The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 93, No. 73, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 11, 2013 Page: 4 of 10
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4 The Baytown Sun
Viewpoints
Thursday
April 11, 2013
MARK
FLEMING
Tax attack 2012
Income tax day is coming up, and I’m in my usual
mode of thinking it’s about time to start procrastinat-
ing.
I’ve learned over the years that if I start putting off
my taxes too early, I get overly stressed, so now I wait
until closer to April 15 to start not
working on them. After all, why put
off today what you can put off tomor-
row,right?
Now, I’ve always had co-workers
who start salivating to fill out their re-
turns about 12:01 a.m. Jan. 1. Iblame
them for the memos that always come
out at work reminding people that
W-2s will be out by the end of Janu-
ary - and to not start bugging the ac-
counting people until mid-February.
I think these are people who’ve found out the secret
(not really much a secret - most people seem to handle
it fine), of having more money withheld than they owe.
I’ve never figured it out. I’ve tried claiming zero de-
ductions. I’ve tried having extra withheld. Usually I’ve
been able to get it down to owing just a little bit, but
only twice in a lifetime of taxpaying have I actually
gotten refunds. And one of those was less than $ 10.
Needless to say, I never look forward to April 15 ex-
pecting extra cash in hand.
' A couple of times I’ve tried getting a CPA to figure
my taxes to see if there’s something I’m missing. All
it gets me is a professional asking, “How can you owe
-this much when you make what you make?”
That was my question coming in -1 don’t really need
a professional affirming that they don’t understand it
either. Now I use computer tax preparation programs.
At least they don’t shake their head as they’re giving
me the bad news.
The downside to the computer revolution is that on-
line filing has taken away the carnival atmosphere that
used to surround the big post offices that stayed open
until midnight to accept the belated offerings of people
like me. Hitting “send” just doesn’t have the emotional
satisfaction of handing off the envelope and heading to
IHOP for a midnight celebration of freedom.
The times I’ve used professionals to prepare my
taxes, I’ve gone about it in my usual uncreative way-
asked friends in similar jobs who they use, asking about
experience and training and all that uninteresting stuff.
Apparently, though, some tax preparers think such
decisions are best made based on funny costumes.
I don’t claim to be a marketing expert, but I’ve al-
ways wondered why tax preparers pay scary looking
people to put on weird costumes and dance in front of
their businesses. What is it about that that a potential
customer is supposed to translate as “Oh, these people
are silly and obnoxious. I want to give them all my in-
timate financial information.”
It must work, though.
And I’ll bet some of their customers even get refunds.
Mark Fleming is the news editor at The Sun. He can
be reached at viewpoints@baytownsun.com, Attention:
Mark Fleming.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Dear editor,
I want to take the time to thank The Baytown Sun
newspaper for assigning Eleska Aubespin to Dr. Chris-
topher Small Glemm-Howell Distinguished Educator
of the Year Award. The article was excellent. She went
beyond the call of duty. I am a substitute teacher for
Goose Creek Consolidated School District and I try to
teach students that they can become a doctor, lawyer,
or whatever they want to be. It doesn’t matter if the
household is low income or not, we can prove statis-
tics wrong, especially as a single parent. I received so
many calls from members of my church.
Ammie Bates
Baytown
TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is the 101st day of 2013 and the 23rd day of
spring.
TODAY’S HISTORY: In 1814, French emperor
Napoleon Bonaparte abdicated the throne and was
banished to the island of Elba.
In 1945, U.S. forces liberated the Buchenwald con-
centration camp.
In 1951, President Harry Truman relieved Gen.
Douglas MacArthur of his command in Korea.
In 1979, Ugandan dictator Idi Amin was overthrown.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Dean Acheson (1893-
1971), diplomat/statesman; Oleg Cassini (1913-2006),
fashion designer; Joel Grey (1932- ), actor; Louise
Lasser (1939-), actress; Jason Varitek (1972-), base-
ball player; Mark Teixeira (1980- ), basebdll player;
Joss Stone (1987-), singer.
TODAY’S FACT: Idi Amin was one of only two
native officers in Uganda’s military when the nation
gained its independence in 1962.
