SATURDAY HIGH NOON

What's the matter with Kansas? "The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy recently reported that Kansas has the ninth-most unfair tax system in the county.  A Kansan earning $47,700 a year pays 9.5 percent of income in state and local taxes; but someone earning $1,191,700 pays an effective rate of just 3.6 percent."

So much for the 'trickle down' libertarian economic theories masterminded by the Wichita plutocrats Charles & David Koch; and implemented by Gov. Sam Brownback and his cronies in the state legislature.

Here is a very informative article by Larry Weigel recently featured at the Women for Kansas web site "Bleeding Kansas – Revenue shortfall will require grassroots leadership to deal with crisis".  Mr. Weigel has appeared multiple times on Radio Free Kansas and in this article describes who, how and why Kansas has entered this dangerous phase of reactionary policies, self-imposed austerity and regressive taxation.

Naomi Fowler's latest world wide informative "Tax Cast" from the Tax Justice Network (30 min. ca.) SUMMARY: Do our politicians believe in the societies they serve or not? The Taxcast looks at making the tax returns of our elected representatives public and the inspirational achievement of journalist Umar Cheema of  the Centre for Investigative Reporting in making Pakistan only the fourth country in the world to publish the tax returns of its Parliamentarians. Also: how the British general election demonstrates political capture by finance interests; libertarian paradise – the world's newest tax haven; and is Singapore trying to shut down reporting on its tax haven status?