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which I spoke of above.  It was amusing to see the Department of Revenue throw out so many red herrings, so as to confuse the issue.  As stated, last year, the department argued that the bill was too broadly written.  This year, they said it was too narrowly written, and they proceeded to spin a tale about why we must not thwart their efforts to shake down people for the newly imposed (as of 2012) income tax on baseball coaches.  I did my best to shred their arguments.  In perhaps the most unusual turn of events, the Senator who had stated on a previous bill that "...it should be difficult to raise taxes" made the motion to kill this bill.  Thus, he was affirming that the department can increase taxes with their pen and their phone.  Of course, he WAS consistent in standing with the year-round politicians and bureaucrats.  As an aside, over the past fourteen years, I have heard a number of legislators complain that our branch is relatively weak.  They have pined over how to regain the power that they have ceded to the executive branch.  Yet, when presented with an opportunity to state that the executive branch has over-stepped its bounds on something so simple as a newly-imposed tax, they fail to exercise the most empowering tool they have...it's called "the vote".  As a citizen-legislator, I learned long ago the importance of understanding the motives of the career politicians and bureaucrats.  In this instance, if I might be so bold as to say it, the people's voices, albeit few, were heard in the House, and the government's voice won the day in Senate committee.  Alas, that is another discussion for another time.
• God bless you!