Kevin Brady

Kevin Patrick Brady (born April 11, 1955) is the U.S. Representative for Texas's 8th congressional district, serving since 1997. He is a member of the Republican Party. The district includes a large swath of suburban and rural territory north of Houston.

Early life, education, and early political career

Brady was born in Vermillion, South Dakota, one of five children of William F. and Nancy A. Brady. His father, a lawyer, was killed in 1967 in a courtroom shooting in Rapid City when Brady was 12 years old. His mother was left to raise five children by herself. Student body president and a four-sport athlete, Brady graduated from Rapid City Central High School, in 1973. Working his way through college holding a variety of jobs—construction worker, meat packer, manufacturing worker, waiter, and bartender, Brady earned a degree in mass communications from the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, where he played varsity baseball, served in the student government association and became a member of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. In 2005, he was named a distinguished alumnus of the university, and in 2001, was a recipient of the order of achievement by the national Lambda Chi Alpha organization.

Brady

Brady is a surname derived from the Irish surname Ó Brádaigh or Mac Brádaigh.

In a listing by the U.S. Census Bureau of the Most Common U.S. Surnames Brady is ranked at #411.

Notable people with the surname include:

Kevin

Kevin (/ˈkɛv.ɪn/; Irish: Caoimhín [kiː.vʲiːnʲ], Middle Irish: Caoimhghín [kəiṽʲ.ʝiːnʲ], Old Irish: Cóemgein [koiṽʲ.ɣʲinʲ], Scottish Gaelic: Caomhainn, Latin: Coemgenus) is a male first name of Goidelic origin. Among the earliest famous bearers of the name was Saint Kevin, although Kevin is not a biblical name. Caoimhghín derives from the Irish caomh (Old Irish cóem) "kind, honest, handsome" and -gin (Old Irish gein) "birth". Kevin influenced the similarly Irish-derived Kelvin, as well as the Latin Calvin. "Kevin" is one of the top 100 male baby names in Chile, France, Hungary, Ireland, the Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Norway, Slovenia, Sweden and the United States. It can also be spelled Kevyn, Keven, or Kevan.

In the United Kingdom, its popularity peaked during the 1950s and 1960s, when it was frequently among the 20 most popular male first names, but by the 1990s it had fallen out of the top 100. In France, the name was very popular during the 1980s and 1990s, especially in the lower class. There is wide variation both on the pronunciation and accentation. A more Franco-Celtic pronunciation is often written as Kévin, while a consciously Anglo-American pronunciation is written without the accent. For example, French horseman Kevin Staut's and French runner Kévin Hautcœur's official websites differ, though the French media may pronounce both names similarly.

Tax reform

Tax reform is the process of changing the way taxes are collected or managed by the government. Tax reformers have different goals. Some seek to reduce the level of taxation of all people by the government. Some seek to make the tax system more progressive or less progressive. Others seek to simplify the tax system and make the system more understandable or more accountable.

Numerous organizations have been set up to reform tax systems worldwide, often with the intent to reform income taxes or value added taxes into something considered more economically liberal. Other reforms propose tax systems that attempt to deal with externalities. Such reforms are sometimes proposed to be revenue-neutral, for example in revenue neutrality of the FairTax, meaning they ought not result in more tax or less being collected.Georgism claims that various forms of land tax can both deal with externalities and improve productivity.

Australia

Tax reform is an increasingly significant issue on the Australian political agenda. Combined annual deficits of the Commonwealth and State and territory governments will rise from 1.9% of gross domestic product in 2011–12 to 5.9% of GDP by 2049–50. Widespread, wholesale tax reform in Australia has not occurred since the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax in 2000. The Henry Tax Review identified 138 areas for significant reform to Australia's tax system over the next 10 to 20 years.

Bill Carrothers

Bill Carrothers (born 1964 in Minneapolis, Minnesota) is a jazz pianist and composer based in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. He has cited Clifford Brown, Shirley Horn, and Oscar Peterson as influences on his development as a musician. Carrothers performs without shoes to better feel the piano pedals, and sits in a chair rather than on a traditional piano bench in order to achieve his preferred seating height.

Career