Loss not lost.You can't lose what you never had, says the California California (kăl'ĭfôr`nyə), most populous state in the United States, located in the Far West; bordered by Oregon (N), Nevada and, across the Colorado River, Arizona (E), Mexico (S), and the Pacific Ocean (W). Taxpayers' Association. As the state budget season begins, the association issued a press release anticipating a distortion distortion, in electronics, undesired change in an electric signal waveform as it passes from the input to the output of some system or device. In an audio system, distortion results in poor reproduction of recorded or transmitted sound. of reality from state lawmakers. "While we believe the general public's understanding of the word 'cut' is a reduction of an existing amount, a number of legislators have morphed the term into something quite different--and misleading," the release stated. "They use 'cut' to describe a reduction of an anticipated increase. The association suggested a better term would be "Slobovian loss," named after the fictional kingdom of Lower Slobovia featured in the classic L'il Abner comic strip comic strip, combination of cartoon with a story line, laid out in a series of pictorial panels across a page and concerning a continuous character or set of characters, whose thoughts and dialogues are indicated by means of "balloons" containing written speech. drawn by Al Capp Al Capp (September 28, 1909 – November 5, 1979) was an American cartoonist best known for the satiric comic strip, Li'l Abner. He also wrote the comic strips Abbie and Slats and Long Sam. . The association claims the term was actually referenced in an official text--the 1980 Assembly panel document, "Revenue and Taxation Reference Book"--which defined it as a "loss of something you don't have but thought you might get." So if Santa Claus Santa Claus: see Nicholas, Saint. Santa Claus jolly, gift-giving figure who visits children on Christmas Eve. [Christian Tradition: NCE, 1937] See : Christmas Santa Claus brought you $100 last year, and you expected $110 this year as a cost of living increase, but you only got $105, you would have a Slobovian loss of $5, the association noted as an example. "Cal-Tax believes it will greatly enhance the public's understanding of the budget debate to differentiate between actual 'cuts' and 'Slobovian losses,'" the association concludes. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion