Free Republic

HOUSTON, Sept. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL) today announced a $15 service fee for the first checked bag for certain customers who purchase economy-class tickets. The service fee will not apply to EliteAccess customers, including those seated in First or BusinessFirst, OnePass Elite and SkyTeam Elite members, customers traveling on full-fare economy (Y) class tickets, or military personnel and their families traveling on official orders. The policy will apply immediately for tickets purchased for destinations within the U.S., and between the U.S. and Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Canada for travel commencing on or after Oct....

American Airlines is charging troops for their extra baggage, a practice that forces soldiers heading for a war zone in Iraq to try to get reimbursement from the military. One of the country's largest veterans groups is asking the aviation industry to drop the practice immediately. American, which recently charged two soldiers from Texas $100 and $300 for their extra duffel bags, said it gives the military a break on the cost for excess luggage and that the soldiers who incur the fees are reimbursed. (snip) Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) spokesman Joseph Davis said service members destined for Iraq...

At Gus Miller's newsstand on Forbes Avenue in Oakland, there's a small, handwritten sign taped to the counter. It reads: "$15 minimum for credit card, 50-cent fee for debit." Kim Gresco barely acknowledged the sign as she reached for her wallet. The cashier rung up her bottle of Pepsi and a pack of cigarettes, little more than $5 total. She handed him her PNC Bank/Visa debit card. "You know about the fee, right?" he asked. "Yeah, it's fine," she said. The transaction may have cost Ms. Gresco an extra 50 cents, but it could have cost store owner Brian Weiss...

Editorial: Assessment ruling won't serve state well Monday's state Supreme Court decision striking down an assessment by the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority was one more nail in the coffin of California's quality of life. Not that the court was unreasonable. The justices were interpreting Proposition 218, as convoluted and mean-spirited an anti-tax law as California voters ever passed. The 1996 initiative aimed to tighten the rules set by Proposition 13 to make it even harder for government to raise revenue, and it's succeeding all too well. Californians must come to grips with the kind of place they want...

California high court strikes down Santa Clara County open space tax The California Supreme Court today struck down a special fee on Santa Clara County homeowners used to pay for open space acquisition, possibly wiping out more than $50 million collected over the past seven years for parks, trails and other services. In a unanimous ruling, the justices found that the 2001 special assessment by the county's Open Space Authority violated Proposition 218, a 12-year-old voter-approved law known as the "Right to Vote on Taxes Act." Proposition 218 was designed to limit local governments' ability to raise revenue without voter...

Lawyers might be going off the clock Saturday, July 5, 2008 3:00 AM By Braden Lammers THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH With money tight, we all want to know exactly what we are paying for. That applies to professional services as well as grocery-store staples. As a result, there is a change brewing in the legal arena on the best way to charge clients. One Columbus law firm has abandoned the long-established standard, the billable hour. Waite, Schneider, Bayless & Chesley moved to a fixed rate, or an alternative fee as it is called, in January. "Lawyers call it alternative billing because...

Californians would pay higher traffic ticket, parking, car registration, property insurance and other fees under dozens of proposals flying around the Capitol. Whether taxes ultimately are raised, state officials are looking to cut a $15.2 billion deficit by increasing other revenue. Higher fees could bolster the California Highway Patrol, state parks, emergency services, state wildfire response, oil-spill prevention and various public programs. Fee hikes are not touted as a way to solve the massive deficit, but they could soften the blow as legislators fight over sales and other taxes. Kris Vosburgh, executive director of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, said...

BOSTON- The UMass Board of Trustees Committee on Administration & Finance today voted to advance a policy called the "Welcome Home Waiver Program," to the full Board for a vote on June 12. The proposal would extend a partial fee waiver to Massachusetts veterans who have served in the Iraq and Afghanistan combat areas since September 11, 2001. Under the program, Massachusetts veterans who gain admission to degree programs at UMass would be eligible for an annual mandatory fee waiver of up to $2,000 for a maximum of eight semesters (total value $8,000). The program targets the same combat veteran...

