[voices]
Family values
STREET TALK
by Cathrine L. Walters
Asked Tuesday, July 30, near the corner of Spruce and Higgins. This week’s Indy talks about the rise of Montana distilleries. What’s your cocktail of choice? Follow-up: Have you tried a Montana-made spirit?
Jen Certa: White Russian. Close to home: Yes. I’ve been to Montgomery Distillery and it is something different for Missoula. I really liked it.
John Bardsley: Whiskey sour. Whiskey a go go: Yes. I drink good whiskey in the backcountry and just had a whiskey sour at Headframe Spirits in Butte this past weekend…It was good.
Gary Stein: Glenlivet, neat. Straight shooter: I’ve tried one or two. I tried the Neversweat Whiskey (from Headframe) at the James Bar. I had it neat and it was good.
Jessica Wing: Back in the day it would be some nice vodka, like when the Old Post Pub had the distilled vodka with fruit infused. Hopped up: Not yet. I just had a baby so it’s been a good 16 months. I’m sticking to the beer while I’m breastfeeding.
Jason Paranto: A dirty martini with three olives. Moderation: Yes. I’ve been to Montgomery Distillery and had the vodka drinks. I like the portion sizes there and the two-drink limit. It keeps it classy.
[4] Missoula Independent • August 1–August 8, 2013
On a recent afternoon stroll along Higgins, my girlfriend and I passed a couple of folks and their dog, sitting in repose on the sidewalk, with seemingly all of their possessions. Their appearance was disheveled, but their vibe was light and their faces optimistic. Then I noticed their sign, which read, “not rainbow, just hobo.” As if that is somehow a positive contrast. True, the Rainbow gathering has been a hot topic this summer, and it seems at times that popular opinion, as well as articles both in print and online, consider the gathering an unmitigated disaster. In general, the Rainbow Family seems to have garnered a reputation as a rough collection of jobless, homeless, sketchy, vapidly arrogant, drug-addicted, aggressive panhandlers that exude a mysterious sense of entitlement. A blight upon our fair, hardworking society. Well, occasionally I would say that’s pretty fair, at least as an assessment of what people often see out here in the cities. However, as someone who has attended 15 Rainbow Gatherings, both regional and “national” (national simply referring to there being one really big one in the states each summer), I can tell you it’s quite a bit more complex than that. For starters, despite various casual media commentary discussing “official dates of the gathering” and the like, no such official dates exist. The Rainbow Family of Living Light, as it is unofficially known, is actually not a group at all. It is a spiritual and social movement, an outgrowth of the well known hippie era of the late ’60s and ’70s that now, in the minds of the mainstream, dwells in the realm of counter culture. Really, it is just a different culture, a tribal culture, like you might find in other countries or in this one perhaps a hundred years ago. It is not clearly defined by any constructs of organization, such as forest service land use permits or dates. True, the main part of the national gathering is July 1-7, but that is only a temporal guideline. People arrive much earlier than and stay much later than that week. There is no gate, no admission, no money exchanged (except discreetly between individuals), no explicit rules and no judgment of individual behavior (except that which occurs in one’s own mind). It is not a festival. It is not an excuse to do acid in the woods with naked people, although that does occur. It is, as is suggested by the name Rainbow, a broad spectrum of opportunities, experiences and energies. It is a chance to create a totally unique version of yourself, if only for a few days or weeks, against the unspoiled canvas of wild meadows and forest. It’s a place where kindness really matters, where artistic endeavors are social currency and where fun, love and laughter reverberate amidst the ebb and flow of drums, flutes,
sitars and wildflowers. It is a place where saying “I love you” to total strangers before 8 a.m. and meaning it with all your heart is completely normal. It is a place where moments of spiritual transcendence are encouraged. It is a place where you can be whoever you want. No strings. Just the uninhibited dance of life set to the music of the soul. Haters need not apply. Thomas Schaffnit Missoula
Tax fairly Sen. Max Baucus has taken on the gargantuan task of reforming our nation’s tax code. If done right, it could turn out to be the most significant accomplishment of his career. But with well-established
“It is a place where you can be whoever you want. No strings. Just the uninhibited dance of life set to the music of the soul.” special interest groups standing in the way, it might be more likely that we just get more of the same, or worse yet, a bad deal for Montana. Baucus’ decision to start from a “clean slate” differentiates this effort from past attempts at major tax reform. In other words, Baucus’ finance committee will begin by completely eliminating the existing tax code, and then rebuild it from the ground up. The idea is to force special interests to justify why certain tax policies, like credits and deductions, should be included moving forward. The ultimate objective is to reduce tax rates for everyone and make the system far simpler to navigate. That would have positive economic impacts across the board and energize America’s recovery. This clean slate approach makes perfect sense. Our existing tax code is notoriously voluminous and complicated. Each year, American families and businesses spend an estimated six billion hours and $160 billion to complete their taxes. The vast morass of rules, regulations, credits and deductions makes it difficult for anyone to understand.
An unintended result of such a convoluted tax code is that we’ve made it our nation’s policy to treat some individuals and businesses as winners with preferred tax treatment—and others as losers. That’s because most tax rules were designed to incentivize certain behaviors, like home ownership or saving for your child’s college education. But as any good economist will tell you, when you use government policy to incentivize one behavior, it inevitably results in bad outcomes somewhere else. For instance, allowing home mortgage interest deductions has helped millions of Americans achieve home ownership, but it has also incentivized buying bigger, more expensive homes and ultimately driven up the cost of housing for everyone. It also means that we pay higher tax rates, overall, to “pay” for these tax deductions. Clearly, the more complicated we make the tax code, the more likely it is that we will have these winner vs. loser scenarios. That’s why the most important tenets of any tax reform package must be fairness and simplicity. Sticking to these we can produce a flatter, more equal progressive tax structure that everyone can understand. It sounds so simple, but unfortunately, tax fairness will be very difficult to achieve. There are a myriad of special interest groups who will try to game the system, or worse, use the tax code to create disadvantages for specific industries. For instance, over the last several years the oil and gas industry has been targeted for unequal tax treatment. The Obama administration and allies in Congress have attempted to single-out energy companies by eliminating certain credits and deductions that are standard for businesses in every other economic sector. Such policies run contrary to what most of us consider fair play, but even so they have been very real threats to Montana’s energy industry. And they certainly run contrary to the “clean slate” approach being taken with tax reform. Nevertheless, it’s important for Senator Baucus and his tax reform allies to keep a wary eye out for attempts to leverage the new tax code to create favorable tax treatment, or to punish certain industries as a way to pursue a political agenda. This is a very big task Sen. Baucus has taken on, and he needs to know that Montana is backing him. Go and weigh in with your comments about what you think should be included in the tax reform package at taxreform.gov, and urge Baucus and his colleagues to keep fairness and simplicity central to the reform package. Sen. Bruce Tutvedt Chairman Montana Senate Taxation Committee Kalispell