TODAY’S SPORTS: In 2004, Phil Mickelson won
his first Masters Golf Tournament after eight second-
or third-place majors finishes in almost 12 years as a
professional golfer, sinking an 18-foot birdie putt on
the final hole to edge Ernie Els by a single stroke.
TODAY’S QUOTE: “No people in history have
ever survived who thought they could protect their
freedom by making themselves inoffensive to their en-
emies.” - Dean Acheson
TODAY’S NUMBER: 14 million - mobile phone
subscriptions in Uganda in 2011, compared to only
327,100 landlines.
TODAY’S MOON: Between new moon (April 10)
and first quarter moon (April 18).
Make a plan for Earth Day
Environmental issues fill the news
and on Monday, April 22 we’re sup-
posed to take note of problems and
possible solutions on international,
national and local levels, plus things
we as individuals can do to help keep
the Earth going strong while we pack
it with more and more people.
That’s because Monday, April 22
is Earth Day.
Senator Gaylord Nelson is credit-
ed with giving Earth Day its start as
a means to create awareness for the
Earth’s environment and to encour-
age conservation efforts. In 1990,
Earth Day went international and
today more than 500 million people
in 175 countries observe Earth Day.
That many people can make a dif-
ference.
Imagine if 500 million people
each did just one small thing to help
the environment, did just one thing
different from what they usually do,
recycled just one more item ... what
a difference that could make.
So how do they do that?
By picking up trash to clean up
the environment, by planting trees,
grasses and other native plants to
help restore ecosystems or just by
gettingfmt there to enjoy nature and
JANE
HOWARD LEE
remind us that life
is more than offic-
es, bank accounts
and video games.
The Nature Con-
servancy wants
people to get out
and have a picnic
on Earth Day or
within a few days
before or after.
Calling it “Pic-
nic for Earth,” the event is a cel-
ebration of the planet, the food it
provides and the people we share it
with. People are encouraged to step
outside, head to a favorite outdoor
spot and enjoy good food in the
company of great people. They ask
that afterwards, you leave that spot
looking better than you found it by
picking up not only after yourselves,
but collecting any other trash and de-
bris you might find there.
The conservancy hopes people
will share photos, videos and tweets
about their picnic events. Visit www.
earthday.nature.org for more infor-
mation.
If you are not going to be part of
a big trash collection event (we just
had one here in Baytown), a tree
planting or the like. 1 hope you will
think about the picnic idea.
Make a plan, drag the kids away
from their video games (many of
them kicking and screaming, proba-
bly) and get out to one of your favor-
ite spots for a picnic.
After you eat, go on a nature walk.
Make it a game for the kids by en-
couraging them to see how many
different living creatures they can
spot.
Set aside a time for discussion to
come up with ideas for simple things
you can do every day to make a dif-
ference, like making a vow to stop
using plastic water bottles and those
horrible plastic grocery bags.
There are lots of possibilities.
Then, when Earth Day is over,
stick with it. Do something every
day to save the Earth. One less plas-
tic bottle may not seem like much,
but every little bit helps.
We only have one Earth and it
takes care of us. It is long past time
to take better care of it.
Jane Howard Lee is a staff writer
at The Sun. She can be reached at
viewpoints^ haytownsun. com. A t-
tention: Jane Lee
Leader threatens to nuke Washington
Ever wonder what it’s
like to be in a place where
your brash leader spends
a lot of his time threaten-
ing to nuke Washington?
Where he brandishes a pis-
tol, and makes a big thing
of the notion that no one
will tread on him?
Well, you can save the
bucks for that long flight to
North Korea. You can have
the same experience right
here in Texas.
That’s right. Instead of
copying former San Anto-
nio Spurs pro basketbal-
ler Dennis Rodman and
going to break bread with
Kim Jong-Un - the young
North Korean leader you
see on TV - you can just
stay tuned for Texas Gov.
Rick Perry’s latest move.
When he’s not knocking
off coyotes while jogging
with his laser-aimed pis-
tol, or pledging to veto any
new taxes, he often spends
time charging that Wash-
ington is doing everything
wrong.
