The Alabama Supreme Court just handed the people of Alabama a great tax break. Their ruling on a fertilized egg means it is a dependent and therefore a tax dependent. Often that IVF procedure creates ten to twenty or more fertilized eggs. The parents have to pay the storage fee so there is the financial support and housing. Isn’t that the criteria for claiming a dependent in Alabama?

            The procedure isn’t cheap and can cost several thousand dollars but getting an extra few dependents for the rest of a person’s tax life would be a plus in a few years. Maybe the U.S. Supreme Court would give all Americans that tax break! A billionaire could save millions of dollars.

            Of course that ruling does away with the four, six, twelve, or later abortion limit. Isn’t that the conservative bugaboo of court’s deciding society?

            Many Representatives, Senators, and organizations have proposed a transaction tax on Stock and Bond Traders. I don’t make many trades each year, but it will have some effect on my finances. I favor a five cent per hundred dollar trade for two reasons.

            Reason one is the tax is a financial tax levied against those with money to invest. It is a tax solely on finances of those who have usually arrived at their level by benefiting from the activities of the federal government’s borrowing. The money gained from the tax should go to paying down the National Debt. It may allow for more borrowing but language could be added limiting it. The tax would be a start to going back to the Clinton-Gingrich income tax structure to make America Debt Free!

            Reason two is such a tax would go a long way to equalizing the stock and bond markets by decreasing high speed trading based on a few cents per stock. The tax would decrease the volatility and volume making the markets more stable and an even playing field for the average investor like me.

            All those against the tax don’t want to give up their advantages. Senators and Representatives — do something you are not accustomed to doing — ignore lobbyists and massive contributions and pass a tax good for all Americans.

When I was a student at Murray State University in Murray, Kentucky, one of my urban planning classes involved a study of downtown Murray. Three of the four corners were large churches which reduced not only retail sales footage on the square but down some of the side streets. As the population grew, retailers had been forced away from the square. Now little is downtown and almost all is now on the main highways west of town. During the study I interviewed the retailers who didn’t appreciate being taxed for real estate while the churches benefited from the infrastructure the churches abused. As the retailers were bankrupted the churches bought up the buildings reducing downtown tax receipts even more.

Religious groups do not pay income taxes and thus they are not allowed to promote one person over another for a political office. Several years ago the IRS started threatening some churches about promoting a person by telling their congregation to vote for the pastor’s choice. Read 501(c) (3) rules where it clearly states a religious or non-profit organization cannot promote any political person or party over another. It makes me grit my teeth when I see some political figure addressing a congregation on a Sunday morning. The church then becomes a Super PAC and not a devotional service.

Religious schools should not be getting any funding since any one taxpayer may not agree with that religion’s beliefs or any belief in a supernatural being. Would those who think Christian schools should be supported, agree with supporting a Muslim, Hindu, or some Radical Sect? Once we support one, all are entitled. That’s why we have a separation of Church and State.

As frequent readers know I am completely and absolutely against medical marijuana because hemp has the same supposed medical value without THC’s mind altering effects.

The state just passed the recreational law making its use legal. My Republican Representative, David Welter, was designated by his leadership to make the law bi-partisan. This gave him a unique and outsized opportunity to shape the law. He was able to allow businesses and communities to ban its use. Imagine if it hadn’t been added to the law. We could have had stoners running our nukes. I’m afraid we will still have drivers of cars and big rigs high and the drug is active for hours and days.

We still disagree on whether he should have tilted at the windmill and voted against it but at least he made it more palatable than it would have been without his input. I can give him a little better than a tepid “thanks for your work.”

He also voted for the nineteen cent raise in the gas tax. He expected I would be displeased in his vote to raise but I told him, I had been pushing for 25 cents. So drivers, I can give him a bent thumbs-up for getting 80%. I told him my current Cherokee gets twice the mileage of my van so I pay half the gas tax for the same wear on the roads. A greater tax was necessary.

I also explained my proposal on Toll Roads which affect only the big rigs which cause the most damage. He said he would look into the Rhode Island plan which is where I got the idea.