Jim Tobin, A Friend Of Liberty (1945-2021)

By: Christina Tobin

Sometimes a single man or woman has to stand up for principle, just so the rest of us are reminded that principles exist. Such a man was Jim Tobin. 

Illinois lost its premier tax-fighter in December 2021 when Jim Tobin, president of Taxpayers United of America and Taxpayer Education Foundation, passed away at his home in Berwyn, Illinois.

While Tobin was well known for his nearly five decades of work resulting in defeating more than 400 tax increases on the citizens of Illinois, particularly the elderly, it was his relentless tenacity in fighting for what he thought to be right that was his true measure.

Jim was once described this way: “Tobin envisions himself as a modern-day Patrick Henry beating back ‘tax-eating’ politicians with the same fervor that inspired American colonists to confront the tax-eating British in 1776.”

In the article, “The Chicago Tax Strike of 1977,” Murray N. Rothbard told one of the best-known stories about Jim, who had just founded the National Taxpayers United of Illinois a year earlier in 1976: “In recent months, a mighty property-tax strike has been sweeping the northern suburbs of Chicago…James Tobin, 31-year-old economist, bank auditor and Illinois NTUI head who was to become the principal leader of the tax rebellion, urged an outright tax strike….”

“…The reassessments suddenly boosted property taxes by very large amounts: most raises were in the 50–65 percent range; other tax bills increased by as much as 300 percent. When the property-tax bills were sent out, the citizens of the North Shore reacted with shock and anger. At first, the reaction was outraged but inchoate: phone calls bombarded the Cook County Assessors Office. Complaints also deluged the Chicago Tribune, which initiated public knowledge of the firestorm of grievance by printing some of the complaints in a front-page article.”

That’s where Jim stepped in, not just once, but over 400 times in more than 40 years. But Jim wasn’t a mere anti-tax revolutionary. He was a man concerned with all the causes of his time that challenged injustice: civil rights, unjust wars, and the individual right and responsibility of the American citizen to stand up for what is right, including in running for office. He believed people have to “be the change they wish to see.”

Jim ran for Governor of Illinois in 1998 and as Illinois Lt. Governor with Cal Skinner in 2002 on the Libertarian Party ticket. He was challenged by entrenched politicians both times. Those ill-willed challenges rallied people around the country against the injustice of seeking to keep a true citizen-candidate off the ballot. Among other things, it inspired his daughter, Christina Tobin, at 17 years of age, not only to become involved in those elections but later to found the Free and Equal Elections Foundation to help citizen candidates all over the country.

The goal of our lives should be to strive for a perfect record of victory on the battlefield of principle. We will not always be correct, and need not be. Jim Tobin believed that we need only do our best to fight for liberty and justice for all, and we must, in that way, be true to ourselves. That is the way of a free life, and the measure of a truly free man. Jim Tobin was a great American and a great champion of the little guy. He also was my father.

Sometimes a single man or woman has to stand up for principle, just so the rest of us are reminded that principles exist. Such a man was Jim Tobin.

Bureaucracy Is Expensive

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By: Val W. Zimnicki

Bureaucracy is the main poison in our republic.  It is self-perpetuating, freedom-robbing and very expensive. As George Washington put it; “Government….is force….it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.” America’s forefathers therefore created a Constitution that does not give authority to deal with the many costly administrative services we have become accustomed to.  Some of these federal programs include the Department of Energy, Department of Commerce, Department of Transportation, Department of Education, and many more.

Let’s take the Department of Education as an example. This year’s budget is $7 billion. Of course, we did not have a education department until president Carter created one to appease the teachers unions. Have education problems been solved because of this unnecessary monstrous creation? No, and indeed many new artificial and costly difficulties have been created.

Simply put, students are dumber than ever. Of course, the good news for administrators is that thousands have unessential and redundant jobs. These government officials typically want their agendas to grow in scope. More employees mean bigger budgets, which means more importance. These bureaucrats are not subject to profit-and-loss accountability and they frequently prove it. After all, money can always be raised by taxing the good citizens of the U.S.  When a program fails, as most do, the cry of being underfunded is raised. Raising taxes to pay for failures is standard operating procedure. That’s the bureaucratic way.

Problems caused by expensive government cannot be solved by growing more government. Yet, federal and state governments continue to raise taxes to pay for their failures. The Department of Education is just one of thousands of costly misadventures that stifle economic growth and keep the static government employees occupied with ‘busy work.’

FEDERAL JUDGE STRIKES DOWN ARPA’S TAX MANDATE

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Federal Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove gave Kentucky and Tennessee an important legal victory when he ruled that the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA)’s restrictions on state fiscal autonomy were unconstitutional and enjoined (blocked) the enforcement of those provisions against both states, according to the nonpartisan Washington-based Tax Foundation. The judge held that the ARPA provision, which limited states’ authority to cut taxes if they accepted their share of the $195.3 billion in state Fiscal Recovery Funds provided under the bill, was unduly coercive and therefore unconstitutional.

“In issuing a permanent injunction against the mandate, Judge Van Tatenhove focused exclusively on the coercion argument,” writes the foundation’s Jared Walczak  “The ruling acknowledges that the states ‘may very well be correct’ about the other three grounds but refrained from anticipating additional questions of constitutional law when, in the court’s opinion, answering only one would suffice.”

The judge noted that the federal government can offer conditioned funds to states, but this power comes with limits. The government can prohibit the direct use of ARPA funds to facilitate tax cuts if it so chooses, but difficulties arise when Congress goes beyond conditioning the direct use of the funds to putting broad limits on “indirect” use which implicates a wide range of state fiscal choices.

Kentucky and Tennessee cases show, that “refusing to accede to the conditions set out in the [law] is not a realistic option.”

The power to tax is central to state governmental authority, a principle that has been affirmed by the Supreme Court going all the way back to Gibbons v. Ogden (1824). However, Congress’s restriction of this crucial aspect of our system of fiscal federalism exceeded the powers afforded the federal government by the U.S. Constitution.

The foundation states that the law’s provision is simultaneously coercive and ambiguous, and are the most likely grounds for rulings against the Tax Mandate.

“The Kentucky and Tennessee case, like the Ohio one before it, only affects the states named as plaintiffs. In his opinion, the judge notes that the coercive elements are universally present, but he nonetheless restricts the scope of the injunction to the plaintiff states, declining to issue a nationwide injunction.”

The foundation concludes, “The process is far from over, but Friday’s ruling is a major development.”

“This is as important ruling and precedent,” said Jim Tobin, president of Taxpayers United of America. “The ruling cuts down the outrageous condition that prevented states from cutting taxes if they accepted Fiscal Recovery Funds.”

Source: https://taxfoundation.org/american-rescue-plan-tax-cuts-federal-judge/