Washington Policy Center Blog

Carving or eating?

If you live in Iowa be careful how you answer that question. According to the Des Moines Register:

The Iowa Department of Revenue, often accused of trying to squeeze blood out of turnips, is now searching for pennies in pumpkins.

A new department policy this year has made Halloween jack-o'-lanterns subject to the state sales tax, and many Iowa pumpkin growers are feeling tricked.

Here's the rub, if you plan to eat that pumpkin you bought no sales tax will be charged. If, however, carving a squash Monet is in your plans the taxman will be trick or treating at your door.

So how are Iowa's pumpkin growers taking the news?

"Every pumpkin person I've talked to is really nervous about it," one seller said.

Kautz, who has owned the Buffalo Pumpkin Farm for seven years, said customers would tell him to mind his own business if he asked them what they intended to do with their pumpkins.

He was particularly dismayed with the notion of requiring customers to fill out a form verifying that they planned to eat the pumpkins they were buying.

"It's another crazy, crazy, stupid thing," he said.

And here I thought the Grinch only came out at Christmas.

Washington flunks public records test

The Better Government Association and National Freedom of Information Coalition recently graded all 50 states on access to public records (hat tip to OG-Blog). The survey used five criteria: Response Time, Appeals, Expedited Review, Attorney's Fees & Costs, and Sanctions.

Washington's grade?

"F."

In fairness, 37 other states received failing grades. Washington received poor marks in the categories of appeals, expedited review, and sanctions.

The Washington Coalition for Open Government (WPC is a member of the coalition) is encouraging elected officials to adopt reforms that will help address the state's failing grade. Among the reforms recommended:

Create an Independent Open Government Ombudsman – The legislature should create an independent open government ombudsman to provide information on public records and open public meetings to state and local agencies and the public; represent the public in obtaining public records from state and local agencies; maintain a web site to assist the public in obtaining information and public records; and prepare model employee orientation and training materials on open government principles for agencies and elected officials.

Create Individual Criminal Penalties for Willful Violations of the Public Records Act – Make it a gross misdemeanor for a public official to willfully and maliciously fail to disclose documents under the Public Records Act.

As noted in the report:

Freedom of information laws are only as good as the response mechanisms built into the laws themselves. From the moment a citizen walks into the state agency to make a records request to the final denial of access by a state court, each step in the process is, in most states, a stacked deck in favor of governmental secrecy.

Latent Demand

Ted Balaker, from the Reason Foundation, takes a look at latent demand and whether we can "build our way out of congestion."

Part 4: Transportation and Switzerland

I've written before on how population densities can influence ridership on public transportation at the municipal level and this relationship can also be seen at the national level.  

        Switzerland transit mode share: 20%
        Switzerland population density: 451 persons per square mile.

        United States transit mode share: 3.5%
        United States population density:  82 persons per square mile.

The correlation between mode share and population density helps predict how efficient a transit system will operate. Quite logically, a greater concentration of people will translate to higher demand on public transportation and as a result, decrease the space between costs and benefits.

Shameless Plug Alert** Small Business Conference in Two Weeks

Despite Forbe's ranking of Washington state at the 5th best place for businesses, I think it's safe to assume that the Evergreen State could be a lot more friendly to small businesses (fewer than 50 employees). In fact, the Governor in an address to the Association of Washington Business, said she wouldn't rest until we are number 1. I agree; much more could be done to make sure small businesses do not face a competitive disadvantage to other small businesses in neighboring states.

That is where our 2007 Statewide Small Business Conference comes into play. This is a great opportunity to attend an informational and innovative event designed to hear your thoughts as a small business owner or employee of a small business. Our half-day Conference will tackle issues such as the new paid family leave and streamlined sales tax laws, workers' compensation, access to affordable health insurance, transportation, tax reform and more.

Our breakfast speaker will be state Attorney General Rob McKenna talking about how small business owners can protect themselves from data security breaches. The keynote lunch speaker is Stephen J. Dubner, co-author of the best-seller Freakonomics and a contributor of the Freakonomics blog -- one of the better blogs on the 'net. And if you haven't read Freakonomics, do so.

We'll also have a mobile shredding truck in the morning to destroy that pile-up of sensitive documents you've been avoiding -- why spend all day feeding one sheet of paper at a time into your shredder? It's free of charge to attendees.

Find out more information and register online at www.smallbusinessconference.com or call 206-937-9691. 

See you November 8th!

Connecting the dots on government spending

Today, under the headline "Google Government," the National Center for Policy Analysis highlighted our recent op-ed, Time to Shine Light on Government Spending.

Along those lines, Illinois has come up with another great way to bring transparency to government spending.  Illinois' State Journal Register published a story yesterday discussing the state's website where citizens can "connect the dots" and track which government contracts and spending projects are going to vendors who gave money to political campaigns.

Washington should so the same.  Who knows what we'll find when we connect the dots?

