It’s been said that “hypocrisy is the tribute liberals pay to reality.” Even more glaring is the blatant hypocrisy by the liberal so-called Citizens for Tax Justice and their basement-based bloggers.
Citizens for Tax Justice is organized as a 501(c)4 — exempt from Federal income tax but allowed to lobby. Citizens for Tax Justice in turn appears to be funded by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, organized as a 501(c)3, which is also exempt from Federal income tax, can accept charitable tax-deductible donations but cannot lobby. Both organizations have the same address on their respective 990 Federal IRS forms. Hhhmmm. Setting up shell organizations to funnel money to their own causes in order to avoid paying taxes? What a sweet deal!
Ok, so why are we making such a big deal about these two liberal activist groups? It seems that Tax Justice blogger, Sebastian Johnson, has written a rambling and snark filled post about how the Ark Encounter “…may lose $18 million in state tax incentives…”
Mr. Johnson, it’s a tax rebate, not a “tax incentive.” Rather than research the actual piece of legislation, the Kentucky Tourism Development Act, he compared the Ark Encounter tax rebate to other states receiving a totally different type of “tax incentive.” (Liberals, and even some conservative and libertarian groups, i.e., the Bluegrass Institute, consider all taxes the same, AND, whether they are good or bad dependent upon on whom is being gored taxed!)
To simplify explaining the Ark Encounter’s tax rebate program, here is the actual wording from the Act:
The incentive for developers of approved new or expanding tourism projects is the ability to recover up to 25% of the project’s development costs over a ten year term. Projects including, but not limited to lodging facilities, that are constructed on state park, federal park and national forest lands are eligible to recover up to fifty percent (50%) of development costs over a twenty year term. An expanding attraction receives the incentive on increased sales tax due to the expansion.
On an annual basis the Kentucky Department of Revenue will return to developers of approved projects the state sales tax paid by visitors to the attraction on admission tickets, food and gift sales and lodging costs.
Mr. Johnson needs to reread the above last paragraph and the additional documentation, specific to the Ark Encounter, which stipulates attendance and revenue numbers before refunds are begun. The state will NOT lose any money if the project fails. The state will STILL collect ALL sales tax when the Ark Encounter opens and does NOT meet the goals as specified by the Tourism Development Act.
Seeing how Mr. Johnson has avoided even a modicum of basic research (Slate.com as an information source?) we can declare clearly and with confidence that the era of post-modernism has completely come to dominate public discourse. Even a Harvard University degree is no guarantee of arriving at the correct facts!
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