Now I have no idea why a Controller is injecting himself into policy considerations, but Pinsley is that kind of guy. No sooner was he elected Comm'r in South Whitehall that he began running for the State Senate. Having failed in that race, he was swept into office in Lehigh County as part of a blue wave.
Siegel impressed me as a former Allentown Mayoral candidate. But as a new member of Allentown City Council, he's been a disappointment.
While there are times when taxes must be raised, this is not one of them. We are going onto a recession and possibly a depression.
You can read their new tax proposal here.
In a Lehigh Valley full of tax handouts with names like KOZ and KRIZ, Pinsley and Siegel propose a RPD, a Regional Prosperity District. They would fund it with $105 million annually. A quarter of the money would go to the "creative economy." Another quarter would go to Lehigh County. The remainder would be distributed to "a municipal stabilization fund that will award municipalities money based on an equation to determine local fiscal distress." In other words, the money will go to Allentown.
Because the Lehigh Valley has no money trees, the next question is the source of this $105 million annual beneficence? Bill Gates? No. Mega Millions? No. The source is you, the taxpayer. What Pinsley and Siegel want are two brand new taxes. First, they would create a one percent addition to a regressive sales tax that already disproportionately impacts the working poor. Their excuse for this is that items like food would be exempt. Their second new tax is a 0.5% earned income tax. "Its minor rate is minuscule," they argue.
At a time when 21,000 in the Lehigh Valley have already filed for unemployment, this proposal is simply insane. Instead of imposing new taxes, I would think dedicated local officials would be demanding the state to start paying out the unemployment claims for the economic catastrophe it has declared is for our own good. As things stand, there will be no sales or income on which any tax can be imposed.
They note that 16% of Allentown's workforce is employed in what they call "high risk" industries. So they want to funnel money to artists and musicians because you know those jobs are solid. Really?
At a time when many Lehigh Valley residents are understandably worried about putting food on the table, I am simply astonished that these local officials would propose two new taxes. This is a gimmick under which the entire county will be forced to subsidize Allentown's government even though they have no role in electing the officials in the Queen City. It will also create a $25 million slush fund under which local officials can award money to their pals in the "creative economy," whatever that is. As blogger Michael Molivinsky observes in a related post, "best connected, best served."
Updated 10:10 am with information from a source within Lehigh County - "Joshua Siegel is an employee of the Controller’s Office,i.e. Pinsley. Siegel arrived in Lehigh County government as some sort of public information officer for Phillips Armstrong. He quickly demonstrated that he is clueless.I don’t know what his function is in the Controller’s office or what qualifications he has, if any, but he is on the roster. That may explain in part the connection between the two political opportunists and their advocacy for new taxes – which also offers an explanation for their mutual stupidity and tone deafness !"
I was under the misimpression that Siegel still worked as some sort of public information officer. I even mentioned this in my telephone conversation with this duo. They never corrected me. Perhaps they did not hear me.
Yet another "opportunity" to do what they always want to do.
ReplyDeleteTiming is everything. This timing is full blown horseshit.
ReplyDeleteGet ready for the onslaught of government crying the blues. Not surprised that the best taken care of folks during the pandemic are the government workers and school personnel. So just how much pain have the administrators experienced during the school closings? If government workers,school personnel and retirees had felt the economic pain of others this economy would have been opened by now. Yep, I am a retired government worker and I know how I was taken care of at expense of many others. Working from home, HaHa.
ReplyDeleteBernie, I’m pleased you are calling out such outrageous thinking by State politicians. I have known for weeks, much higher taxes and fees are coming quickly. Even worse, those increased family living expenses will stick around for years, if not forever.
ReplyDeleteCitizens MUST get involved and vocal. It is critical to remove as many State legislators and administrators as we possibly can. A politician is nothing without his/her ability to throw around our hard-earned dollars.
I remain disgusted over that Allentown Neighborhood Improvement Zone scheme. Taxpayers all across the state are millions and millions of dollars behind where they would have been without those give-aways. The deficit created by that is mathematically impossible to be made up. How much other taxpayer money has been squandered at this level on projects we know nothing about?
