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Rensselaer County Taxpayers Association

May 2002                                                                                                                                                     Volume 7,  Number 3

Again remind us of Memorial Day, Saturday the 25^th this year. Veterans’ parade in East Greenbush steps off at 10 AM from Bowling Green, thence to Hays Road Cemetery, thence to VWF Post where refreshments will be served. The public is invited.

Rensselaer County Taxpayers Association has learned that some public schools adjacent to the Capital District disclose salary information once a year to the public. The data serves to identify the roles fulfilled by teachers, administrators, and ancillary personnel. This has been done for East Greenbush Central Schools in the past. Why not now?

What you don’t know will hurt your pocketbook. Once again, educational institutions should take their cue from successful businesses. An in-depth examination of what they do and how resources are applied to excel will be valuable to decision-makers.

Examples in the Capital District abound. The latest is General Electric’s announcement to cut some 7,000 jobs by eliminating administrative and operating expenses.

Communicate with school board members and ask them for justification and the reason why so many employees are needed to run the district. Ask, "Can the district excel with a dedicated teaching staff and the paring of some administrators or quasi administrators?" The Board can use internally generated publications to inform the public. The data is more valuable and can replace the effort that goes into publishing a yearly calendar that, on occasion, contains errors and inconsistencies.

We have long been against any American citizens receiving an unfair advantage over other American citizens. Especially irritating is the fact that earlier Americans receive substantial benefits that the rest of us do not. Examples are selling items such as cigarettes and gasoline tax free to the general public in direct competition with the general public who must collect and pay full tax. Earlier Americans are also exempt from certain labor laws and local property taxes.

The earlier Americans are also allowed to own and operate gambling casinos that cater to the general public. Non earlier Americans are not allowed to own these. We wondered why NYS was so willing to allow these casinos. The reason was found in the April 16, 2002 Times Union. According to the article, in exchange for granting the Senecas exclusive rights to develop three casinos in Niagara Falls, Buffalo, and on current reservation land, they must agree to share 25% of the revenues with the state. Ha! There is no altruism here on the part of the state, just greed.

This is just plain wrong. We believe that all American citizens should be treated equally and have the same rights.

Our school districts actually promote Driver Ed as though it were a worthy subject for exploitation. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is strange that the same set of characters that are anti-hand gun advocates see nothing wrong in handing a teenager the keys to the family car and money to spend. Why not hand them a loaded gun and then say, "be careful it’s loaded." A motor vehicle is a deadly instrument in the wrong, careless hands regardless of age. Youthful exuberance however, has few restraints. We would have far fewer serious accidents if, as they say, we started out on the right foot. Let’s not fool ourselves, we’ve got problems.

A 16 year old does NOT have the right to drive a car. He or she may be granted the "privilege" of applying for a junior license only with parental consent. If granted, the parents then assume a supervisory role until such time as the licensee obtains a full driver’s license. How many parents have the fortitude to refuse this approval until the child has shown a true sense of responsibility and trustworthiness in order to EARN this restricted privilege?

Drinking alcohol, by the same token, is prohibited to anyone under the age of 21. How many parents see that this law is obeyed? The record shows that our college students have been involved in many of the worst accidents imaginable.

It is obvious that this "experience" all started in our high schools.

Teaching Math in 1950: A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit?

Teaching Math in 1960: A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price, or $80. What is his profit?

Teaching Math in 1970: A logger exchanges a set "L" of lumber for a set "M" of money. The cardinality of set "M" is 100. Each element is worth one dollar. Make 100 dots representing the elements of the set "M". The set "C", the cost of production contains 20 fewer points than set "M". Represent the set "C" as a subset of set "M" and answer the following question: What is the cardinality of the set "P" of profits?

Teaching Math in 1980: A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80 and his profit is $20. Your assignment: Underline the number 20.

Teaching Math in 1990: By cutting down beautiful forest trees, the logger makes $20. What do you think of this way of making a living? Topic for class participation after answering the question: How did the forest birds and squirrels feel as the logger cut down the trees? There are no wrong answers.

Teaching Math in 2000: A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $120, paid to a partnership owned by his son-in-law. His accounting department tells him his profit is $60. This is verified by his auditing firm, Arthur Andersen, blessed by his lawyers, Vinson, Elkins, and touted by assorted Wall Street investment bankers. Question: How can Jesse Jackson share the spotlight on this deal?

Do New York State Empire Zones save taxpayers money or cost taxpayers money? According to the TU, April 12, 2002, the Empire Zone program was created to address the high cost of doing business in NYS by relieving businesses, in the zones, of property taxes and substituting state fund transfers to the municipality that lost the property tax revenue. The theory is that, with these incentives, businesses will be encouraged to relocate or expand within the Empire Zones to the economic benefit of the residents there.

We think this does not actually save taxpayers money for a number of reasons.

Currently there are 62 existing Empire Zones and Senator Bruno wants to spend $400 million to add 40 more and enlarge the size of each. Now $400 million on top of the existing spending is a lot of money to spend to encourage the relocation of businesses for economic development. The NYS budget is 4.5% higher than last year. As these businesses will be exempt from many taxes, where then does the money to fund the program come from? Obviously from other taxpayers that are not the recipients of the program.

Although Empire Zones have the goal of aiding depressed areas, with 102 such zones, not all will be equally or at all depressed. It is ironic that Saratoga County received its designation as an Empire Zone last year. We all know that Saratoga County is one of the fastest growing, prosperous counties in the state.

