unbelievers are forbidden in Mecca and would be killed instantly if discovered. The best way to illustrate how serious the Muslims are about Mecca is to quote English Explorer Sir Richard Francis Burton, who in 1853 disguised himself as an Afghan Pashtun and participated in the Haj.
“… neither Koran or Sultan enjoin the death of Jew or Christian intruding within the columns that note the sanctuary limits, nothing could save a European detected by the populace, or one who after pilgrimage declared himself an unbeliever.” 2
Muslims are very serious about their faith and they don’t take kindly to unbelievers intruding on their holiest of land.
On Figure 1 you will notice that the US based B-52 Bombers on King Abdul Aziz Air Base in Jeddah, the gateway to Mecca, 89 miles northwest. We based F-111′s at Ta’if 90 miles to the southeast of Mecca. Within a span of six months the US and coalition forces occupied Islams holiest Saudi Arabia Peninsula. To the rank and file Muslim these were unbelievers. The B-52′s and F-111′s launched almost every night heading North with one mission – to bomb Muslims. The war ended quickly and most troops returned home to a great parade, but the US left 5,000 personnel and equipment in place on the Saudi Arabian Peninsula to enforce the “No Fly” zone over southern Iraq. This was a huge mistake and illustrates the incompetence of the George H.W. Bush (Bush 1) and William Jefferson Clinton administrations. Not until August 2003 did the US remove all personnel and equipment from Saudi Arabia to address al Qaeda’s number one motivation for 9/11.
The 9/11 Commission Report makes a very important statement on page 7 of the Executive Summary. The report states;
“The 9/11 attacks were a shock, but they should not have come as a surprise. Islamist extremists had given plenty of warning that they meant to kill Americans indiscriminately and in large numbers. Although Usama Bin Ladin himself would not emerge as a signal threat until the late 1990′s, the threat of Islamist terrorism grew over the decade.”3
This is a very important note about the 1990′s; 1) February 26, 1993 World Trade Center Bombing, 2) November 13, 1995 Khobar Towers Bombing, 3) August 7, 1998 African Embassy Bombings, 4) October 12, 2000 USS Cole Bombing, and 5) September 11, 2001. In between there were smaller individual plots to kill Americans, but each time al Qaeda’s made its grievances known. That grievance is written in the 9/11 Commission report on page 49;
“He (Usama Bin Laden) inveighed against the presence of U.S. Troops in Saudi Arabia, the home of Islam’s holiest sites.”
This grievance was transmitted to the world as early as August 1996 when Osama Bin Laden issued a Fatwa entitled Declaration of War against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places.
He wrote;
“The latest and the greatest of these aggressions, incurred by the Muslims since the death of the Prophet (ALLAH’S BLESSING AND SALUTATIONS ON HIM) is the occupation of the land of the two Holy Places -the foundation of the house of Islam …”
The 1998 Fatwa To declare a holy war, or jihad, against the West and Israel again transmitted al Qaeda’s grievances;
“First, for over seven years the United States has been occupying the lands of Islam in the holiest of places, the Arabian Peninsula, plundering its riches, dictating to its rulers, humiliating its people, terrorizing its neighbors, and turning its bases in the Peninsula into a spearhead through which to fight the neighboring Muslim peoples.”
It is clear that al Qaeda’s number one grievance against the United States was our billeting of troops on the Saudi Arabian Peninsula. Now contrast that to what we were told by our government. On September 12, 2001 Bush 2 took to the airwaves and told a grieving American public what they wanted to hear, not what they should have heard. Bush 2 stated;
“America was targeted for attack because we’re the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world.”
G. W. Bush 9/11 Speech [Click to watch the entire speech.]
The American people were not told the real reason for the attacks, because it would have put on display the incompetence of Bush 1 and the Clinton administrations. But more importantly 9/11 gave the Bush Administration the green light to implement the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998. Preparations began for regime change in Iraq and the removal of our personnel and equipment from Saudi Arabia.
H.R. 4655 Iraq Liberation Act 1998 was signed by President Bill Clinton on October 31, 1998. The act called for the removal of Sadaam Hussein from power in Iraq. This act and Weapons of Mass Destruction was the justification for the Authorization for Military Force in 2002 to invade Iraq. The Iraq War started in March 2003 and by May 1, 2003 the military capability of the Iraqi Army was all but destroyed. On April 29, 2003 the announcement was made that all forces in Saudi Arabia would be removed starting in August 2003. Below is the headline from the New York Times on April 29, 2003. Click on this link to read the entire news story.
Figure 2
Since August 2003 no attacks against American civilian targets have occurred. Osama Bin Laden achieved what he set out to do, rid his holy land of US troops. Had the United States simply left Saudi Arabia in 1991 with all personnel and equipment, there would most likely not have been a 9/11 or Iraq War 2.
Veterans understand this instinctively, that is why they support Ron Paul’s candidacy for President more than any other candidate. Ron Paul is correct the terrorist were motivated to commit 9/11 because of our foreign policy in the Middle East.
Endnote: Osama Bin Laden made this statement in an interview with al Jazzera in October 2001; “I tell you, freedom and human rights in America are doomed. The U.S. government will lead the American people in — and the West in general — into an unbearable hell and a choking life.” Was he correct? The Patriot Act, The National Defense Authorization Act 2011, Transportation Security Administration, Department of Homeland Security, etc.
[The author is a former Captain in the United States Air Force from 1980 - 1989. Assignments included 3rd TFS Clark AB, Philippines, 497th TFS Taegu, Korea, 23rd TFS Spangdahlem, GE, and US V Corps Frankfurt am Mein.]
2 Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to al-Medinah and Mekkah, Sir Richard Francis Burton
