Your help needed - Please stay tuned - More news to follow

Please check back for more accurate news on the Project Destiny proposal.

I am in the middle of figuring out exactly how much the big players will save on their taxes, how much the upper, middle and lower income groups will save and exactly why you should vote no. Let me know if you have "hard" dollars and cents figures along with quoteable public figure sources.

Additional talking points are being developed for the media. Suggestions are welcome.

I am still gathering names of people who want to work against the Destiny Proposal and who would like to help bring it down. A ballot issue committtee will hopefully be formed.

E-mail me if you are interested in participating.

Don't Sign It - I'm not kidding

The following is the text of the petition being circulated in favor of the New Sales Tax. This is the petition for Polk County, the other petitions are identical except for county name. Emphasis is mine.

"We the undersigned eligible electors of Polk County, Iowa hereby request the imposition of a one-cent local option sales and services tax authorized under Chapter 423B of the Iowa Code. We further express our support for the election to be held on Tuesday, July 10, 2007, that a ten-year sunset be imposed on the local option sales and services tax, and for the tax to be used primarily for property tax relief and regional quality of life amenities."

In a little piece of mis-information the Yes to Destiny FAQ sheet says the following:

"What if I haven’t made up my mind yet?"

"Signing the petition DOES NOT indicate your support for Yes to Destiny. Submitting petition signatures is required by Iowa law in order to place the question on the ballot. "

I guess that there is something that I don't understand about the English language here.

NOTICE: The FAQ's have changed - The above item has be removed from the "Destiny" web site (3/25/07).

For those who wish to support the petition drive please contact the folks at the Des Moines Partnership and Yes to Destiny their contact information is here:

"Download and print your petitions and get started gathering your signatures today! Please be sure that people are signing the petition for the county their home address is in.
Dallas County: <http://yestodestiny.org/support/pdf/Yes_to_Destiny_Petition_Dallas_County.pdf>
Polk County: <http://yestodestiny.org/support/pdf/Yes_to_Destiny_Petition_Polk_County.pdf>
Warren County: <http://yestodestiny.org/support/pdf/Yes_to_Destiny_Petition_Warren_County.pdf>

There is also a Fact sheet in order for you to brush up on your "Yes to Destiny" lingo!
http://www.peopleforprojectdestiny.org/support/pdf/Fact_Sheet.pdf

Thank you for your time! If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me, or one of the following people:

Nader Halawa: 515-451-0420, nhalawa@yestodestiny.org
Nathan Treloar: 515-418-0994, ntreloar@yestodestiny.org
Jessica Walter: 515-286-4924, jwalter@desmoinesmetro.com
Jay Byers: 515-286-4963, jbyers@desmoinesmetro.com
Rebecca Batcheller: 515-286-4980, rbatcheller@desmoinesmetro..com"

If you think that you might not support this petition do not sign it or you may be spending a nice Tuesday in July at the polls instead of the pool.

As always, your comments to this post are invited.

Don't sign the petition

Petitions are being circulated by the Yes to Destiny committee formerly known as People for Project Destiny to place a new one-cent sales tax measure on the July ballot.

Please don’t sign the sales tax petition.

The reason is simple – there has not been enough concrete information regarding this issue. Yes, there has been news, projections and opinions voiced but not one legally durable and binding word about how it will affect voters – people like you.

Before I sign my name to something to be placed on the ballot, I want to know specifically how an issue will affect me in real dollars not cents.

As a homeowner, I would want to know for sure that there is a legal commitment to reduce my property taxes by more than the cost of the sales tax.

As a renter, I would want to know how much my landlord would have to rebate to me on an annual basis from his property tax savings.

As a business owner, I would want to know how this would affect my future sales and profits. How much more business could I afford to loose to the Internet if the sales tax rate is increased. If I sold clothing, I would want to know how many thousands of my sales dollars would travel north to Minnesota where clothing is exempt from sales tax.

As a consumer, I would want to know how much I would be paying on this new sales tax. I would question my confidence in our elected official’s ability to properly administer the plan. I would want to know that the DM Partnership polled its’ retail members on this plan before endorsing it.

As a senior citizen, I would want to know how much I would receive in the “special” property tax reductions.