With a proliferation of Empire Zones and other tax abatements schemes there is also greater incentive for business owners to cozy up to the government officials handing out the bucks and less incentive for them to openly, and freely compete for the customers dollar.

The truth is that Empire Zones are actually a control mechanism that our legislative leaders have over the local senators, assemblypeople, and other elected officials to vote issues their way. Vote our way and we will give you goodies, vote against us and we will withhold them.

It would be far better to cut taxes for all taxpayers, cut regulation, and make job creation easier for all businesses. Our leaders do not want this because it would dilute their control.

From Immigration Watch, April/May 2002 issue

Patrick Buchanan’s The Death of the West is worthwhile reading for immigration control activists and other conservers of national culture. Though the book covers a number of social and political topics, its analysis of mass immigration and America’s future particularly stands out.

As the difficulty of assimilation has increased, Buchanan notes, our will to enforce standards of Americanization or even define them has proportionately decreased. The chief reason, he argues, is the cult of political correctness (PC) and its chilling effect on reasonable debate about immigration. In a fascinating historical analysis, Buchanan traces the rise of PC from its Marxist origins, specifically the social theories of Italian communist Antonio Gramsci and the Frankfurt school of German Marxists.

Gramsci believed that control of society for his cause depended on radicals taking key positions in key institutions, particularly those related to education and information. The Frankfurt School agreed, and began working on this agenda in the U.S. after moving here from Germany following the rise of Hitler. Lacking any gratitude to their adopted country, where they rose to positions of influence, they devised an ideology called Critical Theory to subvert American culture and values.

Critical Theory maintains that America is basically an evil country and that anyone who defends traditional America is evil as well. Some Frankfurt school members had backgrounds in psychology, and they devised psychological tactics to neutralize opponents. The foremost of these was the use of endlessly repeated name-calling.

Many advocates of mass immigration follow in the footsteps of the Frankfurt School. They despise America, says Buchanan, and see mass immigration as a means to destroy it. In public discussion they try to silence immigration policy critics with politically correct "attack words" such as racist, bigot, intolerant, hater, and xenophobe. This tactic is often effective. "By calling a person a racist," Buchanan notes, "you no longer need [to] answer his arguments. He has to defend his character." Another advantage is that it diverts attention away from the motives of the accuser. Call someone else a hater, and people might not notice your own hatred.

There is now a federal grant program to the states and eventually to the counties to assist people to buy homes. This program is called REAP and assists in the down payment, etc. apparently for those who otherwise may not be able to purchase a home. With this, as well as all government controlled activities – rules, regulations and vague qualifications no doubt, will be part of the scheme.

This may be all well and good for a few select groups but for the everyday working family that buys and pays for their own property and pays huge taxes, fees, and charges it may look like another boondoggle. We must remember, every time you give a "break" to one group you penalize and place an additional burden on the rest of the populace.

Our civic leaders are now beginning to replace our school boards in different areas for good and exemplary reasons. In TU April 17, an announcement was made, "Governor George Pataki on Tues signed into law the state’s first takeover of a local school district. The measure removes the Roosevelt School District Board of Education and empowers a new school board for the 3,000 student district in Long Island’s Nassau County.

The district has been struggling with poor performance ratings and low test scores. The state will also provide a $6 million grant to the district." We see looming another problem with tighter controls by politicians beyond the present situation with the Roosevelt school. Why do they need $6 million? For what purpose? This is NYS taxpayers’ money as well as all the rest of it. Why not just install a responsible school board and let nature take its course? Must the locals be bribed to agree to this change?

A large infusion of hard earned public money won’t make the educators or pupils any smarter and chances are they will not even appreciate this generosity.

Each day the bridge column in the local paper starts with a pithy saying from some past notable. Whether it helps with the bridge hand is debatable but a catchy phrase at election time has helped many a politician get elected. A phrase that is simple but tells a story sticks in a person’s mind. The RCTA needs some slogans regarding taxes that will make a politician cringe when he hears them. There are good minds in our readership; otherwise you wouldn’t be reading the Taxpayers News. So how about putting your mind to work on coming up with a short saying that can be used in the battle against higher taxes. You won’t get paid, but if it works you may be famous.

A few examples:

Politicians line their pockets with the lining of our pockets.

Teachers’ unions won’t fire a bad employee. Can’t reward a good employee.

Ask not what the union has done for me; look what the unions have done to this country!

Greed for votes translates to greed for taxpayers’ money!

A penny saved is a penny taxed.

We know you can do better than these. Send your battle cry to

RCTA, PO Box 145, East Greenbush, NY 12061

Heading west on Columbia Turnpike East Greenbush school bus No. 197 passed me as though my car was parked. March 19, 3:16 PM.
East Greenbush Resident

Do we need any more holidays? Our public servants already have more free time than is their due.
Castleton Resident

Sen. Charles Schumer, NY, opposes corn based ethanol as a gasoline additive. Corn growing states have mostly conservative voters.
Schodack Resident

Back issues of the Taxpayers News are available at:

The Rensselaer County Taxpayers Association is an apolitical organization that concerns itself about you. We ask for your involvement, both personally and economically, in support of RCTA. Dues are a modest $10 per year. You can make a difference. Please send your name, address, telephone number, and $10 to RCTA today.

Only one in ten of our Congressmen does or can fill out their own income tax forms.
Averill Park Resident

Bumper sticker – I may be slow but I’m ahead of you.
Nassau Resident

A 35% tax increase on top of a 21% tax increase is much too much.
Troy Resident

The NYS United Teachers union spend 2.1 million dollars on lobbying and campaign spending this year.
East Greenbush Resident