Citizens of Utah... WAKE THE HELL UP!!

Have you bought motor oil at Wal-Mart lately? Have you been asked to bend over at the register, while the cashier scanned your Quaker State, Havoline, or Mobil oil purchase? Or, perhaps you were bent over by the cashier without noticing it? Look at your receipt! Here's the deal...

Title 40 (40-6-14) of the Utah Code establishes a "Fee on oil and gas", and it reads:

"(1) (a) There is levied a fee as provided in Subsection (1)(b) for oil and gas:

(i) produced; and
(ii) (A) saved;
(B) sold; or
(C) transported from the field in Utah where the oil or gas is produced.

(b) The fee imposed under this Subsection (1) is equal to the product of:

(i) .002; and

(ii) the value of the oil or gas determined in accordance with Section 59-5-103.1."

(2) (a) The State Tax Commission shall administer the collection of the fee, including any penalties and interest.
(b) The money collected shall be deposited in the Oil and Gas Conservation Account created in Section 40-6-14.5.
(c) Time periods for the State Tax Commission to allow a refund or assess the fee shall be determined in accordance with Section 59-5-114.
(3) (a) Each person having an ownership interest in oil or gas at the time of production shall be liable for a proportionate share of the fee equivalent to that person's ownership interest.

So, what does all that crap mean? It means that there is a "fee" imposed upon "Each person having an ownership interest in oil or gas at the time of production" equal to 2/10 of a penny. (Section 59-5-103.1 is simply the statutory authority establishing the Utah State sales tax, and explains how much and for what goods and service sales tax will be chaged.)

Nowhere in the statute does it charge this "fee" to the retail seller, nor does it allow the retail seller to pass the fee along to the end user. Further, according to the statute, the "fee" is only placed upon oil and gas that is produced; and saved; sold; or transported from the field in Utah where the oil or gas is produced. However, Wal-Mart (and possibly other retail sellers of oil in Utah) charges a 4¢ ($0.04) "oil use fee" on one quart of motor oil. If the sales unit is a U.S. quart, then the fee charged by Wal-Mart is 20 times what the State of Utah authorized. This raises four questions in my mind:

1. Was that quart of Quaker State motor oil produced; and saved, sold or transported from the field in Utah where the oil was produced?

2. Under what statutory authority does Wal-Mart collect the "oil use fee" from the end user (purchaser) when the fee is imposed upon - and supposedly paid by - the oil producer?

3. Why hasn't the State either (a) stopped this practice of passing the fee along to the customer, or (b) amended the Utah Code, Title 40, to permit the practice of passing the fee along to the customer, but at no more than the prescribed rate of .002 per unit.

4. Who's bending us over further, Wal-Mart with its illegal practice, or the State of Utah for permitting it to continue?

It's not just a few pennies we're talking about here. Well, okay, it is just a few pennies for each of us individually, but Wal-Mart is probably raking in several thousands of dollars per day in illicit profits. And, they're doing it 4¢ at a time in their Utah stores!

And, the State of Utah can call it a "fee" all they want... it's just another TAX... in fees clothing! Somebody has apparently determined that we have too much disposable-by-choice income left after paying bills and all the other taxes with which we've been burdened by your government...

I'm Gil (and you're not), and I approved this blog!

OMG!! I Find Myself Agreeing With Obama... But Only On ONE Issue!

The AP headline reads, "More school: Obama would curtail summer vacation", which is an excellent idea. Especially since it has no impact whatsoever on ME! I am on a permanent "summer vacation", having completed my requirement to spend seven hours per day in our public "education" system decades ago.

As I matured, and - hopefully - gained in wisdom, I have come to appreciate that which I learned under the tutelage of Miss Pease (my 1st grade teacher and first love), Mr. Robert Twitty (my 7th grade science teacher and assistant principal), and Ms. Clark (my 9th grade speech and drama teacher). After completing elementary school I was not a particularly responsive student during the rest of my basic education. (As I recall, I attended 5 different schools, and at the time took some satisfaction in "holding out" on the system. It was undoubtedly true that the only person I was hurting by coasting was myself... but, like most teenagers, I was the smartest person I knew. Also like most teenagers, I lacked sound judgment, which I demonstrated by "cheating the system" out of being dazzled by my genius.)

In the mid-1960's there developed an educational philosophy of augmenting (which immediately became replacing) increase of student knowledge with increasing feelings of self-worth... and this was before anybody had even heard of Dr. Phil. For a child to be labeled a failure was damaging to his/her ego, and was to be avoided at all costs!

TRANSITIONING FROM THE AGE OF EUPHEMISM
TO THE AGE OF POLITICAL CORRECTNESS

This is approximately the time when we replaced the grade of "F", for failure, with the grade of "U" for unsatisfactory. It was considered less blunt and less damning than the word previously used to describe a students inability - or lack of desire - to master the subject matter presented in our schools. Simultaneously, we began lowering our grading standards so as not to damage the ego of those who otherwise would be labeled as failures. The curriculum was also modified to support that end - replacing established and accepted facts with easier to remember information, and eliminating the less pleasant elements of history that some may find offensive.

As a result, the United States has slipped from world leadership in education, to somewhere around number three or four in science and mathematics. We have even dropped in our functional literacy rate... we have young people graduating from high school who can't read their diploma easily! What do we excel in? Texting, cell phone usage, XBox, PSP, long-boarding and substance abuse! These "abilities" are all absolutely worthless in the workplace.

CORRECTING A FAILING SYSTEM

We DO need longer hours and more days in our public education system... but ONLY if the system focuses on appropriate education, rather than political indoctrination. We need to insure that those students who wish to succeed in the real world master the basic lessons of elementary school before going on to middle or junior high school. Restore the schools ability to "hold back" a student who hasn't acquired the necessary skills to proceed to the next grade or level, and find alternative education for those who are less academically inclined - technical training. We need more workers than we need supervisors and managers - get those who are more "hands on" oriented prepared to enter the workforce at an acceptable entry level. Those who are neither academically or technically inclined will find plenty of work at McDonald's or Wal-Mart... or in politics!

On the other hand, students do need some free time to recharge. Sitting in a classroom all year long, for eight to ten hours a day, and then having homework would not be conducive to the good mental health of students. Children need some time to interact with their family members and peers to develop social skills. An eight hour class day, six days a week, for forty-six weeks with limited homework during the school year would probably be sufficient for us to recover the human resources we have crippled during the past fifty years... by 2040.

We do not need to be Draconian in educating our children, but we do need to return to the basics, restore a higher standard, and require our system to provide more student motivation.