The crusade to get full voting rights for D.C. in Congress is dead. Kaput. Finished. O-v-e-r.
On the verge of victory, Democratic leaders pulled the pending bill last week. That was the District’s last best shot. Utah, which was to gain another red seat to balance the District’s blue, is balking. New census numbers might take Utah out of the equation and bring in a Democratic state such as Massachusetts. Bye-bye balance. Democrats might lose their majorities in the next election.
Face it: The moment has passed.
It’s time to accept defeat, change tactics, and inaugurate a new crusade: Unburden District residents from federal income taxes by instituting a flat federal tax.
I know lowering the tax is a long shot, but it has a better chance of success than getting a vote. Consider the benefits: Living in the District becomes cheaper, wealthy people would flock to the nation’s capital, they would fatten local tax coffers, schools and public services would benefit from extra cash, quality of life would improve.
What’s not to like?
The District seemed to be on the verge of getting a bill through Congress, but a rider that would have wiped out local gun control laws was too much for some to bear. Buying liberal dogma, local leaders, Democrats in general and liberals en masse refused to back the voting rights bill because of the gun amendment. What a shame.
Truth is, lifting D.C.’s gun control laws would have had little effect. Federal laws would have stayed in place, as they do in more than 40 states. Since the Supreme Court ruled in 2008 that D.C.’s stringent gun ban was invalid, have the streets become more dangerous? No, no and no.
The city council passed the Firearms Registration Act in December 2008, to comply with the Heller v. D.C. decision. Since then, police have registered 1,118 firearms: 785 handguns and 333 long-barrel guns.
Gun crime has not increased.
“People who legally own guns are not a problem for police,” says D.C. police union President Kris Baumann. “There has never been a single crime committed with a registered gun in the District.”
I’m with Mayor Adrian Fenty and council members such as Jack Evans who would have swallowed the gun pill to get the vote. Liberal dogma killed the bill.
Now let’s lobby for tax-free D.C.
Republicans have always used our fair city as a petri dish for their pet projects, such as school vouchers. GOP stalwarts Steve Forbes and Jack Kemp championed the flat tax. Why not try it here?
“Chances are slim,” says Evans, who chairs the council’s finance committee. “The federal government needs the revenue, and the suburbs would worry their wealthy residents would move to D.C.”
But fair is fair. D.C. residents contribute about $1.8 billion in federal taxes, but we don’t get a vote in Congress to determine how our money is spent. Keep the vote; we keep our taxes.
With voting rights dead, this is a worthy challenge.
E-mail Harry Jaffe at [email protected].