We need different people in government. No other way around this.
Bernie great post!
ReplyDeleteMoving forward we need to stop funding charter schools. They are inefficient and incompetent to our public schools. Charter schools costs taxpayers 10k for each student and 39k for a special education student. Maybe this pandemic will make us more fiscally responsible.
Also, how do we start moving the country to a more realistic tax structure like the Revenue Act of 1940?
Revenue Act of 1940. The Revenue Act of 1940 permanently increased individual income tax rates in the United States, permanently increased corporate tax rates from 19% to 33% and temporarily increased most excise tax rates to 30-50%. The personal exemption fell from $2,500 to $2,000 (married couples).
I'm looking forward to the Super-Awesome Tax District coming in a couple of years. People will be excited to pay additional taxes!!!
ReplyDeleteWell let’s get corporations to start paying their fair share!!!
ReplyDelete8:21 - you mean those legal entities that hire people? Millions of people who then pay taxes. Also, those legal entities that donate money for new wings on hospitals? Whose high-paid officials collectively makes billions of dollars in charitable donations and endowments?
ReplyDeleteWhatever they do that’s LEGAL is OK by me, some of it a little sneaky, sure. If not OK by you, then work to change the tax codes.
Makes perfect sense. Nobody is working or working at really reduced rates so lets make their lives more costly because the pensions are underfunded and the artists are starving.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the government class needs to make concessions like the private sector?
C'mon guys, don't you know.
ReplyDeleteThose corporations have large piles of money that they just bury in the ground. Or they do stupid stuff, you know, like give it to their SHAREHOLDERS, who you know, just bury it in the ground (except for the part they pay taxes on). Who ever spends any of it or puts it back into the economy?
Make them pay their "fair share" because then we won't need jobs with them. We can all get a government job someplace. Next crisis, we still get paid!
Corporate welfare is a good idea and we should give them unlimited free-range. We should not charge them any taxes so that they can build more building and hire more employees and pollute our environment at will.
ReplyDeletePutin is behind this.
ReplyDeleteThis is a prime example of just an absolutely horrible candidate getting into an elected office because people blindly voted party lines. Pinsley, a political hack who has no interest in being the Controller won because people were voting against Trump instead of considering individual candidates.
ReplyDeleteThis is the result.
Wake up people.
ReplyDeleteThese politicians know better than you do about how to spend your money. If they leave the money with you, you'll just blow it on beer, cigarettes, or other stupid stuff, like rent or groceries.
Remember, there are fat-cat arts donors out there who can't be expected to fund their favorite arts groups AND their local politicians as well, so they need your grocery money more than you do too.
And don't forget about Allentown. If we don't help them out, how will the city fund the lucrative contracts to political donors? That money helps fund a certain party's political candidates throughout the county. Where will Allentown politicians get their money to throw around and buy votes?
We can't let all that come to an end, can we?
10:24 -
ReplyDeleteGood points. I'm not even sure what qualifications Pinsley has to be controller. I can somewhat accept it since he was voted in, but it's still a disservice to the office.
More troubling is Siegel. He was first put into a patronage position by the county executive and them hired into the controller's office after Pinsley one. I don't think he has ANY qualifications to be in that office.
It would seem to me that both the Executive and Controller should have to justify why Siegel was/is employed by the county.
And the Executive and EVERY commissioner should have to go on record as to whether they support this proposal. If I don't hear from them now, I'm assuming they're behind it as well and using Pinsley/Siegel to float THEIR trial balloon.
"We should not charge them any taxes so that they can build more building and hire more employees and pollute our environment at will."
ReplyDeleteAnother "opportunity." People don't pollute when they don't have jobs and stay at home examining their navels.
A regular environmentalist's Utopia.
Should be "and then hired into the controller's office after Pinsley won."
ReplyDeleteWhen your only tool is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. When your only tool is raising taxes, every taxpayer looks like an ATM. Elections have consequences, though. Lehigh County elected these nuts and deserves higher taxes as a consequence. None of this is unexpected, even before the virus. Vote more wisely next time. But pipe down until you do, because you elected this.
