Karen Diebel Running For Congress

Conservative blogger Sarah Rumpf writes that former Winter Park City Commissioner Karen Diebel (R) is running for Congress. Diebel is running for District 26 This is a new district that will be created. The only question is will the district be created before the Florida legislature's foot-dragging and legal challenges on redistricting from the Left and the Right.

Erick Erickson of Redstate.com is not a fan of Diebel. (Or maybe he is.) Erickson made a list of tax increases Diebel voted for as a commissioner. What Erickson actually list are fee increases.

* Voted for an increased fee schedule in 2007 that included a $15 fee to process a business certificate, a 2% increase in garbage service, 12% increase in storm water rates, and a 3.09% increase in water and sewer rates.
- Winter Park Commission Minutes, 9/24/2007

* Voted to allow an increase in taxicab fares.
- Winter Park Commission Minutes, 2/25/2008

* Voted for increased fee schedule in 2008.
- Winter Park Commission Minutes, 3/24/2008

* Voted for a fee schedule in 2008 that increased utility meter and recreation fees.
- Winter Park Commission Minutes, 3/24/2008

* Voted to allow a taxicab trip surcharge and an emergency fuel surcharge.
- Winter Park Commission Minutes, 8/25/2008

Diebel is a social conservative. She does not believe that the Obama executive order preventing federal dollars from funding abortion will work Diebel claims that federal dollars will find their way to fund abortions.

Q: Do you believe that it is possible (or even likely) that federal funds could be diverted to abortion providers via the Healthcare Reform Act?

Diebel: Yes. This is just one reason why it should be repealed and replaced with something else.

Q: Do you believe that the President's executive order was sufficient to address these concerns?

Diebel: The president's executive order does not preempt the provisions of the Healthcare Reform Act.

Diebel's assertion is false. The yearly rider, known as the Hyde Amendment, has made it nearly impossible for women to get federally funded abortions. Obama's executive order makes matters worse for poor women.

Diebel's economic positions are supporting the flat tax and cutting capital gains taxes. Capital gains are people that make a profit off of stocks, property or dividend payment received by a shareholder.

* lowering the capital gains tax? Yes, and we need to extend all of the Bush tax cuts. Doing anything less amounts to a tax increase. During my time as Winter Park City Commissioner, we cut taxes and spent less than when I first took office. This is what we need to do at the national level: lower taxes, decrease spending, decrease deficits, and decrease the debt.

* lowering the "death tax"? The death tax makes no sense. We need to be able to safely and securely pass the effects of our hard work and efforts to future generations.

* a withholding (i.e., Social Security & Medicare) tax "holiday"? That is an option, but I would move first to cancel the Stimulus spending that has not yet been spent. The Stimulus is really just taxes we will pay at a later debt - it is not free money.

* a flat income tax across all income brackets? the FairTax (H.R. 25)? I would vote for a fairer and flater tax code. I support the foundation of the FairTax - to bring all the embedded taxes to the surface - so people understand just how much they are being taxed at every level.

It is hard to get a precise number of how many Americans own stocks. Less Americans can afford to invest in the market.

Economist Brad Delong sums up how regressive the flat tax (now relabeled as the fair tax) would be on most Americans.

Wait a minute. The main effect of the flat tax is to cut taxes on the rich--those making upwards of $150,000 a year--and to bost taxes on the middle class. The flat tax is a bet that tilting the distribution of taxes in favor of the rich--so that the middle class pays more and the rich pay less--will spark an increase in economic growth. The flat tax is not supposed to be a tax cut for the middle class. Is Matt Fong really stupid, and does he not realize this? Does Matt Fong think that we're so stupid that we won't notice the contradiction when he implies that the flat tax is a tax cut for everybody?

Economics professor Holley Ulbrich shares Delong's sentiments about the flat tax.

A flat tax would shift tax obligations from the rich to the poor, and especially the middle class, and eliminate desirable tax incentives for retirement savings, home ownership, and charitable contributions. Simple? Yes. Efficient and equitable? Not so much.

Wanna bet the that that rich and middle class would be willing to give up their tax exemptions? I am willing the bet that Diebel has never asked herself that question. The flat tax would sink as fast as Paul Ryan's Medicare budget proposal. Statements like this make me wonder how serious Diebel is about policy