ATL Report – Atlanta News and Gossip

Thinking Right’s weekend free-for-all. Pick a topic:

? Soldiers killed at Fort Hood died on the battlefield, killed by an enemy combatant who, astonishingly, managed to evade detection despite obvious clues. This massacre requires in-depth independent investigation.

? If legislators ever needed an object lesson in why they should never cite a particular cause or program as a reason for raising taxes, they got it Sunday. State auditors examined four departments and found that they collected $174 million from 347 “user fees.” But not every dime of “fees” collected went to the particular program — solid waste management, for example. Some went into the general fund to finance higher, more immediate needs. Georgia badly needs a constitutional amendment to outlaw the practice of linking taxes that are disguised as “user fees” to a specific program. Special interests consider the money “mine” and some programs are awash in designated cash, while others of …

Thinking Right’s weekend free-for-all. Pick a topic:

? Soldiers killed at Fort Hood died on the battlefield, killed by an enemy combatant who, astonishingly, managed to evade detection despite obvious clues. This massacre requires in-depth independent investigation.

? If legislators ever needed an object lesson in why they should never cite a particular cause or program as a reason for raising taxes, they got it Sunday. State auditors examined four departments and found that they collected $174 million from 347 “user fees.” But not every dime of “fees” collected went to the particular program — solid waste management, for example. Some went into the general fund to finance higher, more immediate needs. Georgia badly needs a constitutional amendment to outlaw the practice of linking taxes that are disguised as “user fees” to a specific program. Special interests consider the money “mine” and some programs are awash in designated cash, while others of …