Get paid to murder?

So HB63 is sailing through approvals, as it should. This bill would make it so that a person who commits murder would not have claim to the estate of the victim. An article in yesterday's Deseret Morning News states "The potential is huge. Such a loophole could be used by a convicted murderer to heap even more pain on a victim's family by dragging them through yet another trial." I agree. This loophole needs to be closed. It appears that this is going to happen as the bill has received no opposition so far.

Remove Sales Tax on Food?

Why are some people in the State Senate so hesitant to remove the sales tax on food? Maybe it's because the municipal governments of Utah are a powerful lobbying force. The ULCT (among others) raised concerns recently that removing the sales tax on food might hurt bond ratings in some cities. My opinion on this matter is that cities are afraid to raise property taxes. They would much rather keep the sales tax on food, then give up the money and go to property owners and say we need x amount of dollars to function. Some other ways that cities make these increases without raising property taxes is to implement other taxes (for example a telecommunications tax). Why does it seem like local officials in Utah are afraid to go to their residents and say "We have this amount budgeted for the following services. In order to accomplish this, we have to cut back some of these services or raise your property taxes by X%." I believe that Utah residents are well educated enough to know whether they should cut back on certain services or pay more in property taxes to fund those services that they deem important. It has been said by many people recently that Utah's tax system is in need of an overhaul. An overhaul to me doesn't mean change a little here and a little there. An overhaul means major changes all across the board.

Show some Skin, get a link!

Utah Policy Daily today linked to a post by another blogger. What struck me as interesting is this post is about an event that happened three years ago. This wasn't an event that everbody remembers where they were when they heard about it (except those involved). It was a peace demonstration with naked women. So why did UPD think it was interesting enough to post in their blog watch? Who knows. Maybe peace is an interesting topic. Or maybe it's because naked people and their pictures seem to attract attention.

Government Employment is Great

An article in the Salt Lake Tribune talks about West Bountiful's new mayor firing the police chief, Mike Wright. Wright is quoted in the article as saying: "I asked for an explanation, and he didn't give me one," [Wright] said. "I'm 52 and I've never been fired before." Welcome to being a department head in the government realm. There are mayoral elections at least every four years in every Utah city. With those elections comes the chance of an administration change. With that administration change comes the chance of a department head being replaced. If you don't like this, then maybe you're better suited for a job in the private sector. Keep in mind though, even in the private sector, job changes are made and department heads are replaced.

Trust the Voters!

Why do elected officials not trust the voters that elected them? There are currently two Senate Bills at the state legislature that deal with, in my opinion, not trusting the voters. S.B. 47 and S.B. 156 both remove rights from the general populace. Apparently our Senators trust us enough to elect THEM, but not enough to believe we will elect the right person in the future.
My belief is if somebody wants to be elected to a position, ANY position, they should get out and campaign amongst their constituents. Knock on doors. Talk to people. Hold cottage meetings. I know these may be novel ideas to many elected officials, but, guess what people? IT WORKS!
In the meantime, the people who at one time trusted their constituents to elect them, should trust their constituents to elect others.
Senators, say NO to S.B. 47 and S.B. 156!