Finally, as a citizen, I would want to question my own values about the rightness and fairness of the proposal from an ethical standpoint, not just the effect on my personal finances.

The time to sign a petition is only after you have those answers, and have had time to consider them as positive for your situation, not a minute before.

From the Yes to Destiny committee report I see that there is not the broad base of support, at least financially, only 15 businesses. This does not sould like the meaning of grass-roots to me. I think that there are many hundreds of businesses who are not in favor of this plan but who fear the negative publicity of being against what the "leadership" wants.

Nip this bad idea in the bud - don't sign the petition.

Who Supports the New Sales Tax - Interesting Read

Learn about who has financially supported the new sales tax plan from the Iowa Ethics & Campaign Disclosure Board. Also follow how dollars were spent on preparation to convince voters to support the Project Destiny sales tax. Note that the group name has been changed to "Yes for Destiny".

The following is the link to the campaign contribution report. It is a .pdf file so it will take a little time to load but it will show you the businesses and individuals who have been supporting this new tax. Enjoy and let me have your comments if you wish.

Click here to load full report.

Well, they're back and so are we

We're getting ready to help voters understand Project Destiny - join us.

Dumb idea then - Dumb idea now

Six months does not change an ideas merit. Accountability is a given, not something to use as a selling point.

Let's be blunt - we just plain can't trust our local leadership to make good decisions concerning public expenditures. Let's look at the history of the metro area's leadership.

1. The race track and casino were to solve all of our fiscal problems - did it?

2. The state lowered taxes on our utilities; many local governments increased our franchise fees to take back the money. This issue is still in the courts and we have not received any information about how this will be resolved. Was this good planning by the local governments? How will the governments pay back the money should the court decide in favor of the utility users?

3. CIETC is still an issue. If the city could not appoint qualified, honest and duty-bound folks to supervise this entity shouldn't they have said so and sought another form of oversight?

4. Local option school taxes have further damaged the reputation of our "leaders". Does doing what you say you'll do with entrusted funds have any meaning once the dollars are in your checking account?

5. Look for storm clouds on the horizon. The local governments will "need" more money to not only feed current obligations but also to cover liabilities that they themselves fostered.

There is an overall lack of confidence in our leaders and no amount of meetings (private or public) will stand in the way of the public's right and duty to deny these folks access to our hard-earned dollars at this time.

I'm looking forward to seeing open forums for the discussion of all issues on a level playing field. The venue would be in a public place, led by a panel of objective news media personalities with speakers coming from the floor to speak in favor or against the issue for a limited period of time. The meetings should be broadcast over Des Moines City Council's cable channel. This would be very interesting but I don't think that it will happen. Not only are there too many issues to be addressed concerning this proposal, but public input is not something that the "leadership" of Des Moines ever wants to face.

I'm also predicting that the petitions to have the measure added to the ballot will be circulated on private property and that objectors to the issue will not receive access to those same properties to express any opposition to the issue. If you don't believe in the measure, don't sign any petition to have this issue placed on the ballot.

LOST AGAIN Ian Binnie

Project Destiny's proposed three county local option sales tax increase is 16.7% to its opponents and 1 cent to its proponents. Both are correct but its proponents have correctly decided that a 16.7% increase in any tax would be a hard sell. A 16.7% increase in, say, income tax would not get out of the starting blocks but as the poor pay more of their income in sales tax than they do in income tax that is in effect the prospect they face.


A similar semantic problem arises with that perennial promise, "property tax relief." A common (and common sense) interpretation suggests that you will pay less after relief than you are paying now. But for our elected officials it simply means that your next increase will be less than it would otherwise have been. And there is no way under Iowa law to make the promise of a "dollar for dollar" reduction in property tax binding on the many taxing jurisdictions involved. "Trust us" is not exactly a convincing argument. And "Trust our successors" even less so. The Des Moines City Council’s devotion to property tax relief is particularly suspect given its annual pilgrimage to the statehouse to lobby the legislature to remove the cap on property tax.

The proposal, like Caesar's Gaul, is divided into three parts.