That charge helped
him handily defeat Tex-
as’ former senior United
States senator, Kay Bailey
Hutchison, when she chal-
lenged him for the gover-
nor’s job in the 2010 Re-
publican primary.
Perry successfully hung
around Hutchison’s neck
the whole “too much
Washington” theme. That
included the considerable
number of “earmarks” -
special project spending
detailed by one or more
members of congress, that
don’t go through the nor-
mal appropriations pro-
DAVE
MCNEELY
c o n -
side red
obtain-
ing ear-
marks
a plus.
Aren’t
members of congress sup-
posed to bring home the
bacon for their districts?
She sure did.
Instead. Hutchison ran
from Perry’s charge, and
even wound up voting to
end earmarks.
Had she counterpunched
- asked in a press confer-
ence in Corpus Christi why
Perry thought $262,000 for
equipment and renovations
for the Driscoll Children’s
Hospital was a bad idea; or
in Houston why Ferry was
against $285,000 for the
digital mammography sys-
tem for the Harris County
Hospital District; or in Fort
Worth why Perry opposed
a $1.52 million bridge over
the Trinity River; and so
on across the state, Perry’s
charge might have back-
fired.
This is the trap that Gov.
Perry has set for himself
with his latest nuke toward
Washington. He is saying
that Texas won’t accept
Medicaid expansion,. that
would add a million or so
Texans to those covered by
medical insurance.
The feds say they’ll pay
100 percent of the expan-
sion cost for the first three
years, and 90 percent for
years after that. One group
figured that Texas would
have to invest about $15
billion over 10 years to
draw down 5100 billion in
federal benefits.
And if Texas doesn’t ex-
pand Medicaid, its citizens
will continue to pay federal
taxes anyway. It’s just that
the part that might have
helped pay for the Texas
Medicaid expansion will
instead go to other states
that participated.
Perry’s opposition is in
spite of the fact that other
Republican governors who
initially opposed the idea,
like Rick Scott of Florida,
and Chris Christie of New
Jersey, and Jan Brewer of
Arizona, have all signed
up for the program.
Perry says the Medicaid
system is broken, and that
it should be fixed before
being expanded.
Meanwhile, the cry to
take the money is coming
from medical associations
and other groups, plus sev-
eral city chambers of com-
merce - not exactly hot-
beds of liberalism. They
point out it will create tens
of thousands of jobs.
County officials say fail-
ure to accept the money
will continue to raise prop-
erty taxes that now fall on
local taxpayers by default.
The idea that federal
matching money is simply
bribery to the states is not
new, and isn’t incorrect. Of
course it is.
President Lyndon Baines
Johnson of Texas adroit-
ly used it to get states to
do what he thought they
should be already, in areas
like education, environ-
mental protection, health
care and others.
And President Barack
Obama, with far fewer
Democrats in Congress
than LBJ enjoyed in the
1960s, is using it to try to
expand health care in-
cluding Medicaid.
Texas legislators and
others reportedly are qui-
etly seeking to figure out
some semi-graceful way
for Petty to get out of the
comer into which he’s
painted himself, and de-
clare some kind of victory
over the Washington beast.
But, he may not. Strang-
er things have happened.
He may be running for
president again in 2016,
and seems bent on posi-
tioning himself to the right
of every other potential
candidate.
Perry repeated to CNN’s
Wolf Blitzer in an inter-
view recently that he’ll
plot his political plans with
family and friends after
the Legislature finishes its
current session at the end
of May.
By then, cleaning
things up may need
more than sending Den-
nis Rodman on a good-
will mission to square up
North Korea’s leader.
Given its complexity,
saving Perry may require
the Harlem Globetrot-
ters.
Contact McNeely
at davemcneelylll@
gmail.com or 512-458-
2963.
Th?%aytown Sun
Main office:
281-422-8302
Fax: 281-427-1880
1301 Memorial Drive in Baytown
Look for us online:
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twitter, com/baytownsun
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Yanelli, Adam. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 93, No. 73, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 11, 2013, newspaper, April 11, 2013; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1065823/m1/4/: accessed July 11, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.