Free Republic

Anyone who thinks the path to "fiscal discipline" is through higher taxes ought to look at the current budget spectacles in New York and California. The two liberal states have among the highest tax burdens in the country, yet both now find themselves with huge budget deficits and are debating still higher taxes to close the gap. California has the highest state income tax rate in the country (10.3%), while New York State also has a high income tax rate (6.85%), with the combined state and city rate rising to 10.5% in New York City. Their overall government spending totals...

...The nearby chart shows that the top 1% of taxpayers, those who earn above $388,806, paid 40% of all income taxes in 2006, the highest share in at least 40 years. The top 10% in income, those earning more than $108,904, paid 71%. Barack Obama says he's going to cut taxes for those at the bottom, but that's also going to be a challenge because Americans with an income below the median paid a record low 2.9% of all income taxes, while the top 50% paid 97.1%. Perhaps he thinks half the country should pay all the taxes to support...

Big corporations give him money. Presidential candidates seek his endorsement. He has influential friends in Congress and the governor's mansion.  The Rev. Al Sharpton has emerged over the past decade as perhaps the nation's most prominent civil rights leader, a status that was demonstrated again this week when he led protests against police brutality that briefly shut down six of Manhattan's major bridges and tunnels.   But he still carries baggage from his early days as a fire-breathing agitator: Government records obtained by The Associated Press indicate that Sharpton and his business entities owe nearly $1.5 million in overdue taxes...

The embattled government trimmed income taxes for 22 million people on Tuesday, as soaring food and fuel bills sent inflation rocketing and dented hopes for more interest rate cuts soon. Higher household bills are creating a headache for increasingly unpopular Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the tax handout came after Labour came third in this month's local elections -- its worst post-war performance on record. "This family tax cut provides support this year for those on middle incomes at a time where they face increased bills," Chancellor Alistair Darling told parliament as he unveiled the surprise tax cuts. Ordinary tax...

Why Do We Need You, Government Man? "You must pay Social Security," said the government man. "Why?" I replied. "I can walk to the bank and save my own money or get an annuity with an insurance company. I don't need you to steal money from my pay check every week, then hope I live to 67 to get some of my hard-earned money back." "You must use our Post Office." "Why?," I said, "UPS, DHL, and Fed Ex give me better service." "You must support Medicare." "Why?" I replied, "I can pay for my own health insurance that lets...

These are my top-10 beefs with the Federal Income Tax. This is the enemy. We should first focus on particulars of why it is bad rather than battle among ourselves about suggested alternatives. Please keep to the subject and tell me if you somehow think I am unfairly disparaging the Income Tax. 1: It allows over 1/3 of all Americans to escape paying Federal taxes altogether, either because they don’t report earned income correctly or they hire tax accountants to help them jump through tax loopholes. And who pays an average of 30% higher taxes because of all this tax...

The German government's purchase of data stolen from a Liechtenstein bank has reinvigorated longstanding debates about privacy, law enforcement and international relations. Much of the fallout has followed predictable patterns. Some argue that Germany's richest citizens should be brought to justice for failing to comply with the tax laws, while others point out that it is unseemly for a nation to spy on a peaceful neighbor. The conflict between Germany and Liechtenstein also has triggered a broader debate about tax competition and the role of so-called tax havens. The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is trying to use...

To the Memory of ALBERT J. NOCK Foreword THIS WAS, to be sure, "the home of the free and the land of the brave." Americans were free simply because the government was too weak to intervene in the private affairs of the people-it did not have the money to do so-and they were brave because a free people is always venturesome. The obligation of freedom is a willingness to stand on your own feet. The early American wanted it that way. He was wary of government, especially one that was out of his reach. He had just rid himself of...

Chart: Percentage of taxpayers paying the alternative minimum tax, by townA federal tax originally designed to prevent the super-rich from avoiding taxes altogether continues to dun more and more of North Jersey, including thousands of families earning less than $100,000.  The latest data from the Internal Revenue Service shows a dramatic increase in the number of North Jersey families required to pay the alternative minimum tax, which produces higher bills than the regular income tax.  New Jersey is home to the highest percentage of AMT payers in the nation.There is general agreement in Congress that the AMT is growing...

Montana still relies more heavily than do other states on property taxes for revenue, but the actual tax levels are not abnormally high... Doug Young, professor of economics at MSU-Bozeman, also told a meeting of Montana business and political officials that residential and commercial real estate is shouldering a greater share of the property tax burden in the state. Young spoke in Helena at the annual meeting of the Montana Taxpayers Association, a group that primarily represents business taxpayers. Property taxes account for 37 percent of tax revenue in Montana, while the national average for states is 31 percent... Income,...