FORT WORTH, Texas - American Airlines will start charging $15 for the first checked bag, cut domestic flights and lay off workers as it grapples with record-high fuel prices. ADVERTISEMENT The nation's largest carrier said Wednesday the fee for the first checked bag starts June 15 and that it would raise other fees for services ranging from reservation help to oversized bags. The other fees will mostly range from $5 to $50 per service, the airline said. Last month American announced it would join other carriers in charging $25 for second bags checked for some passengers, but it wasn't immediately...

The matchup was inevitable. For the past two months, House Speaker Andrew Romanoff ... His complex proposal would undo the tightest part of that knot by lifting the spending limits imposed by the 1992 Taxpayer's Bill of Rights... Rep. Douglas Bruce, R-Colorado Springs,... "For this purpose, I come before you as the author of the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, and as is my wont, I will speak plainly," he began. "This measure, if adopted, will mean unlimited state spending forever." Bruce railed against what he saw as a conspiracy by the "tax-and-spend crowd" to "con" voters into giving up government...

AUSTIN — Maybe Texas’ transportation problems are a lot simpler to understand than recent fights over toll roads make it seem, North Texas leaders told state senators Wednesday. “My first recommendation: You need to provide a lot more revenue for transportation,” Michael Morris, transportation director for the North Central Texas Council of Governments, told the Texas Senate transportation committee. That was hardly the only suggestion from Mr. Morris or the many others who spoke to the committee, which is seeking input as it readies an approach on toll roads, TxDOT and more for the next legislative session. But it might...

The Empire Strikes Back With Massive Attorneys’ Fee Request in CityNorth Case Clint Bolick, Goldwater Institute, April 24, 2008 While the Goldwater Institute’s legal challenge to the CityNorth subsidy moves to the Court of Appeals, one issue remains before the trial court that upheld the subsidy. Not content merely to demand $97.4 million of taxpayer money, the developers now are seeking hundreds of thousands more for their attorneys’ fees—from the Goldwater Institute. The City is, too. Rather than using the same huge in-house legal department that negotiated the deal, the City hired a high-priced private firm to defend it. The...

Exasperated Republicans accused Democrats on the Senate floor this morning of raising wide-ranging fees on ordinary Coloradans in order to avoid seeking voters' permission for a tax hike. The debate erupted amid discussion of ... a new fee to birth certificates--and came only days after a proposal by another Senate Democrat... to slap a $25 fee increase on marriage licenses. The Republicans point to numerous fee hikes authored by Democrats ...to one that would assess higher fees on ozone-depleting compounds. "Will enough ever be enough?" the GOP's Sen. Josh Penry, of Grand Junction... "When do we stop the fees? We...

Californians support the idea of charging "green" vehicle fees that would make drivers of gas guzzlers pay higher taxes and offer discounts for those driving less-polluting vehicles, according to a survey by a transportation researcher at San Jose State University.The state now charges drivers registration and licensing fees and gasoline taxes at rates that do not take into account vehicles' pollution levels. But the survey, conducted by Asha Weinstein Agrawal, a research associate with the university's Mineta Transportation Institute, found that Californians would support a variety of taxes and fees to raise money for transportation improvements as well as combat...

ANNAPOLIS — Key supporters of Gov. Martin O'Malley — including the state's largest labor union — have split with him on his support of a banking bill they are calling anti-consumer. The Maryland State and D.C. AFL-CIO, the state's largest labor union and a strong O'Malley supporter, has come out against the bill, which would allow state banks to charge fees if a borrower pays off a mortgage loan early. Progressive Maryland, a liberal advocacy group, is expected to announce its opposition next week. "This 'Emergency Bill' would be retroactive and strip the citizens of Maryland of any right to...

$17 billion of the Massachusetts state government budget comes from other taxes and other government fees. 61% of state government funding comes from other taxes and other government fees. Taxes and fees like these: * 5% Sales Tax * Business and Corporate Taxes * Death Taxes (Estate Taxes) * Gasoline Taxes * Turnpike, Bridge, and Tunnel Tolls * Motor Vehicle Registration and License Fees * Beer, Wine, and Liquor Taxes * Cigarette Taxes * Cable TV Taxes * Electricity Taxes * Internet Taxes * Long-distance Telephone Taxes * Water and Sewer Assessments * Professional Licensure Fees * Fishing, Hunting, and...

