Editor & Publisher Lary Coppola Advertising Sales Dee Coppola Creative Director Steve Horn Webmaster/IT Greg Piper Graphic Design Kris Lively Office Administration Jennifer Christine Web Host Piper Computer Services Contributing Writers Rodika Tollefson
SCHOOLS Close Foss School. Close a lot of schools. Come on parents, think about this. In the 1960s we had over 100,000 kids in the school system. Now we have about 47,000. We spend more, adjusted for inflation, per student for education than ever before in history — with the worst results. We have to close some schools — nobody wants their school closed — but the school board is looking at the big picture of population and conditions and closing the schools that make the most sense to close. Do not fight them on this. Show an example to your kids by using common sense and the ability to absorb changes and thrive. This should have happened a long time ago but the state has dragged its heels because of strong pressure from the teachers unions and the teachers (who are fighting for their jobs) fanning the emotions of students and parents. Despicable behavior by the teachers and their unions. I just hope the students and
parents wise up to being used and just refuse to be puppets any more. Pauline Cornelius Olalla
LIQUOR PRIVATIZATION I understand that Senator Tim Sheldon (D- Potlach) has made the privatization of liquor distribution and sales in Washington his “pet project.” However, I take exception to his recent “proclamation” on two accounts. First, his comparison of this state’s stores as comparable to “….stores of all types in the countries of the old Eastern Bloc.” is absolutely ridiculous. I am assuming Senator Sheldon has some extensive customer service experience as a result of patronizing those “old Eastern Bloc” establishments that allows him to come to the conclusion he has made. If not, “What’s your point sir?” Senator Sheldon further states: ‘It is chilling to consider that in both instances we are dealing with ‘state’ stores.’ I think the
senator may be a bit too sensitive if he finds it “chilling” to enter a Washington State liquor store. But then again, maybe he doesn’t drink spirits and purchases his beer and wine only from other retail outlets. And if he does imbibe spirits he must travel out of state to make his purchases where the stores are less “chilling.” My final point has to do with the attitude that Senator Sheldon and both the House and Senate legislators have taken for the past six years or so, and can be summed up as: No matter what the people in this state vote for, we the legislators, will ignore because we know better than the citizens of Washington. It is exactly that “we know better” attitude that has put this state in the huge budget deficit and resulting economic consequences we are now experiencing. My advice to Senator Sheldon and the rest of the legislators is start listening to what the citizens of this state are telling you through their votes. Ken Foy Edmonds
Adele Ferguson Don Brunell Kathleen Byrne-Barrantes Dan Weedin Ron Rada Julie Tappero Paula Bartlett Jason Parker Press Releases
36 Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal•KPBJ.com April 2011
Email to pressreleases@wetapple.com The Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal is a special interest publication dedicated exclusively to providing news, information and opinions to the business communities of the Kitsap and Key Peninsulas, and North Mason County. It is published monthly by Wet Apple Media. Copyright, 2011, with all rights reserved. Postage is paid at Tacoma, WA. The Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal is read by more than 26,000 business, professional, political and military leaders in Kitsap, Pierce, and Mason counties. Additional copies are available for $1.50 each. Annual subscriptions are available for $25. Reproduction or use of any editorial or graphic content contained herein in any manner whatsoever without the expressed written consent of the Publisher is strictly prohibited. The Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal is proudly composed using Apple Macintosh® computers and printed by The Kitsap Sun, Bremerton, WA. Views expressed herein are strictly the opinions of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the advertisers or ownership of The Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal.
Wet Apple, Inc. 321 Tremont Street • Port Orchard, WA 98366-3764
(360) 876-7900 • (800) 733-7990 Fax: (360) 895-2495 Website: www.kpbj.com Member Kitsap Economic Development Alliance Kitsap Visitors and Convention Bureau Homebuilders Association of Kitsap County Bainbridge Island Chamber of Commerce Poulsbo Chamber of Commerce Port Orchard Chamber of Commerce Silverdale Chamber of Commerce
Maryland’s mobile millionaires After passing a millionaire surtax in May of 2009, nearly one-third of Maryland’s millionaires have gone missing, thus contributing to a decline in state revenues, according to the Wall Street Journal. The politicians in Annapolis said they’d collect $106 million by raising the state’s income tax rate on millionaire households to 6.25 percent from 4.75 percent. In cities like Baltimore and Bethesda, which apply add-on income taxes, the top tax rate with the surcharge now reaches as high as 9.3 percent — fifth highest in the nation. Liberals claimed this was based on incomplete data and that rich Marylanders hadn’t fled the state. Well, when the state comptroller’s office confirmed the final tax return data for 2008, the first year that the higher tax rates applied, it showed: • The number of millionaire tax returns fell sharply to 5,529 from 7,898 in 2007 — a 30 percent decline. • The taxes paid by rich filers fell by 22 percent, so instead of their payments increasing by $106 million, they fell by some $257 million. While in reality a big part of that decline results from the recession that eroded incomes — especially from capital gains — stated the Journal, there is also little doubt that some rich people moved out or filed their taxes in other states with lower burdens. One-in-eight millionaires who filed a Maryland tax return in 2007 filed no return in 2008. Some died, but the others presumably changed their state of residence. A Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysis of federal tax return data on people who migrated from one state to another found that Maryland lost $1 billion of its net tax base in 2008 because of residents moving to other states. That’s income that’s now being taxed and financing services in Virginia, South Carolina and elsewhere, says the Journal. Montgomery County, outside of Washington, D.C., is Maryland’s wealthiest county and was especially clobbered, losing nearly $4 billion in taxable income in 2008, with some 80 percent of those lost dollars from high-income returns. States like Florida and Texas have no personal income tax, so the savings for a rich person who stops paying taxes in Baltimore or Montgomery County can be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. Source: Editorial, “Maryland’s Mobile Millionaires,” Wall Street Journal, March 12, 2010.