Finally, A Government For the People
Governor Sonny Perdue of Georgia just signed into law yesterday a bill that would make it illegal for businesses who pay wages to illegal aliens to write those wages off of their tax returns. Effectively, employers who hire illegal workers will have to weigh the tax benefit against the reduced wage benefit. Employers will also have to verify citizenship or legal status of their employees at the state level.
The state at least demostrates some intelligence in following the money trail. By taking away incentives for businesses to hire illegal aliens, the incentive for illegal aliens to come to Georgia is taken away; that is, work. Watch out Alabama.
The law will have to be aggressively enforced if it is to have any effect. This is where my confidence level drops, simply because of the political nature of this issue. It is my humble opinion that the majority of the legal residents of Georgia, including myself, wish for the law to be enforced and offenders to be penalized to fullest extent. However, the squeaky wheel gets the grease, and those on the left side of the political fence are much squeakier. The rally for illegal aliens drew a much larger crowd than the rally for the signing of the recent bill. So what do the politicians who do not venture from the capitol building see?
Then you have the businesses who stand to benefit from illegal aliens. Georgia's number one industry is poultry. Poultry processing plants employ large numbers of migrant workers, a large number of them, I speculate, being illegal. Currently, I believe that the law provides two years for such businesses to become compliant. A lot can happen in two years.
And the soon-to-be form that new employees will have to fill out to verify their legal status will be, I am afraid, much like the Federal I-9 form. Basically, the form is required to be filled out by the new employee, swearing that they can work legally. Costs of administration to businesses to do anything other than file the form in the employee's file will be punitive. I am not sure how this is really going to be effectively implemented.
Other aspects of the bill include making many state-funded programs unavailable to illegal aliens. Items such as certain medical care and education are exempt. So, illegals can get medical treatment and be educated in public schools on the dime of the taxpayer. What other programs could they possibly need in order to exist here illegally?
I applaud Georgia for the effort, and I sincerely hope that they enforce this law agressively. However, this is the proverbial bandaid on the tumor. In my mind, our impotent, pantywaist Federal government should be handling this issue as a matter of national security. This is a simple matter to me.
First, implement a plan to seal and secure the borders from anyone else entering the country illegally. Be agressive. It is essential that the numbers of illegals be minimized within our borders in order to deal with the ones already here. Secondly, implement a plan to identify and deport those that are here. I do not believe that they would be very hard to find. If my neighbor knows where to go to pick up daylaborers to pick up rocks out of his yard, then I do not see that law enforcement would have a difficult time knowing where to execute a sting. But because of the impotence of our Federal government, the problem is out of hand now, since they did not deal with the issue when the illegal population began climbing.
If we do not get a handle on illegal migration, the foundations of our nation are all but knocked from under us.
The state at least demostrates some intelligence in following the money trail. By taking away incentives for businesses to hire illegal aliens, the incentive for illegal aliens to come to Georgia is taken away; that is, work. Watch out Alabama.
The law will have to be aggressively enforced if it is to have any effect. This is where my confidence level drops, simply because of the political nature of this issue. It is my humble opinion that the majority of the legal residents of Georgia, including myself, wish for the law to be enforced and offenders to be penalized to fullest extent. However, the squeaky wheel gets the grease, and those on the left side of the political fence are much squeakier. The rally for illegal aliens drew a much larger crowd than the rally for the signing of the recent bill. So what do the politicians who do not venture from the capitol building see?
Then you have the businesses who stand to benefit from illegal aliens. Georgia's number one industry is poultry. Poultry processing plants employ large numbers of migrant workers, a large number of them, I speculate, being illegal. Currently, I believe that the law provides two years for such businesses to become compliant. A lot can happen in two years.
And the soon-to-be form that new employees will have to fill out to verify their legal status will be, I am afraid, much like the Federal I-9 form. Basically, the form is required to be filled out by the new employee, swearing that they can work legally. Costs of administration to businesses to do anything other than file the form in the employee's file will be punitive. I am not sure how this is really going to be effectively implemented.
Other aspects of the bill include making many state-funded programs unavailable to illegal aliens. Items such as certain medical care and education are exempt. So, illegals can get medical treatment and be educated in public schools on the dime of the taxpayer. What other programs could they possibly need in order to exist here illegally?
I applaud Georgia for the effort, and I sincerely hope that they enforce this law agressively. However, this is the proverbial bandaid on the tumor. In my mind, our impotent, pantywaist Federal government should be handling this issue as a matter of national security. This is a simple matter to me.
First, implement a plan to seal and secure the borders from anyone else entering the country illegally. Be agressive. It is essential that the numbers of illegals be minimized within our borders in order to deal with the ones already here. Secondly, implement a plan to identify and deport those that are here. I do not believe that they would be very hard to find. If my neighbor knows where to go to pick up daylaborers to pick up rocks out of his yard, then I do not see that law enforcement would have a difficult time knowing where to execute a sting. But because of the impotence of our Federal government, the problem is out of hand now, since they did not deal with the issue when the illegal population began climbing.
If we do not get a handle on illegal migration, the foundations of our nation are all but knocked from under us.
posted by Badbeans | 11:32 AM
3 Comments:
'Tis true. Wordy statutes with no teeth are often just an effort to shut a group up (mainly those of us who are threatening to vote with this issue in mind next election). Legislators, by nature I believe, think we are quite stupid. They yell "Yaaaa...Yaaaaa!" and like cattle, we walk down the chute to our doom. Americans are very easily fooled by our own representatives in governement.
I liken this piece of legislation to the "Home Invasion" law we have here in Florida. It cites very stiff penalties for those who are successfully prosecuted under it. What it doesn't do is provide any greater punishment than the charge of "burglary of an occupied dwelling" (legalese for home invasion) which already existed on the books. It made lobby groups "feel good" and gave it a new catchy name. Same with "Car Jacking", "Date Rape" or "Domestic Violence"...It's robbery...rape...and battery just the same as it always was. Same punishment, different name, dumb cattle........happy shiney people holding hands! Mooooooooo.
For some reason, I have the urge to lay down in a grassy field and chew my cud.
wONDERFUL LEGISLATION. TOO BAD IT TOOK SONNY "THE LAME" TILL THE END OF HIS TERM, AND JUST BEFORE HIS RE-ELECTION EFFORTS TO COME UP WITH SOMETHING, ANYTHING THAT BENEFITS HIS CONSTITUENCY. GOODBYE, SONNY, HELLO ANYONE. MOOOOO!
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