State Senator Admits Cable Industry Helped Write Pro-Industry Legislation

jamie sends in news of comments by David Hoyle, a State Senator in North Carolina, about recently defeated legislation he sponsored that would have limited the ability of government to develop municipal broadband. Hoyle readily admitted that the cable industry had a hand in writing the bill. We discussed the cable industry's extensive lobbying efforts in that region last year. From the article: "The veteran state senator says cities should leave broadband to the cable companies. 'It's not fair for any government unit to compete with private enterprise,' he says. In the last legislative session Sen. Hoyle tried to put a moratorium on any more local governments expanding into municipal broadband. When the I-Team asked him if the cable industry drew up the bill, Senator Hoyle responded, 'Yes, along with my help.' When asked about criticism that he was 'carrying water' for the cable companies, Hoyle replied, 'I've carried more water than Gunga Din for the business community — the people who pay the taxes.'"

Comments

US citizens pay more taxes than corporations

[RichMan]

It is a great US myth that corporations fund the government. The actual facts are that the people pay more.
Also the citizens vote. So why are the politicals doing the behest of the corporations ?

http://www.usgovernmentrevenue.com/yearrev2009_0.html

2009 Income Taxes
Individual: $915.3B
Corporate: $138.2B

What's new?

[elrous0]

Hardly a secret that industry basically writes policy and law at both the state and federal level. As expensive as Congressional campaigns are, and with free reign to donate to (aka "bribe") any politician they choose, is it any real surprise that they're calling all the shots? Hell, Dick Cheney even gave the oil companies their own secret task force to write U.S. energy policy.

For those who are interested...

[moeluv]

in letting Senator hoyle know exactly what they think of his ideas. Office: 300-A Legislative Office Building Phone: (919) 733-5734 Email: David.Hoyle@ncleg.net Legislative Mailing Address: NC Senate 300 N. Salisbury Street, Room 300-A Raleigh, NC 27603-5925 Terms in Senate: 9 (0 in House) District: 43 Counties Represented: Gaston Occupation: Real Estate Developer/Investor Address: P.O. Box 2567, Gastonia, NC 28053 Phone: (704) 867-0822

Re:For those playing "Guess the Party"

[Mongoose Disciple]

The source article doesn't mention his party, which is odd, but that's a perfectly non-conspiracy-theory explanation for why it's not in the summary if you'd like one.

Re:Contradiction

[cowscows]

Most local and state governments cannot just decide to run deficits in the way that the federal government does. That's one of the reasons why state and local governments are having to severely cut services and get rid of employees over the course of this economic turmoil.

Re:Businesses Pay Taxes?

[Red Flayer]

Because the respective prices those corporations would charge to maintain the same profit margin would go up, multiplied countless times as their products get used and reused in creating final end consumer products.

No. Pricing is not done to maintain a fixed profit, it is done to maximize profit. If they have room to move prices higher to maintain net profit in the face of higher taxes, then they are not pricing correctly.

In theory, raising the tax on gross profit will have no impact on pricing, since their product is already priced to maximize gross profit.

How many jobs would be returned to the US if we made the US a corporate tax haven and instituted some sane liability laws?

Very few. The location of the headquarters has little to do with where the bulk of the jobs are. Instead, we'd have a higher direct tax burden on everyone, and no recourse if a company fucks people over.