Budget & Tax

Free Market Friday: Paycheck protection

July 11, 2014

Michael Carnuccio

Imagine the outrage if a government agency started collecting contributions from its employees to support the Repub­lican Party. Some would say, with justification, that government should not help fund a political advocacy group.

So why do state agencies and schools in Oklahoma continue to spend your tax dollars collecting, accounting for and dispersing dues to labor unions, such as the Oklahoma Education Association, and other labor organizations, such as the Oklahoma Public Employees Association?

These groups advance political agendas through lobbying, donating to candidates and supporting various advocacy efforts.

Union insiders sometimes set an agenda that a lot of rank-and-file members don’t support. For example, in March some school employee labor unions helped organize a big rally at the state Capitol to call for a huge tax hike on the energy industry.

When Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker called for legislation to prohibit government agencies from acting as union dues collectors, public employee unions stormed the Capitol building, threatened violence, and launched an unsuccessful recall effort against Walker and some of his legislative allies. The taxpayers stood with Walker.

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