Almy: Tax summit critics are ‘conspiracy theorists’; like Joe McCarthy
October 19, 2009 by Patrick
Filed under State House
The Democratic Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee is calling conservative critics of this week’s House revenue seminar “conspiracy theorists” and discounting their concerns about a controversial group that will participate in the summit.
Susan Almy tells NowHampshire.com that the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) has every right to participate in the seminar because, “The US Bill of Rights has a very firm commitment to freedom of expression.”
Almy lashes back at revenue summit critics
Almy is responding to concerns raised by Cornerstone Policy Research, a conservative think tank, and others, who raised alarm bells last week over ITEP’s inclusion in the seminar, which many conservatives believe is an endeavor to desensitize state tax writers to the idea of an income tax in New Hampshire.
According to Cornerstone’s Kevin Smith, ITEP’s “funding comes from far left organizations such as the Tides Foundation, which is funded in part by billionaire and left-wing activist, George Soros, along with [the] founder of the embattled organization ACORN, Wade Rathke. Other funders of ITEP include: the Ben and Jerry Foundation and the Streisand Foundation.”
ITEP also openly urges the legislature to pass an income tax.
When asked about ITEP’s controversial connections, Almy shot back, “Conspiracy theorists. [I]t is not newsworthy except by FOX ‘News’. I do not have time to research and point out to you whatever wealthy people are paying for the Tax Foundation and ALEC [two other groups speaking at the revenue seminar], but they do not subsist without such help.”
“My apologies, but are you old enough to have heard of the McCarthy trials,” Almy continued. “They trapped a lot of good people who were too decent to forgo the basic liberties our forefathers fought for, and destroyed a lot of careers of people this nation needed. And they finally went so far that good people everywhere rose up and challenged them.”
Almy’s swipe at FOX News appears to coincide with a high-profile battle being waged by the White House against the news organization. Senior adviser to President Barack Obama David Axelrod said this weekend that FOX News is “not really news.”
The Ways and Means revenue seminar scheduled for Oct. 22nd and 23rd has been controversial from the moment Speaker Terie Norelli first mentioned it as an “economic summit” to confront the state’s budget woes to the Portsmouth Herald. Republicans immediately accused Democrats of trying to use the seminar as a Trojan horse to impose an income tax.
Speaker Norelli clarified her comments in the Herald to NowHampshire.com shortly after her interview.
“There is not going to be an economic ‘summit,’” she told us. “There is, however, going to be an informational/educational day in the Ways and Means Committee during which the committee will hear from economists — national and state, from the right, left and in-between — as well as others, such as business interests, about our revenue sources. They will be asked to talk about how well our state’s revenue structure fits the state economy — does the overall structure or a particular tax help, hurt or is it neutral. Over time, we have added or increased some taxes and we have repealed others. Hopefully, this is an opportunity for us to gather such information outside the time pressures of a budget, and will help to inform us as we go forward. There will be no restriction as to what taxes they choose to address. But the committee will also not be making any recommendations for legislation coming out of this — just informing themselves — a healthy thing for all of us to do on a regular basis.”
For her part, Almy has always considered the Republicans’ charge ridiculous.
“I can’t believe how many right-wing blogs are out there accepting the UL’s [Union Leader’s] and PH [Portsmouth Herald] editors’ and Republican Party chair’s comments without any fact-checking,” Almy told NowHampshire.com. “I have even had people emailing to yell at me for supporting a sales tax, which I have never done – I simply invited a respected state economist in to talk to us about why an income tax was bad for business, and he said we should consider a sales tax instead.”
Contact Patrick Hynes on Twitter @patjhynes
Almy shot back, “Conspiracy theorists. [I]t is not newsworthy except by FOX ‘News’.
Is she Anita Dunn’s lunatic Mom?
I am afraid nothing will change until some of these little fascists are stripped, tarred, feathered, and horsewhipped by committees of vigilance when they overstep their bounds. It was a tradition good enough for our ancestors and it ought to be revived.
Speaking of McCarthy, Rep Almy, judging from her picture, has the “angry commissar” look working for her. Her rapid non-sequiturs to invoking McCarthy and piling on Fox News indicates that someone hit a nerve.
I’m old enough to know that Joe McCarthy never presided over any trials.
Another legislator too stupid to realize that McCarthyism involves the GOVERNMENT persecuting people, not citizens protesting to the government.
New Hampshire, soon to be known as North Massachusetts.
The bottom line from this See-You-Next-Tuesday is that it isn’t your money, it is her money. And if you don’t shut up about what she is doing then you are Joe McCarthy.
By the way, what was so bad about Tailgunner Joe? I mean keeping Commies out and Anti-Commies in government? At least the Anti-Commies don’t want to tax you back to the stone age. (Or to equality: remember Comrade Obama’s statement that he would support raising the capital gains tax rate even if he knew it would result in less revenue to the government? He said he would still support the increase “out of fairness concerns.”)
Also, I think she meant Hollywood rose up and challenged McCarthy (you know, the way they rose up and defended Roman Polanski). Until 2008, most Americans appeared to have clearly rejected Communism. I still think it is rejected by most; some people were just fooled by Obama’s and the media’s lies that he was a moderate. Yeah, that’s why he and Bill Ayers got along so well.
Joe McCarthy was right. The left loves to scream and invoke his name, because they actually were and still are communist sympathizers. Communists are nasty. They kill millions of people. Good riddance!
Now the House Committee on Un-American Activities (1931-1975) is now known as the McCarthy Trials/i>?? He was a Senator, not a Congressman.
Moved from Mont Vernon, NH to Laramie, Wyoming years ago to ensure I continued to have the freedom that my forefathers and I have proudly fought to maintain. If NewHampshirites continue to elect people into their state government that would better represent Mass, then they deserve every single tax increase, including a state-wide income and sales tax, that they get. If the people of New Hampshire ever decide to go back to the type of people they were when Gen Stark was honored, then they will have the freedom they deserve. It’s all up to them.
I have a weird idea. Don’t laugh at me, please. How about instead of looking for new ways to fleece the population, the government just stop spending so much money? I know it’s never been tried before, but I think it might work.
When I was a civilian instructor with the army, at the end of the year we had to spend whatever money we had left in our budgets or we’d receive less the following year. So we bought all kinds of neat toys that we really didn’t need. I know that my department could easily have lived with a much smaller budget. I expect that all state agencies have much the same process.
Stephen,
Conspiracies are secret. If the meetings are open and transparent then they would no longer be secret. So they have to keep them secret so they can call you a conspiracy theorist. See how it works?
Since when is openness and transparency a “conspiracy theory?” I thought the Democrats were FOR such things. Only when it’s exposing the grant funding of conservative groups, I guess.
It’s no secret that many Democrats want an income tax so they can have a steady flow of cash they can then shovel to the special interests that keep them in power.