In today's competitive global economy, a fair, simple, and pro-growth tax system is essential for America's success. America must be the best place in the world to invest and create high-paying jobs. Fred Thompson's Plan for Tax Relief and Economic Growth promotes fairness and simplicity in the tax code and will create greater growth in the economy. It is based on a fundamental assumption that keeping tax rates low increases economic growth and enhances American competitiveness in the global economy. Increased economic growth will lead to higher wages and higher levels of employment in America. Equally important, lower taxes enhance...

A report left out of the public spotlight for more than six months reveals that officials at the Texas Department of Transportation want to toll interstate highways and shelter private investors from paying income taxes on toll revenue. On Feb. 28, Texas transportation officials submitted the report to the 110th Congress entitled “Forward Momentum.� The report did not attract much attention at the time. State lawmakers have only recently begun to speak out about it. Texas state Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, called the recommendations a form of double taxation, according to The Associated Press. In the report, TxDOT urges federal...

"There are frequent complaints that U.S. income inequality has increased in recent decades. Estimates of rising inequality that are widely cited in the media are often based on federal income tax return data. ..............." -------------- "However, there have been large changes in U.S. tax rules over time that have made a dramatic difference on what is reported as income on individual tax returns. .........." ---------------- "Measurements of inequality have also been affected by large reductions in income tax rates, particularly in 1986..........." ---------------- "In sum, studies based on tax return data provide highly misleading comparisons of changes to the U.S....

Maybe the era of big government isn't over, after all. As Americans finish their annual tax-filing flurry to meet a Tuesday deadline, it is true that tax rates are lower than they were a few years ago. But according to a different yardstick, the federal government's reach is expanding. Slightly over half of all Americans – 52.6 percent – now receive significant income from government programs, according to an analysis by Gary Shilling, an economist in Springfield, N.J. That's up from 49.4 percent in 2000 and far above the 28.3 percent of Americans in 1950. If the trend continues, the...

For years, Trenton lawmakers knew property taxes were suffocating homeowners. They watched school boards and municipal councils approve spending that piled one 6.5 percent property tax increase on top of another, year after year. They bemoaned the highest-in-the-nation tax bills. But they never did anything. For them, decrying confiscatory taxes was a safer political choice than actually doing something. They realized that lowering property taxes, seemingly a good thing, would trig ger consequences -- most of them unappealing. Simply put, reducing reli ance on property taxes as the major funding source for schools and local government can be achieved only...

Ron Deval - boomer, ecologist, humanist, peacenik, political agnostic and unapologetically Canadian - has a surprise for fans of all causes liberal. Reliably left on most issues, Deval is nonetheless passionate about a tax revolution whose growing army is populated largely by conservatives and libertarians. Describing himself as an "advocate of things that favor humanity," Deval is, in short, a Fair Tax maniac. Encouragingly, the Land O' Lakes man is not just another guy with an opinion and a couple of Web sites. He can navigate a spread sheet. After about 20 years designing programs that helped wealthy clients of...

Mr.Buffett. As an avowed supporter of the estate tax, Mr. Buffett could have let the government take its share of his estate after he dies. But just as Mr. Buffett has accumulated his vast wealth without paying much personal income tax, he has found a way to avoid the tax man in this maneuver as well, even writing in his letter to Bill and Melinda Gates that a condition of the gift is that the foundation “must continue to satisfy legal requirements qualifying my gifts as charitable and not subject to gift or other taxes.” On the estate tax, watch...

Single-family home sales and prices in Massachusetts fell 1.5 percent in March, capping a first quarter in which sales slowed dramatically from the previous year... ''Inventory is at record highs, so buyers are taking their time," said David Wluka, president of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors. ''They can pick among several houses so they don't feel the pressure." The slowdown in Massachusetts' housing market ran counter to a surprising pick-up in March in nationwide sales of homes, condominiums, and townhouses. Analysts had predicted that strong February sales... The housing market in Massachusetts ''simply isn't as strong as it is in...

Hawaii residents paid more state taxes in 2004 than residents of any other state in the country... Hawaii residents paid an average of $3,050 per person in 2004, while Texans paid the least — an average of $1,368. Every state but one collected more taxes per person in 2004 than it did a decade earlier... State taxpayer burdens increased by an average of 41 percent from 1994 to 2004. Only Alaska saw the amount it collects per person decline. Even when the numbers are adjusted for inflation, the individual tax burdens increased in 43 states. Rising education and Medicaid costs...

Where you live can have a big impact on how much you pay in taxes each year. The spread, according to numbers crunched by the nonprofit Tax Foundation, might not be enough to make you pull up stakes and move to a new state, but it can give you a case of tax envy. The state and local burden ranges from 6.4% (Alaska) to 13% (Maine).