ReplyDeleteBernie:
ReplyDeleteJust saw the 10:10 update on the original post.
It should probably also be noted that after he was put into the public relations patronage position by the County Executive, Siegel used that position to run for Allentown Council.
On a related note, a few months after being confirmed in early 2018 by the Board of Commissioners, the Lehigh County Director of Administration took over as chair of the county democrat party. Neither the Director of Administration or the County Executive (both former Whitehall Township officials) saw this as a conflict of interest or reason for the Director of Administration to resign.
To many, it would seem that Lehigh County government is being used to pay democrat politicians and their supporters, who then propose policies to benefit that party's candidates and politicians instead of taxpayers and residents.
I know you don't like overtly political posts, but I don't know how else to state what Lehigh County government has openly become. It's getting worse, and in time will make what happened in Allentown seem like child's play.
11:17 am said:
ReplyDelete"But pipe down until you do, because you elected this."
I disagree 100%.
Expose their stupid ideas. Let your friends and neighbors know about it.
Drive all these morons from office as soon as possible. Limit the damage they can do.
Local sales taxes only go up.Just look at the counties in North Eastern S.C.Always call the sales tax'The Penny Tax' It works all the time
ReplyDeletePinsley ousted a long term competent employee of the Controller's office to open a spot for Siegel.
ReplyDeleteSiegel is still a "public information" person, but in reality he is the campaign manager for Pinsley.
It is pretty apparent that Pinsley has no idea what the controller is supposed to do, and instead uses his position to further his political career.
i love the argument that .5% is nominal and meaningless to the taxpayer.
ReplyDeleteA person who makes 30,000 per year, that is $150 a year to them. Ask them if that money is meaningless.
Siegel has already told many people that he is running for Mayor of Allentown in April. Last time he ran he got 200 votes! He graduated from college last year and will have run for Mayor twice by his 25th birthday!
ReplyDeleteWell whaddayaknow...maybe the covid-19 faithful will begin to lose there newly implanted religion.
ReplyDeleteWhat do the doctors think of this increase what does the science indicate?
Siegel is a socialist. He has been on City Council less than a year and already wants to add an affordable housing requirement and proposed 2 new taxes on the people of Allentown
ReplyDelete3:07 You must be joking! That kid would be stupid to run for Mayor again...he will be a 2 time loser and have no future like Charlie Thiel. He thinks because eked out a city council seat against Courtney Robinson that he is electable. He will find out the hard way that getting votes for Mayor is a whole different world than votes for city council which none cares about.
ReplyDeleteSiegel had less than 1% shot of being Mayor before . After this proposal, he now has 0%
ReplyDeleteSiegel is a child with zero business/life experience. How can he possibly think he is equipped to manage a $100m budget?
ReplyDelete3:16 I am absolutely NOT joking! Siegel has told many people he is running for Mayor. Bernie, please reach out to Siegel and ask him. I think he is 23 years old. His arrogance is appalling
ReplyDeleteSiegel thinks he's the smartest guy in the room. ...he's not!
ReplyDeleteI voted for Siegel for city council because he seems like a nice kid and all you need to know on city council is "do no harm". But i would never vote for him to be Mayor.
ReplyDeleteAre you joking? City council is doing harm all the time. "I voted for him cause he seemed like a nice kid." Sheesh...what a moron.
DeleteNever a fan of Mark Pinsley since I saw him attempt to raise 10K for a Commissioners race. Then, even before sworn in as a Commissioner, threw his hat into the ring to run for a state office...1 year later, ran for Comptroller...Susan Wild better look out...
ReplyDeleteLehigh County Politicians Want A Sales Tax AND Earned Income Tax.
ReplyDeleteYeah and I want to win the lottery. If wishes were fishes...
Maybe they should have thought more about those alphabet handout programs like KOZ, KRIZ, NIZ and so forth. We can only squeeze so much blood out of a rock. It seems we're "all in this together" except when it comes to bleeding taxpayers dry. Look I get it. We all need money, but we citizens can't make money magically appear where there ain't none. Obviously a number of these programs must be discontinued or revised immediately. We could also retarget (through legislation) those who benefited most from these prior programs.
"Maybe they should have thought more about those alphabet handout programs like KOZ, KRIZ, NIZ and so forth"
ReplyDeleteThose who bought and swallowed the Covid-19 craze should pay for Covid-19 craze. Destabilizing your political enemy's administration is not a handout program, you have to pay for it.
Having your taxes raised is a symptom of the virus.
These 2 idiot politicians want to make matters worse--there are too many people in political office who do not have a clue--look what the politicians have done to this country--tax free day is now in late June these idiots want to make it late august---our political system breeds these people at such a rate that this country and the people will run out of money--I for one do not know how to solve this major problem--maybe there is no hope.
ReplyDeleteTIME TO BOYCOTT ALLENTOW FOR ANOTHER REASON .
ReplyDeleteJoshua Siegel’s candidacy is about restoring a government that fights for the working people of the city and addresses issues critical to them such as crippling tax burdens, affordable housing, safe and prosperous communities, and family-sustaining jobs. Joshua Siegel will bring a bold and new strategic vision: the All-American City Vision, that makes Allentown a leader in progressive policy."
ReplyDeleteThe kid is a quick study in politics. Say one thing and do something different!
Part of their reasoning is the money would help fund a bi-county health department. The majority of the residents want one. The recent crisis proves how invaluable one would be. Unfortunately in the past it was blocked by backward thinkers. I applaud these new thinkers
ReplyDeleteTime to step into the e21st century. The Lehigh Valley needs to move forward. The idea is being discussed by Lehigh County leaders and it is time for Northampton County to do the same.
I was always under the impression sales taxes and income taxes were regressive taxes on low income people
ReplyDeleteSchlossbird or Schawayer involved?
ReplyDeleteSiegel is an emerging political hack of the highest order. He’s the sort of young creep politician that is born not made.
ReplyDeleteThe kid has a long career of mischief ahead of him.
In his dreams he thinks he’s a Kennedy.
Keep your eyes on him, and hold on to your wallet.
This is a disingenous take on Siegel and Pinsley's proposal. Lehigh County is facing a pandemic and all of our municipalities have been struggling for years. This isn't just about Allentown; smaller communities like Slatington have been suffering from a lack of development and need help. If any of you actually read the text of the proposal, nobody is raising taxes in the middle of a pandemic-- it's designed so that we have the option to do so down the road. The Allentown folks here have been screaming about property taxes since O'Connell was forced to raise them and this is our only chance to lower them long-term by raising revenue from less burdensome sources and a wider county net. These ad hominem attacks are ridiculous and we shouldn't slander these officials for wanting to try something new.
ReplyDeleteHahaha...you're pretty funny.
DeleteSiegel's the same age as plenty of other councilors before him but he's the only one who's done anything interesting in his first few months. This proposal is bold and he's the one who led the charge on the COVID rental relief fund. We can argue about tax policy all day long but attacks on age are lazy. We just had a presidential primary where Mayor Pete massively outperformed most people in a field of old, boring senators. It seems pretty clear that young people can and should be community leaders.
ReplyDeleteWhere have you been? If Mayor Pete did that great. why is creepy Uncle Joe the nominee?
DeleteMayor Pete, God help us.
ReplyDeleteYoung Siegel is a living caricature of a puffed up career politician.
Attack the idea of taxes if you must, but it's meaningless to shame young people for wanting to be involved in politics, and God forbid wanting to help alleviate municipal fiscal distress.
ReplyDeleteOnly Adrian Shanker is a bigger political legend in his own mind than the Siegel kid.
ReplyDeleteEven the delusional and redundant twins Mike and Pete pale in comparison, but for the real freak show tune in to the ASD Board.
Having read the proposal my first take away is that it never stated or implied this fund should be established immediately. The writers are clearly concerned with the working poor and the state of the economy.
ReplyDeleteThe case laid out is pretty compelling and seeing how transformative the Regional Asset District was in Allegheny County, it's unfortunate no one is talking about the substance of the proposal.