One major concern I discussed a few weeks ago regarding the Trans Texas Corridor is where the land will come from. Another concern is where the money will come from. Official government websites for the TTC assure that public-private partnerships will shield the taxpayer from bearing too much of the cost burden, but a careful reading shows the door is definitely open to public funding sources, while at the same time there is no doubt of the intention to charge tolls on the road. Taxpayers already pay for their transportation system through hefty gasoline taxes, vehicle registration fees, and other...

SACRAMENTO – With every budget proposal, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger repeats his mantra. “I will not raise taxes on the people of California because they are already paying enough taxes,” Schwarzenegger said last month as he unveiled his plans to attack a potential $14.5 billion budget gap. Nearly three weeks later, he reiterated that pledge. Speaking to newspaper publishers, Schwarzenegger said, “Raising taxes is out of the question because you can't tax your way out of this problem.” Yet, by substituting fees in lieu of taxes, Schwarzenegger proposes to reach into the pockets of motorists, disabled Medi-Cal recipients and homeowners for...

There's a controversial new study group at the University of Minnesota. Students are not learning about science and sewing -- but about sex.

Let’s pretend that we all live in the same state: Amerachusetts. Very imaginative name, I know. Came up with it out of the blue, what can I say? And while living in Amerachusetts, I decide to get married, thus all of you need to pay the government $5. Please cough it up. *holds out hand to audience*What? You don’t want to pay the government $5 because I’m getting married? What kind of friends are you guys anyway? Well, what about when I go get my new driver’s license with my new name on it? I’ll need everyone to hand over...

RICHMOND, Dec. 5 -- Virginia may have to issue more than 300,000 license suspensions to drivers over the next two years for failure to pay the state's abusive-driving fees, according to a government report that may hasten calls for the General Assembly and Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) to eliminate them. In the first broad review of the fees since they took effect July 1, state auditors found that they have not affected traffic safety and might not raise as much money as expected. The report describes confusion over which offenses can trigger the fees and indicates that some police...

WASHINGTON – Before Sandy Purdon could steer his 55-foot Fleming powerboat out of a Maryland yacht club last month for a voyage through the Panama Canal to San Diego, he had to pay documentation fees, Coast Guard fees, customs fees, FCC licensing fees, sales tax and personal property tax. Were Purdon to embark on the same adventure a year from now, he also might find himself paying as much as $1,500 for a federal environmental permit every time he crosses into a state's waters. That can add up to a chunk of change. Although Purdon can probably afford it, he,...

Transportation commission proposes levying 10 cents a gallon on fuel to help curb greenhouse gases - In a proposal that fell on deaf ears in Sacramento last year, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission's staff is recommending legislation that would make a gas tax a "fee," and thus make it easier to prevail at the ballot box. Only this year, transportation officials say, the idea could be more palatable as but one arrow in a quiver aimed at reducing the Bay Area's contribution to global warming. Under legislation that went into effect in 1997, the MTC has the authority to put a...

When Emily McLain decided to enroll at the University of Oregon, a significant part of the appeal was low tuition. She had not counted on all the fees that unexpectedly appeared on her bill. “I had my dad calling me asking, ‘What’s this for?’ ” said Ms. McLain, 22, a political science and international studies major now entering her last year at the university. This year, the university is charging a $51 “energy surcharge” for rising electricity costs. A $270 “technology fee” for computer service. There is the $371.25 fee for campus health center, $135 fee to maintain buildings and...

The ruling is binding only in Henrico County but is being immediately appealed to Circuit Court and could eventually reach the Virginia Supreme Court. RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - A Henrico County judge declared the state's new abusive driver fees unconstitutional Thursday. General District Court Judge Archie Yeatts issued the ruling in the case of Anthony Price, who was facing his fifth charge of driving on a suspended license. With his order, Yeatts instructed Henrico General District Court clerks not to collect civil remedial fees that can reach $1,000 or more for certain driving offenses. The ruling is binding only in...

