[net-gold] Bulk Thoughts on Bulk Taxing : Maine Bulk Record Subcommittee of the Maine Right To Know Advisory Committee Meeting
- From: "David P. Dillard" <jwne@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Other Net-Gold Lists -- Educator Gold <Educator-Gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Educator Gold <Educator-Gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, net-gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, NetGold <netgold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Net-Gold <net-gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, K-12ADMINLIFE <K12ADMIN@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, K12AdminLIFE <K12AdminLIFE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, NetGold <netgold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Net-Platinum <net-platinum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Net-Gold <NetGold_general@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Temple Gold Discussion Group <TEMPLE-GOLD@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Temple University Net-Gold Archive <net-gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Health Lists -- Health Diet Fitness Recreation Sports Tourism <healthrecsport@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Health Diet Fitness Recreation Sports <healthrecsport@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, HEALTH-RECREATION-SPORTS-TOURISM@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 14 Sep 2011 07:30:14 -0400 (EDT)
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Date: Wed, 14 Sep 2011 06:54:59 -0400
From: Dwight Hines <dwight.hines@xxxxxxxxx>
Reply-To: Net-Gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: Net-Gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [Net-Gold] Bulk Thoughts on Bulk Taxing : Maine Bulk Record
Subcommittee of the Maine Right To Know Advisory Committee Meeting
.
Bulk Thoughts on Bulk Taxing :
Maine Bulk Record Subcommittee
of the Maine Right To Know
Advisory Committee Meeting
Bulk Thoughts on Bulk Taxing
.
?Maine ?Bulk Record? Subcommittee? of the ?Maine Right To Know
Advisory Committee? Meeting
Dwight Hines
Maine State House
Judiciary Hearing Room
Augusta, Maine
September 12, 2011
9 A.M.
Well, it?s the old principles ? tax the
ones who ain?t there and tax the
ones we ain?t. It works, especially in
Maine, right after the Governor and
the legislature agreed on loosening the
legal mordida on business.
.
The meeting was about defining ?bulk?, as
in when you make a public records
request for an unknown number of public
records, more than one and possibly
for the entire set of records. Somehow,
the feeling was, and is, that many
records are not as public as one record.
Some think because a business may
take the many records and make money from
them in some way the government
can?t that the business should pay.
Calculating the amount of payment for
a ?bulk? record does not have a sensible
foundation. What is worse is that
there was no one at the meeting who could
tell us, or show us, the relationship
between the amount of the 'tax? and
the number of businesses that will be
making requests. Indeed, it wasn?t
even discussed but you can
assume with me that the higher the
price for the bulk records, the fewer
businesses will be making the requests.
.
In general, ?bulk? records was a bit
boring, even the part where visitors
could speak and I was allowed to speak
too, and say that we need to have
some business people here, and in the
next meeting. I left out that
businesses protect our liberties in
ways that many people don;t know.
So, an aggressive, intelligent realtor
may make a ?bulk? records request for all
the sales and tax data for a town.
The realtor could then take the data,
segment it by price category or age or
both, and discover that some of the
expensive properties are not taxed on
the same basis as others. There be
cricks and crooks in the numbers that
don?t fit right. Those cricks and
crooks will be made public and low and
behold that may all be happening when
an intelligent banker wannabee will get
the ?bulk? data, all of it, and put
together packages of good deals and
offer the homes in those packages at
great prices and interests and what
we see is giving away the data,
providing the data that has been paid
for by our taxes many times,
stimulates the economy is ways that
provide us with more choices at better
prices than we could ever predict.
.
So, as we work hard to determine how
to best provide the ?bulk? data free,
we might want to invite some business
people who have specialized in success
and transparency, using computers,
to advise us how to get ?bulk? access
ready for business requestors.
I recommend leadership from J.S. McCarthy
Printers, right in Augusta.
.
With respect to the different official
representatives on the subcommittee,
all of whom work for the government,
I recommend that they be required to
bring brochures from the manufacturers
of their hardware and software that
they use to store the ?bulk? data.
I bet every single brochure will
describe how simple it is to create
duplicate ?bulk? data sets and put them
on the web, or on a DVD, or on a
flash drive using systems already paid for
by our taxes, including taxes on businesses.
.
It would be fine idea to invite one
or two of the senators or
representatives who supported the
bill to make Maine more friendly to
businesses, just to let them know
their work is not being ignored.
.
It feels odd not to take some potshots,
even expensive potshots, at some of
the players in the subcommittee, like
Maine Municipal Association (MMA).
So, MMA, in defending the lawsuit by
Maine Heritage Policy Center against
them for the misuse of government
funds, etc., appears to be claiming that
MMA is a private organization but that
they are also a public agency, too.
Oh my, such a greasy pig is hard to
grab hold of but MHPC is doing a fine
job of driving a stake through MMA?s
cold heart. In contrast, Maine media
is doing a terrible job in writing and
talking about the lawsuit.
.
The lawsuit is fascinating but please
note that the Maine Press Association
convention on Oct. 14 and 15 at Point
Lookout in Northport, has as their
primary focus, advertising, with some
words on writing and having a cafe.
.
No workshops on investigative reporting,
no seminars on using ?bulk?
records, no workshops on ethics, and
definitely no workshops on how to write
about civil law suits that are defining
the way your taxes can be spent and
how much concentration of power is
acceptable in a private, no, public, no,
private agency. It is clear to me
that if MMA is a private organization,
they are violating antitrust laws.
If they are a public agency they are
also violating laws, just not the
antitrust ones, maybe.
.
Nothing like a few potshots that hit
the targets dead center to make you
feel better. A-yuh.
.
Leaving the ?bulk? discussions and
finding my car in its new and improved
parking place where I didn?t have to
walk by a runt moose in a dark passage
way, I was able to find the Kennebec
Courthouse. The nice lady there told
me right up front that to search for
a case, after one free name, would cost
me 15 dollars a name. She was definite,
though she cited no laws or rules
and what she stated is against what the
Maine Judiciary has written about
how they want all the courts to be
open and transparent. I left with all
my money because not only do they not
have a terminal the public can use to
search for themselves, but they don?t
have an electrical outlet for your
computer, or a desk for your computer.
The one outlet I could find was in
the main hallway almost under the water
fountain and it was uncomfortable
sitting on the floor, nicely plugged in,
praying that no one came for a
sloppy drink of water while I was spread
out under the water fountain in
near shocking electric vulnerability.
.
So, we need to be friendly to businesses
so they grow and pay taxes so we
can have free, modern access to court
records, and a desk with electricity
while doing it.
There are now scheduled more subcommittee
meetings and you need to come and
visit and help to block the making of
some bad sausages.
.
.
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