Yep, Answers in Genesis has folded, but not without whining.
The Ark Encounter has agreed to pay the 50-cent per ticket Williamstown safety assessment fee after a lengthy debate with the city council that has spanned weeks.
Answers in Genesis Co-Founder Ken Ham offered a statement to the Grant County News, in which he explained that Ark Encounter officials never said they would not pay into the fee. He added that the Ark Encounter has been paying into the fee since the city began collecting from businesses on July 1, and offered to pay the city a capped amount of $350,000, later increasing the offer to $500,000.
“Now, we do believe there were, and still are, some issues with the way the ordinance is worded, and we do have concerns about the fairness of such a tax,” Ham said. “The city ordinance makes the Ark Encounter bear almost the entire load for the increased funding for Williamstown’s police, fire and EMS budget.”
Ham said that the organization is still concerned over the fact that there is no cap, and what that might mean for the Ark Encounter’s future.
Ham also notes that despite the large numbers of guests the Ark Encounter serves on a regular basis, calls for emergency services have been relatively small. On average for the year, it’s been about two calls per week, with the majority being in the busiest six months of operation, according to Ham.
Aww, they never said they wouldn’t pay it, they just wanted to control how much they paid. I’m going to try this with the IRS: sure, you guys can tax me at the same rate as anyone else in my bracket, but I’m unilaterally putting a cap of $500 on how much I’ll pay. See, I’m not saying I won’t pay my taxes. I’m also worried that if I make a few million dollars this year, you might demand that I pay more than I do with my middling 5 figure income.
As for his argument than there haven’t been very many calls on emergency services yet, does he even understand what “emergency” means? Why should I pay for homeowner’s insurance, for example? It costs me more than I get back each year! Usually. Except for that time the water main broke and turned my basement into a nicely carpeted lake with floating furniture. But that’ll never happen again!
His income drops to less than a zillion dollars a day.
And an atheist rides one of his animated dinosaurs!
More emergency services…
…is a bad thing…?
How is fifty cents on a forty dollar ticket ever going to threaten AE’s future?
Hamikins is just another godbot who doesn’t understand his babble…He’s getting a lesson in Jesus’s word that he needs to render unto Caesar, and he isn’t smart enough to understand why his LORD said that.
Well, if he’s skimming off, say, sixty dollars from every forty dollar ticket, then the additional fifty cents he “cannot” skim (1) Reduces his income (see @1); and (2) Means the whole thing will have to torched sooner, thus further reducing his income (see @1 again).
I’m capping my own taxes at $1. Okay, $2, but that’s my final offer. I hope you’re happy. I had to sell myself to myself to get this far, you filthy godless animals.
He could cap the number of people who can buy tickets for his monument to lying. Those tickets cost … let’s say they cost “a bit more” than all of his expenses.
It’s a “pass through” tax….you collect it from the customer ($40.50) and you then pay it to the city … what’s the problem? All businesses do it – it’s like state sales tax. Sounds fishy to me … can I examine their books? Fraudsters do what they gotta do lol.
Huh, when you said. “…Answers in Genesis has folded…” I thought you meant they went out of bidness! Nope. Sad.
He should be glad they didn’t put a floor under what he has to pay.
As for what he said, let’s see… Last time I saw a raw bill for an ambulance ride it was about $600, and it was for a simple transport of about a mile (and that was nearly 20 years ago). So…2 times per week (avg) time 50 weeks (to keep the math easy), 100 trips per year. That’s $600K per year. And that doesn’t count any other emergency costs. Around here, when units are rolled on a 911 call, you get fire, ambulance and police, pretty much no matter what is going to be needed. All that probably tops out at well over $1000 just to show up, even in a low cost area like rural Kentucky. Hey, Kenny…it adds up fast and not that much of it is going to be recovered from that “patient” or “victim”. I think he’s getting off cheap.
See? See?? Who’s laughing now, mister “I don’t need an ark”?
Not having a cap on the fees will reveal exactly how many paying visitors the park gets every year, since the amount the tax brings in will be published as part of Williamstown’s budget.
Something tells me Ken Ham is more worried about revealing exactly how many people are attending the park than he is about the extra $0.50 being unfair or causing a decline in ticket sales.
