These guys are starting to pique my interest…

Americans for Prosperity made their second stop of a statewide “Mystery Pork Tour,” Thursday at JTM Concepts Inc., Rock Island.

AFP Illinois director Joe Calomino said the goal of the tour is to spotlight some of the most outrageous examples of projects throughout the state funded by pork-barrel spending.

“The state of Illinois has a pork-barrel spending problem — a trend toward government waste, fraud and abuse that the people of Illinois cannot afford,” Mr. Calomino said. “Our lawmakers must get spending under control.”

Their website can be found here. The group has chapters all over the place, and Illinois director Calomino has been around for a while. From his bio…

Joe Calomino began his career as a political strategist in the Illinois Secretary of State’s office where he served for eight years. During this time, Joe served as a regional campaign coordinator for the successful 1994 re-election campaign of Secretary of State George Ryan as well as Ryan’s successful 1998 gubernatorial election. […]

In the 2006 Republican gubernatorial primary, Calomino managed the campaign of first-time candidate Ron Gidwitz.

Calomino held a press conference a few weeks back about the heated driveway at the governor’s mansion…

He was joined at a news conference Thursday by representatives of the national office; state Rep. Michael Tryon, R-Crystal Lake; Greg Baise, president and CEO of the Illinois Manufacturers Association; former Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron Gidwitz; and others.

It’s occurred to me that one very good way to undermine support for a tax hike is to undercut government credibility with persistent allegations of gross mismanagement. Both Baise and Gidwitz have been lobbying hard against the governor’s gross receipts tax.

And then there’s this press release from the group…

This morning, Ron Gidwitz, 2006 Republican Primary Candidate for Governor and Chairman of the Illinois Coalition for Jobs, Growth and Prosperity, launches local chapters of Americans for Prosperity Foundation in the Quad Cities region.

Gidwitz, who is supporting the grassroots organizations mission of educating and empowering citizens to hold their elected officials accountable for how they spend our tax dollars, highlighted the states fiscal problems and called on citizens to “take back their government”.

Gidwitz unveiled a direct mail piece that will be mailed to approximately 100,000 households in several legislative districts throughout the state.

At a later stop in Moline Illinois, Gidwitz called on citizens to “contact 71st District Democratic Representative Mike Boland and ask him why he has regularly voted for higher taxes, raiding the pension funds earmarked for veterans and raiding funds for environmental purposes and roadways”.

Meanwhile, House Speaker Michael Madigan’s spokesman was asked by the Southwest News Herald about the governor’s tax plans…

“We’re waiting for the details,” said Steven Brown, a spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-22nd).

“The spending things are there but ever there was a time when (details on revenue are needed), this is it,” he said.

You may have seen a complaint by business that the gross receipts tax leads to “pyramiding.” Bruce Braker, the president of the Tooling & Manufacturing Association, explains…

Here is an example of pyramiding in the manufacturing process, assuming the Legislature enacts the 0.5 percent tax suggested by Blagojevich:

“Basic industry” sells $200 worth of raw materials to a “parts fabricator”: $1 tax.

“Parts fabricator” adds value and sells $400 product to “manufacturer”: $2 tax.

“Manufacturer” adds value and sells $800 product to an “integrator”: $4 tax.

“Integrator” adds value and sells $1000 product to a “wholesaler”: $5 tax.

“Wholesaler” adds value and sells $1,200 product to a “retailer”: $6 tax.

“Retailer” adds value and sells $1,600 product to “consumer”: $8 tax.

In this example, $26 in taxes was paid on a single product that was sold to the final consumer for $1,600. Thus, the effective tax rate was 1.7 percent, or more than 300 percent higher than the rate suggested by the governor.

And, finally, the Tribune points out some inconsistencies in the governor’s GRT proposal…

But an official at the Illinois Chamber of Commerce said Thursday that top Blagojevich aide John Filan told her that small businesses would have to pay the gross receipts tax after the corporate income tax is phased out in four years. Filan said the tax would be lower than the one imposed on big companies, or at a fixed dollar amount, said Connie Beard, an attorney and a top chamber official.

The letters didn’t mention anything about that.

“It offends me because they’re [implying] that all of these [small-business owners] aren’t going to be paying the gross receipts tax,” Beard said.

Blagojevich spokeswoman Becky Carroll said that Filan believes Beard must have misunderstood him and that he was simply listing various tax options for small businesses after the corporate income tax ends.

The administration intends to keep the corporate tax in place for small businesses for now, then get comments from the small-business community on which tax system it would prefer, Carroll said.