Kaine shuns special session to repeal 'abuser fees' July 14, 2007 By Seth McLaughlin The first paragraph Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine has no plans to call a special General Assembly session to consider repealing new fees against bad drivers, despite public outrage, a potential lawsuit and a lawmaker's demand that he do so. The last paragraphThe governor's office estimated the new law would affect only about 2 percent of Virginians.

Both the Senate and the House have held hearings this year on what consumer advocates regard as greedy practices by credit-card firms. Historically, charging interest was a perilous business, especially at times when anti-Semitism was rampant. For instance, in 1290, all Jews were expelled from England, with "usury" cited as the official reason – charging interest was considered blasphemous. Almost all their property went to the Crown. Today, credit-card companies often charge interest rates to consumers that many would regard as usurious, that is, excessively high. Fortunately, the heads of these firms no longer risk banishment for what is a...

The Legislature's lawyer has issued an opinion concluding that the new sources of revenue proposed in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's ambitious health care plan are taxes, rather than fees. The opinion could make it a lot more difficult to pass the plan. Any new tax requires approval from two-thirds of the Legislature, which would require Republican votes. Republicans have vowed to oppose any taxes. If the new revenue sources are deemed to be fees, they can be approved by a simple majority vote, which would allow passage with only votes from Democrats. As part of a plan to cover 6.5 million...

A proposed North American “super corridor” would relieve overburdened highways and promote economic growth in three countries, supporters say. But others wonder whether the proposal might bring in cheap exports and put unsafe Mexican trucks on U.S. roads. The issue takes center stage at a three-day conference that begins today in Fort Worth, Texas. More than 350 transportation, logistics and economic development specialists from the United States, Canada and Mexico are meeting. The conference is sponsored by Dallas-based North America’s SuperCorridor Coalition. The nonprofit coalition, whose members include public- and private-sector organizations, wants to develop an integrated transportation system linking...

For many years, we've had stories about people getting incredibly pissed off at hidden fees, often from the telco industry. The industry tries to defend those fees, but they're really just ways of lying about the actual price so they can advertise low prices and actually charge you a lot more. The telcos really love these fees. Remember last year when telcos no longer had to charge a certain government mandated fee, and instead simply replaced it with a new fee with a meaningless name that they just got to pocket? The latest is also a fun one. Chronno S....

NEW YORK April 20 (UPI) -- New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Friday he is considering a plan to reduce traffic by charging a fee to drive in the city's central business districts. "Using economics to influence public behavior is something this country is built on -- it's called capitalism," Bloomberg said. His "congestion pricing" plan, modeled after a similar plan in London, would charge motorists at much as $8 to drive in key business areas, The New York Post reported. Taxicabs would be exempt. The plan would need state approval. Bloomberg did not say Friday how the tariff would...

Retailers, bankers and credit card companies will square off on Tennessee's Capitol Hill next week over interchange fees. Interchange fees are the charges merchants pay when customers use a credit or debit card. Retailers say the fees are rising and they want lawmakers to cap them. They requested the hearing that will be held Tuesday at 1:15 p.m. before the Senate Commerce Committee on the Legislative Plaza. Bankers say the fees are the cost of doing business and benefit retailers. "They are shifting the payment risk and collection cost to somebody else," said Tim Amos, senior vice president and general...

WASHINGTON - In a bid to raise revenues ahead of a projected financial crisis for Social Security and Medicare, President Bush is proposing a number of measures that could become tax traps for millions of Americans. Critics allege that Bush is using sleight-of-hand measures that tinker with complex funding formulas linked to the inflation rate. These measures, which include changes affecting Medicare, Social Security and income taxes, aren't advertised as tax increases. But just like hidden tax hikes, they'd raise revenue from millions of unsuspecting taxpayers. Right now, for example, individual seniors with annual incomes greater than $80,000 and couples...