@11
bingo!
if its one thing that fraudsters want less then any scrutiny of any part of their business I can’t imagine what it might be.
uncle frogy
tacitus @ # 11 – Obviously, that cruel atheist-imposed half-a-buck will cause the tragic drop in
souls savedticket sales to be reported in the town tax rolls.I’m confident that Williamstown’s need for additional safety services is almost entirely due to having a fucking Big Ugly Wooden Gay Box sitting next door. If (when?) there’s a fire, who are they going to call? They sure as hell aren’t going to pray…I hope. With more tourists strolling around in the heat outside and up/down the grand stairway inside, there’s will be more old folks keeling over and children getting hurt that need to be rushed to the hospital. And of course, there will be more traffic, congestion, and accidents. Williamstown probably hopes to get another fire truck, another police car, and another ambulance out of it, which is probably still inadequate.
As for Ham’s complaint about 50¢ I could imagine there are a lot of reasons for that. He could just be cheap. But, yeah, perhaps he doesn’t want to let on how many people showed up. (Don’t forget that there’s $10 parking fee…we’re talking 1%.)
What about the sell to AiG for $10? Will they have to sell it back now? Can they do that? Will they get their tourism tax rebate back? Doesn’t that make it obvious that they are gaming the tax system?
They already did, and they will get their rebate back.
tacitus — So they flipflop and the State of Kentucky says, “Oh, Ok.” It’s so obviously dishonest.
Re: robro (#16):
That’s actually understandable and not unreasonable, I think. The state/town has (perhaps indirectly) spent a lot of money helping to get this park started so they’re only too happy to turn a blind eye now that the park has finally agreed to pay up. While penalties might be warranted, I in their place wouldn’t want to risk sinking the park (pun not intended) over an essentially resolved matter, since it hurts me as much as the park owners. Even if the park gets away with little more than a slap on the wrist, the state has made the situation abundantly clear: Pay what’s due or the bill will only get bigger. That should be sufficient to discourage Ham from further forays into the tax system.
Re: evodevo (#7):
Using Sales Mathematics you should, I believe, obtain a final ticket price of 50$. Applying regular arithmetic to prices is a rookie mistake, if I may say so. Not only do the 50 cents have to be accounted for, accounting for them costs the park money. You also have to consider the creeping sense of despair instilled into the park owner as the government viciously tramples over him and (in this case) his religious freedom.
Better make it 55$.
Re: Johnny Vector (#10):
If he is well prepared, Mr. Noark can simply wait until the basement fills up and the rest of the house floats away. This may require installing explosive bolts between the basement and ground floor to assist separation. (Watersoluble connectors were considered but proved very unpopular in wet climates) I call it the houseark, the ultimate evolution of the houseboat, combining the advantages of fixed and floating domiciles in one.
@komarov
Sounds like you’re saying their costs are sunk.
(*badum-tish*)
@8 That’s what i thought ,bit of a misleading headline .
But we all know what thought did .
Re: Owlmirror (#18):
Interesting link, thanks, but not quite accurate under the circumstances. After all it didn’t cost the state / town anything not to torpedo (sorry) the park with litigation or other penalties. So no additional investment was made and I’m sure somewhere there are some administrative and legal folks feeling very smug about getting Ham to fall in line without having to go to court.
I read that, was pleased, then realised that it hasn’t folded; its still going….
@komarov: The term can also refer to emotional investment, which I was thinking was more salient in this case. The state of Kentucky has invested both monetarily and emotionally in the Big Wooden Box project.
@rabbitbrush, @davidc1, @davem: Buckled/folded can mean “surrendered”; “gave in (in this case, to the authority of the state)”; “stopped resisting” as well as “failed”. Multiple definitions and like that. I agree that PZ could have worded it a little less ambiguously, though.
Ah, now that’s a shame! If only you’d sold yourself to CONSCIOUS–NESS::RAZOR!?, the IRS couldn’t have touched you.
With an average of two a week they should have on-site emergency medical staff of their own. That’s a ridiculous rate of usage from emergency services. I guess I can see not having their own ambulance as I’m sure those are not cheap and it might oblige them to have their medical staff respond to emergencies elsewhere. But I can’t imagine why they wouldn’t have staff on hand and pay into a minor tax to support the unusual use they’re getting.
If these yahoos are the best their brand of god botherers have to offer it’s no wonder they’re all deathly afraid of going the way of the dodo bird.