The post Covid world is definitely going to be different, and we'll need to start new businesses and ensure Lehigh County doesn't lose its competitive edge. The investment in cultural assets and the creative economy is actually a really effective way to boost growth and demand. Not to mention the benefit to local municipalities, 115 municipalities reduced their millage rate after the RAD was implemented. I imagine every local taxpayer would love the idea of reduced or at least some steady and predictable rate in property taxes.
All of the critics seem to believe we'll emerge from this crisis and then be able to continue as normal and there won't be lasting ramifications. We'll need do something different to put our economy back together. All I can say is when Pittsburgh and Allegheny County were struggling they embraced the RAD and today their thriving.
This is in no way an Allentown only policy, the proposal specifically benefits all municipalities in Lehigh County. Allentown isn't the only community that has to deal with limited financial resources. Fountain Hill was considering getting rid of their local police coverage its gotten so bad, and so much of their land is tax-exempt this would be a huge relief for them.
ReplyDeleteImagine all the good it would do communities with large volunteer fire departments that regularly struggle to pay for training or equipment. Rural municipalities could finance farmland preservation and their own local projects without having to constantly tap just their tiny communities. This actually sounds really sensible once you consider that it doesn't have to come right now. These communities are going to need help picking themselves up after Covid and gaining some kind of stability. Every municipality's finances are going to be damaged by this, if they're left to deal with this crisis on their own I can't think of a worse deal for taxpayers. That would certainly result in everyone paying a lot more.
We're never going back to business as usual as it was before the crisis. I'm sure we'll get some help from the feds, but eventually we'll be on our own again and we need some sort of plan and strategy to bring ourselves back.
"If you want to experience less of something, tax it"
ReplyDelete"The closest thing we have to eternal life is a government agency"
"well, there you go again"
"Mr Gorbachov, if you want peace, if you want prosperity, Tear Down This Wall"
Tax us more.
ReplyDeleteNow would be a good time for that:
Anon 9:16 said:
ReplyDelete"Part of their reasoning is the money would help fund a bi-county health department. The majority of the residents want one. The recent crisis proves how invaluable one would be. Unfortunately in the past it was blocked by backward thinkers. I applaud these new thinkers"
The large population centers in the Valley already have their own health bureaus, and also have the highest rates of infection. So a bi-county health bureau is merely another bailout.
Also, Pinsley just wrote an OpEd for the Call saying we need the bi-county health bureau so they could impose a Philadelphia-style soda tax.
So I say no thanks.
Anon 1:42 am said
ReplyDelete"This is in no way an Allentown only policy, the proposal specifically benefits all municipalities in Lehigh County. Allentown isn't the only community that has to deal with limited financial resources."
It looks like Pinsley and Siegel were burning the midnight oil trying to defend their ridiculous proposal.
So if it benefits all municipalities, let those municipalities raise their taxes to cover what they're spending.
If I go into a restaurant and order everything on the menu, I don't turn to the person at the table next to me to pay for it.
Many people have moved out of these municipalities because of their high taxes and poor services. There is no reason for residents of other municipalities to fund mismanagement and corruption in others.
In the beginning Northampton County was part of Bucks County ...Then Northampton County broke away to form its own County ... Then portions of Northampton County broke away to become Lehigh County ... Portions of Northampton County broke away to form part of Monroe County and portions of Northampton County broke away to become Carbon County ... Now the apparent trend among certain politicians is to explore whether to share services now or were provided separately by the counties or cities or other municipalities ... Thus in effect undoing the past creation of new counties that formed new court systems ... So in essence whatever Greater Community Council's the new politicians want to bring about whether for health or other reasons takes certain decisions out of more local government hands ... And causes some form of revenue sharing to aid certain services ... You decide whether this is for the good or the eventual bad ...
ReplyDeleteI like the idea that the tax revenue will provide a vague slush fund.
ReplyDeleteSure next you'll be asking the State Legislature to include Unemployment as a local earned income tax.
ReplyDelete