Well-off liberals already have school choice

"I just couldn’t sacrifice my son." The title of a piece by former Washington Post assistant editor David Nicholson says it all (Washington Post, Oct 21).  Rather than put his child in the city’s failing schools, he sold his house and moved to the suburbs. So we do have public school choice in America:  the choice program is managed by real estate agents, and your choices are determined by how much house you can afford.

That leaves children of low-income families to languish in failing urban schools.

The reason well-off liberals so strongly oppose education reform is that, for them, there are already plenty of education choices. Nationally, 21% of public school teachers send their children to private schools. Liberal Seattle has the highest rate of children attending private schools, nearly 30%.

If, among other things, urban public schools had better math standards and curricula, then middle-income families would not move away from them. Yet the governor has signaled her opposition to raising standards in math. I understand a group of concerned teachers and parents, Wheresthemath.com, tried to meet her and she refused, even though her Washington Learns report, on page 25, recommends that the OSPI identify no more than three curricula for elementary, middle and high school which are aligned with international standards, TIMMS.

So the stated educational goals of state leaders are contradicted by their actions. The legislature and the governor canceled WASL math standards for the next five years, meaning 340,000 seniors will graduate and be sent on their way without having to master math skills. All the statistics show that fuzzy math has handicapped the learning of thousands of students.

-Liv Finne, WPC Adjunct Scholar for Education

So Scary it Must Be Halloween II

"That's preposterous." "This doesn't sound like a place I want to live." "It's anarchy."

This was the reaction of a law professor at Seattle University during a panel discussion on Prop 1 yesterday. During Q/A from the audience, someone asked each of the panel members our philosophy of land use and transportation policy.

I said that people should have the ability to live and work where they choose. And that government should not force people into certain areas.

Afterward, the law professor approached me and asked, "Just where did you get this concept of allowing people to choose where they live and work?"

My response: "It's this little thing called freedom."

And his response: "That's preposterous." "This doesn't sound like a place I want to live." "It's anarchy."

He then turned away and marched off.

Yes, a society without government is a society in chaos. But he missed my point. Government's role in society is much like two bookends. They are social rules and the space between each end is the freedom where society operates. My comments suggested that any attempt to narrow this space infringes on individual liberty.

It's scary that a law professor doesn't want to live in a society where its people have the freedom to live and work where they want.

Part 3: Transportation and Switzerland

Continuning my series on Switzerland's public transportation system, I've suggested before that the Swiss system is primarily successful not because of the amount of service or infrastructure but because they have certain demographic and economic characteristics that induce demand.

This leads me to conclude that transportation resources should be distributed based on market demand rather than the current system of building infrastructure that is somehow meant to attract demand.

In economics, supply is a function of demand. This means a willingness to use a service must exist before a supply of that service is created. Boeing does not make 300 airplanes knowing they will only sell 100. Likewise, governments should not spend a disproportionate amount of taxes in low demand sectors, where the willingness to use the service does not justify the investment.

European and U.S.transit systems are good examples of how these economic concepts apply.

In Switzerland, there is an existing market with a customer base and policymakers responded with proportional infrastructure investments. As a result, mode share, ridership and fare box recovery are high.

In the United States, transit resources are distributed in just the opposite way.

Under the “build it, and they will come” theory, policymakers suggest that increasing the supply of transit will somehow create more demand. But this model is speculative and fails because most U.S.cities do not posses the economic or demographic characteristics that create enough voluntary consumers for public transit.

Using the economic principles of supply and demand shows that building excess capacity before there is an equal amount of willingness to use it leads to an underperforming system. As a result, mode share, ridership and fare box recovery are low.

Fighting Fire with Politics

Global warming and Iraq. That's what some are blaming for the massive fires (and they are massive) in California. We've dealt with the issue of forest fires and climate change previously. The other angle is that because of Iraq, there is a shortage of National Guardsmen available to assist with firefighting. I'll leave the reality of that claim to others. The claim, however, that calling the Guard out is critical to fighting the fire is more about politics than reality.

Where there are big forest fires, Governors will often jump to call up the Guard to show action. The problem is that calling the Guard is not only of limited utility, it can actually be counterproductive.

Those serving in the National Guard are not trained firefighters and are not put on the front lines. They serve logistical purposes like serving food or providing security. This is not only true in California, it is true in Washington. The common perception is that the Guard can help fight fires, but that is not the case.

For example, these two guardsmen are providing security for an evacuated neighborhood in California. Logistical support is necessary, of course, but sometimes using the Guard is actually counterproductive. At every forest fire I worked on, there were catering companies and others who make their living providing services at fire camps. In rural Washington, communities often benefit from the funding these fires provided. Government should be careful not to spend wildly just to subsidize local communities, but calling the Guard out is not a panacea. Private companies don't need training and are ready to go because they often have years of experience. That's not always true with the Guard. I was in Omak for a fire and the Guard was there. They did a fine job, but they worked in the camp, not in the field.

Famed political scientist Murray Edelman wrote about The Symbolic Uses of Politics more than 20 years ago. The politics of wildfire is one more good example of this kind of symbolism.