Cellular subscribers are paying hundreds of millions of dollars each year to subsidize land-line telephone service, enriching big telecommunications companies while providing little or no benefit to cell-phone users. The subsidies are intended to reimburse the companies for providing traditional phone service in rough terrain and rural areas where stringing lines can be costly. But rampant development has transformed some of these backwaters into booming subdivisions, with no real adjustment to the distribution formula; others, such as the oceanfront celebrity playground of Malibu, are receiving subsidies simply because of their difficult topography. Outdated formulas for tabulating the surcharges -- coupled...

Family farmers who were wrongfully required to pay a state water rights fee could get some of their money back. After a four-year legal battle, the 3rd District Court of Appeal in Sacramento decided in favor of farmers and ranchers who protested imposition of a new and unconstitutional state fee that resulted in a total collection of more than $20 million. Water rights fees were levied on about 7,000 water rights holders beginning in 2004. The court agreed with the California Farm Bureau Federation that those fees were invalid and unconstitutional. Refund checks, however, aren't in the mail to those...

A man who was fed up with paying massive bank charges decided to give one of the high street giants a taste of its own medicine. When Royal Bank of Scotland refused to refund £3,400 charges that Declan Purcell believed he was owed, he sent in the bailiffs. Stunned customers at his branch of RBS watched as debt collectors seized four computers, two fax machines and a till filled with cash. The branch manager was told that the items would be sold unless RBS came up with the money owed to Mr Purcell. Only when the manager gave an undertaking...

Federal Court Sanctions Against Attorneys Under 28 U.S.C. §1927 — The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals Attempts to Divide the Standard for Multiplying the Proceedings in Bad Faith by Glenn J. Waldman Page 16 It is becoming increasingly common for a prevailing party in federal court to seek attorneys’ fees from the losing party’s attorney under a combination of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11, 28 U.S.C. §1927, and the court’s companion “inherent powers.� Unlike Rule 11, though, “awards pursuant to §1927 may be imposed only against the offending attorney; clients may not be saddled with such awards.�1 Rule 11...

With little public attention or even notice, the House of Representatives has passed a bill that undermines enforcement of the First Amendment's separation of church and state. The Public Expression of Religion Act - H.R. 2679 - provides that attorneys who successfully challenge government actions as violating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment shall not be entitled to recover attorneys fees. The bill has only one purpose: to prevent suits challenging unconstitutional government actions advancing religion. [snip] The attorneys' fees statute has worked well for almost 30 years. Lawyers receive attorneys' fees under the law only if their claim...

New Jersey is the perennial loser in the student migration wars: more of its residents leave the state to go to college than anywhere else in the country. On the other end of the spectrum, so many students have decided that sunshine, mosquitoes and the Marlins are the essential elements of the college experience that Florida is the state with the highest “net migration” (the number who enter minus the number who leave). Source: Interstate Commission for Higher Education; number of students in 2005 and 2015 are projections based on 2001-2 data... The swelling population of 18-year-olds — members of...

WASHINGTON - The Homeland Security Department is studying whether legal immigrants seeking citizenship and other benefits should pay higher application fees. The fees now charged don't reflect the full cost of doing business, Emilio Gonzalez, director of the department's Citizenship and Immigration Services, said Wednesday. Applying for citizenship now costs $330. Applying for a green card conveying legal residency costs $325. Applicants also now pay a $70 fingerprinting fee in each case. "American citizenship is priceless," said Gonzalez, a naturalized citizen. "I think people will pay." The study will review costs of facility improvements, training, equipment and technology and determine...

Assistant City Manager Tim Young is well-versed on the Trans-Texas Corridor project that has been proposed to make four to six toll truck lanes and four to six toll passenger lanes from Laredo, Texas through San Antonio, Texas and up I-35 to Oklahoma. “Dallas/Fort Worth doesn't want the truck traffic to go away as they are afraid of losing warehouse businesses to cities east and west of them,” Young said. Oklahomans are pushing for the widening of U.S. 69/75 to bring truck traffic through Durant and up through Tulsa. The Texas Department of Transportation has more information on the proposal...