The first third is the property tax relief referred to above. If it does materialize it will provide a windfall for federal and local governments; property tax is income tax deductible - sales tax is not. It is unclear how all this is to work for homeowners and a clearer explanation would be helpful but if it is indeed "dollar for dollar" it appears that those in the lower tax suburbs might well get a higher percentage relief than those in high tax Des Moines as would those who live in partially abated homes no matter where they live.

The next third is to finance projects that would normally be paid for by property tax and is being characterized by some as also being property tax relief. This is a bit of a stretch. This is new money for new projects and is clearly a tax increase. To be fair the drafters of the proposal acknowledged that when they did not include it with the property tax relief of the first third.

The last third is perhaps the most controversial of all, a $20 million dollar slush fund to enhance the local "quality of life." I prefer to decide for myself what enhances my quality of life rather than have others decide it for me and I suspect that most traditionally individualistic Iowans feel the same way.

Mandated in this third is the Holy Grail of the Des Moines City Council, property tax equalization with the suburbs. 20% of the final third will be distributed to the various jurisdictions based on the amount of tax exempt property they have. This means that Des Moines will get most of it.

The fund will be administered by a committee of fifteen appointed by elected officials. We have recently seen how well that works. Nine will be from Polk County, three from Warren and three from Dallas. This is no doubt logical based on present population ratios but as a practical matter it gives Polk County de facto complete control. Non-budget decisions (whatever they are) will be by a simple majority of eight so here Polk County can do what it likes. Budget decisions (distributing the money) require a two thirds majority of ten. All Polk County has to do is to cut a deal with one of the representatives of Warren County (the poor relation of the trio) and Dallas County will have no say in where its money goes.

Some have already spotted a potential danger in passing this measure, its effect on the renewal of the local option sales tax for schools which is looming on the horizon. There is a limit to the public’s appetite for sales tax increases and there is already smoldering discontent with broken promises and questionable expenditures in this area. If Project Destiny passes, "enough already" might well be the reaction when school tax renewal comes up.

We should be able to disagree without being disagreeable and I have no doubt that the Project Destiny leaders have the best of intentions but as my mother never tired of pointing out, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions."

Never give in

Project Destiny, the new sales tax / property tax relief / community enhancement plan is still around and may be back with us next summer in a special election. It is critically important that all middle to low income homeowner and all renters fully understand the negative affect this plan will have on their personal finances and work towards its defeat.

As the Project for Destiny Plan now stands, expect the following financial impacts:

• If you are a homeowner (property taxpayer) with a home with a market value of about $225,000 or less in Des Moines, you will see lower property taxes and a sales tax that is higher than your tax reduction. – You lose.
• If you are a renter, your landlord will receive property tax relief. He will be free to pass it along to you if he wishes. Will he? You’ll get a new sales tax. – You lose big time.
• If you are a child, teen or homeless, what you buy including meals, pop, candy and clothing will be taxed at a higher rate. – You lose too.

Who else looses? The community does because what I just described above is called regressive taxation, taxing the people with less ability to pay than those with more ability to pay. Although the promoters of this plan call it a “property tax reduction plan”, most people will actually pay more taxes in total!

Please ask your local leaders about how they learned about the full impact of this program? Ask them if comparisons have been shown which illustrate how the plan will affect the various economic groups in the community, especially big business and low income folks - an economic impact statement if you will.

As the plan stands it is a bad deal for most residents, even those who think of themselves as middle class. Even if they were to “break even” by having their property taxes lowered and then equally offset by the new sales tax, they would be hurting their community. Why, by increasing the taxes on people with less than they. This is just morally wrong.

I don’t see that it is ever, ever right to put people who have lower incomes than you into a worse financial position than they were before. That goes not only for this current tax question but also to many other areas of our community that prey on financially weaker people.

The true strength of a community comes from its people and their total value systems including spirituality, not from feeding government’s incessant greed.

There will always be folks with blinders on, folks who want the easy choice, folks who will vote the politician’s line. We have it within ourselves as individuals, families, communities, cities, counties, states and a great nation, under God, to never do that again.

Please stand in opposition to Project Destiny. If you are offered a petition, don’t sign it. If it goes to the ballot, take the time to vote NO. It’s just not a good idea.

“Never give in, never give in, never; never; never; never - in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense” – Sir Winston Churchill