For the record, we now know that House Speaker Greg Stumbo understands the basic economics of taxation.

Today’s Herald-Leader reveals this telling quote:”…Stumbo released a letter from Kentucky Lottery officials who said Williams’ proposed 10-percent tax on lottery tickets would hurt sales and put the state’s lottery at a disadvantage compared to other states with no tax.”

There you have it sports fans. Speaker Stumbo understands that if the House of Representatives proposes to raise the tax on something – by definition – less of it will be produced or sold. So when he proposes to raise personal income taxes, taxpayers will work less; if he raises sales taxes, people will buy less; if he raises real estate taxes or impact fees on developers, fewer projects will be built.

Let’s hold him accountable for this revelation.

This morning Gov. Beshear added a “proposal” to the growing list of issues he wants the Kentucky general assembly to tackle this month in a special legislative session: Placing Video Lottery Terminals (VLTs) at race tracks.

Why? To save the horse industry? (Duplicity = Saying one thing but meaning another.) VLTs? – these are the gambling machines that used to sit in truck stops until Frankfort closed them down (“Without a cut, we shut you down!”).

Now Beshear wants them at the race tracks because it creates a new stream of tax revenues so Frankfort can continue to feed its ravenous appetite for MORE AND MORE AND MORE MONEY. Watch the Frankfort duplicity doctors spin this multiple ways, but in the end they want more of our money to waste on their pet projects.

In 2008, the residents of Simpson County were mesmerized with the idea of an electric car company building ZAP cars and employing thousands. As it turned out, GE Capital had intended to loan the project money until it was discovered that GE was short of money, too. So the project predictably died. In fact, the project lacked equity capital, the real green stuff possessed by real entrepreneurs with real venture capital.

So is an entrepreneur in Whitley County bellying up to the bar? Don’t hold your breath. According to “No Gas Required”, the State of Kentucky will provide $15 million in incentives if the company, Sirius Energies Corporation, comes up with $33 million. Hey, Corbinites, before you roll out the red carpet, check out the Sirius checkbook to see if it’s full of cobwebs, too. If you don’t, you’re likely to get ZAPPED!

On Gov. Beshear calling Kentucky’s general assembly into action on June 15, Mark Twain (1835-1910) had this to say, “No one’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.”

Why does Beshear wants more of your money this time?

* Preserving SEEK funding for Tier 5 public schools (no improvement six years in a row) that refuse to implement improvement plans. “’I’ll say it again and again – we cannot move forward if we take significant steps backward in spending in our classrooms,’ Gov. Beshear said of his proposal.” Throwing more and more money at failing schools sounds like California. Is that where Beshear has Kentucky headed?

Mark Twain also said, “Irreverence is the champion of liberty and its one sure defense.”

* Maintaining current funding for economic development efforts and increasing funding for state parks. Is there a subsidy program that Beshear has not fallen in love with? Why must taxpayers who have never visited a state park be forced to increase the subsidy for parks that fewer and fewer Kentuckians visit?

Again from Mark Twain, “What is the difference between a taxidermist and a tax collector? The taxidermist takes only your skin.”

Mark Levin has written a new book that presents true Americans in Kentucky with a new weapon to fight back against “statism,” the belief that government can solve our problems. The new laser-guided bomb Levin drops is vocabulary. Levin writes,

Richard Weaver popularized the phrase, "Ideas have consequences," but so do words have consequences, too.

Let's begin the fight to take back our freedoms by explaining how government is trashing them. First, read Levin's new book. Second, go to FreedomKentucky.org to mount your own personal campaign where you live. Third, attend the tea party of your choice.

Thomas Jefferson wrote, "The natural course of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground."

Kathy Gornik, CEO of Thiel Audio and Board Chair of the Bluegrass Institute, challenges the conventional thinking that assumes manufacturing is in serious decline in the attached interview with Investors Business Daily last Monday. Kathy “isn’t against outsourcing manufacturing to China. She just thinks her employees can do a better job.“

Kudos to Kathy Gornik, the hero of every productive worker in Kentucky!

An avowed supporter of free markets and global capitalism, she also warns, “The worst concept that is perpetuated by political leaders is that economics is a zero-sum game — that China’s gain in manufacturing jobs is a direct minus in the U.S.”

“Zero-sum game” thinking is what perpetrates the Frankfort attitude that the productive companies in Kentucky must “give back” to the unproductive ones, that the school districts with the most funding must be forced to subsidize the worst ones. What Kentucky institutions need is more courageous competitors like Kathy Gornik.

What if she were Gov. Beshear’s Economic Development Secretary?

Paul Jacob at the Sam Adams Alliance has written a fascinating account of a modern-day hero, Sal Grasso, in Cape Coral, FL. He started out trying to help the city solve a problem and wound up as the Mayor’s worst nightmare.

Surely Sal has potential soul mates in towns and burgs throughout Kentucky. If you know of any, please let me know!