Ignoring the intimidating props — boxes of angry letters from thousands of military retirees — senior Defense officials and military leaders appeared March 29 before a contentious House subcommittee to make their case for hiking Tricare fees sharply for under-65 retirees and their families. In the verbal sparring that ensued, Pentagon leaders gave as good as they got. But no lawmaker took the role of referee. All threw punches on behalf of retirees, and treated with kid gloves a second panel of witnesses representing dozens of pro-retiree military associations and veteran groups. The Pentagon’s plan to boost out-of-pocket Tricare costs...

Tuition and fees at some New York City private high schools will cost more than $30,000 for the school year ... New York already boasts the highest private school tuitions in the country, but prices at some schools will now surpass even the cost of sending a child to Harvard... Riverdale Country School, located on a leafy oasis in the Bronx, will charge $31,200 for tuition, lunch, and books for grades six through 12. Bus service from Manhattan costs an additional couple of thousand dollars. Parents are looking to spend about $400,000 before their children even get to college. Undergraduate...

SACRAMENTO - California lawmakers should scale back a planned increase in education funding, raise the gas tax and let college fees rise, state Legislative Analyst Liz Hill said Thursday in her annual critique of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed budget. The nonpartisan analyst recommended cutting $2.3 billion from Schwarzenegger's proposed $125 billion spending plan for fiscal 2006-07, including slashing $1 billion from education. Her recommendations, she said, would help reduce the state's long-term structural budget deficit and eliminate some of the "autopilot" spending measures that tie state officials' hands in designing budgets. "If you think of California as a patient fighting...

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - The price of crossing each of the San Francisco Bay area's seven state-owned toll bridges will increase to $4 starting next year, toll authorities said. The Bay Area Toll Authority voted Wednesday to approve the $1 increase per driver as part of a plan to pay for construction on the new eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, said John Goodwin, a toll authority spokesman.

It's a fee. No wait, it's a tax. Actually ... Attempt to define $3 water charge comes up dry SACRAMENTO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's waterworks plan, which could send millions of flood-control dollars to San Joaquin County, hinges in part on a $3 charge that would appear on a homeowner's water bill every month. Schwarzenegger calls this charge a fee. Others say it's a tax. While this debate might mean little to a Stockton homeowner faced with forking over $36 a year, it is so politically charged that few at the Capitol will discuss it openly. The flood-control legislation begins...

Among tax experts and policy wonks, there has always been a debate about what constitutes a "fee" as opposed to a "tax." The general public might have some vague notion of a difference between the two but, more times than not, they just don't care. If a citizen pays a $10 "fee" for something, that $10 has left his or her wallet just as surely as if they had paid a $10 tax. However, ever since 1978 with the passage of Proposition 13, the distinction between "fees" and "taxes" has had a significant legal consequence. Certain vote requirements -- either...

Big Government in America is so huge it boggles the mind and numbs the senses. But exactly how big is Big Government? For the moment, just consider one key factor: the money spent and controlled by government. How much of our annual earnings does Big Government take and spend, command and control? Add the federal budget to all the state and local government budgets in the United States, and subtract out the amounts that they shift between each other ("intergovernmental spending"). Federal, state, and local governments together directly spend a whopping $4.8 Trillion – every year. But wait, there's more!...

Is a fee different than a tax? Technically, yes. But for many Republicans, they are one in the same. In fact, in recent years GOP lawmakers have made many an eloquent speech about how Democrats tack on a "fee"... which can often be approved on a simple majority vote... rather than assess a new "tax", which requires a two-thirds vote (and, therefore, GOP votes). Now, fast forward to today... where Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger traveled to Sacramento's Nimbus Dam on the American River to promote his new water safety and flood protection package. The $35 billion proposal is part of the...

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday launched a super-sized plan to rebuild the very foundations of California — a $222-billion construction project to fortify freeways, schools, jails, ports and waterways. Schwarzenegger used his annual State of the State speech to outline a decade-long blueprint for reshaping California to its core. If successful, he would be author of the state's largest public building program since the 1960s, when former Gov. Edmund "Pat" Brown helped California absorb millions of new residents during a postwar boom. In the 23-minute address to lawmakers, which was as much about rebuilding his own image as...