The Big Picture: Holiday Madness, Tax Cuts and Budget Surpluses

Posted on November 26, 2005 | Leave a comment

The “madness” is the priorities.

The Associated Press has published someFacts and Figures on Holiday Spending:

  • On average: U.S. households are expected to spend an average of $466 on gifts during the holiday season, down from last year’s estimate of $476.
  • Big Spenders: Households whose incomes top $50,000 intend to spend $657 for holidaygifts.
  • Shutterbugs: Digital cameras are the No. 1 technology gift choice.
  • Online: About 34 percent of all consumers will buy holiday gifts on the Internet, up from 33 percent a year ago.
  • Big week: The biggest holiday sales in 2004 were generated Dec. 12-18.
  • Sing along: The holiday song played most frequently in malls last year was “Jingle Bells.”
  • Making time: 39 percent of people surveyed this year will spend time during work hours shopping or doing holiday errands.

    Has anyone noticed that gas prices has plummeted? Funny how this strageically happened now. It will be interesting to see the figures after this holiday season to see the comparison of shopping expenditures.

    The papers were filled with articles on yesterday’s shopping, upcoming shopping, and the big news: The annual turning on of the light display at the Mormon Temple in downtown Salt Lake.

    I hope to be able to find out some figures regarding what it takes to keep those lights on during the holiday season: monetary cost, cost of natural resources, contribution to the pollution in the valley, etc.

    There was even an article about how a couple “sacrificed”, with emotion I might add, cutting down their 30 foot spruce tree for the Gateway shopping center this year.

    Meanwhile, low income Utahns are expected to need heat assistance – with a projected $3 million extra in revenue being needed for that and officials “wondering where the money will come from.”

    An editorial in today’s Salt Lake Tribune, SALES TAX ON GROCERIES: Cut in any tax must be made up somewhere, explains that citizens consciences are “in the right place” but that the reality is that the money will have to be taken from other programs.

    Let’s see…..I have some ideas. I would like to suggest the money be raised and used for programs in need by:

  • asking the Mormon church to forgo lights this season and donate the money to the heating assistance program or other programs.
  • raising the gas tax to $3.00 per gallon and use the money for assistance programs for the needy.
  • having administrators and elected officials that earn more than $100k per year “tighten their belts” and voluntarily accept a 5-10% pay cut.
  • taking the $6k that is generated during the holiday shopping season from parking meters and donating it to assistance programs. (parking is free in downtown Salt Lake from Thanksgiving through the holidays.)
  • instead of cutting taxes, which the legistlature is considering due to a budget surplus, use the surplus for those programs.

    Oh, but I forogt: a restructuring of the tax code, increasing taxes on things like gasoline, or asking big corporations (including churches) to curtail lavish expenditures would just be too difficult…and….yawn….laborious and….take too much time out of everyone’s holiday preparations and……

    I mean, really: it doesn’t take too much brain effort to figure this all out.

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