(Read this article in the original for links to all the events, etc. http://tinyurl.com/8xuvu ) 2005 Year in Review What happened on the Underground (NHFree.com) during the last year By Kat Dillon The New Hampshire Underground is a loose organization of freedom fighters composed mainly of Free State Project (http://freestateproject.org) members who have already made the move to NH. There, these members worked with native New Hampshirites with the encouragement of Freestaters still waiting to make the big move to NH. It is difficult to describe the incredible synergy from amassing so many liberty lovers in one area. The individuals...

When Julie Abel goes grocery shopping each week, she drives more than 25 miles to Georgia to avoid paying the nation's highest average tax on food: 8.4 percent in Tennessee. "If you can save $5 it is worth driving down the road," Abel said after traveling from her rural home in Hamilton County, which collects 2.22 percent sales tax on food on top of the 6 percent for the state. Georgia does not tax food sales. Abel is not alone in her frustration. Rep. Michael Kernell, D-Memphis, said he regularly hears complaints about the state's almost 60-year-old food tax and...

Markos Moulitsas Zúniga the man that runs the most successful political blog in America can't afford the Blue state of California: "So I'm getting a little frustrated with the Bay Area real estate market, and for the first time in years I'm casting about the rest of the nation to see if there's anywhere else where I could possibly live." How ironic,a guy who supports a party that promotes Fannie Mae,Freddie Mac,land-use restrictions,zoning,open space laws,and unions is unable to buy a house in the very Blue area of Northern California. All this from a guy who's got a law degree......

WASHINGTON, July 29 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today that U.S. Magistrate Judge Joseph C. Spero, sentenced J. Tony Serra to ten months' imprisonment, at the federal courthouse in San Francisco, California. On April 5, 2005, Serra pled guilty to two counts of willful failure to pay federal income taxes (26 U.S.C. § 7203). "Honest taxpayers deserve to know that people who commit tax crimes are likely to face federal criminal prosecution and imprisonment and still will have to pay taxes, interest, and penalties," said Assistant Attorney General Eileen J. O'Connor, for the...

WASHINGTON - A presidential commission looking into how to make income taxes fairer and simpler heard pitches Wednesday from experts with ideas about revamping or replacing the current system. ADVERTISEMENT The commission examined plans to base taxes on spending rather than income, which could mean a national sales tax or a European-style value-added tax. As for transforming the income tax, the commission heard proposals for comprehensive change and minor tinkering. "Not one person who we encountered as we traveled the country told us that our current tax system was good for America and that we should leave it alone," said...

With April 15 having just passed, the scars are still fresh. I hope you're not one who rejoiced over your tax refund as if the feds were presenting you with some kind of gift. Generally, if you're getting a refund check it's only because excessive taxes were withheld from your paychecks all year. What you'll be getting back is your own money, the return of principal on the interest-free loan you were kind enough to extend to the U.S. Treasury in 2004. Molly Ivins, the folksy, sassy socialist from Texas (by way of The New York Times, where she once...

The deadline for filing income taxes may be April 15th, but the average taxpayer will not earn enough cumulative gross income to pay for federal, state and local government spending and regulation until sometime in July. In fact, the cost of spending and regulation now exceeds $24,000 per person per year. The total combined public and intergovernmental (so-called "trust-fund") debt is approaching $7.8 trillion. Not content to rest on their laurels, the FY 2006 House and Senate budgets will rack up an additional $365 billion in debt. On top of the current '05 budget's bloated social and discretionary spending, there...

WASHINGTON - People scurrying to meet Friday's tax deadline might consider this: It's taking you and your fellow Americans 6.6 billion hours to do all that paperwork. The basic tax return — the Form 1040 filed by most people every year — accounts for 1.6 billion hours. The Internal Revenue Service furnished those statistics to the White House budget office, which keeps tabs on the government's bureaucratic demands. The budget office notes that tax work "towers over the entire paperwork burden for the rest of the federal government" and accounts for some 80 percent. "If anything, those numbers are probably...

The Internal Revenue Service unveiled its annual listing of tax scams Monday that it labeled the "Dirty Dozen." The 2004 list includes several new tricks that either manipulate laws governing charitable groups, abuse credit counseling services, or rely on refuted arguments to claim tax exemptions, according to the IRS. "The Dirty Dozen is a reminder that tax scams can take many forms," said Mark W. Everson, IRS commissioner. "Don't be fooled by false promises peddled by scam artists. They'll take your money and leave you with a hefty tax bill."

The FairTax is the non-partisan national sales tax proposal that would replace all federal income taxes. These include personal, estate, gift, self-employment, alternative minimum, capital gains, FICA, and corporate and death taxes.

Don't spend that $330 annual savings in property taxes you're supposed to get by 2006. That's the $330 average property tax reduction per household promised from legislation legalizing slot machines and from adding 0.1 percent to the local wage tax. It was pushed by Gov. Ed Rendell and backed by a majority of state lawmakers on July 4. The wage tax would take effect the year property tax relief is provided. If your family income is $100,000, you'll pay $100 more in the wage tax. That should be deducted from the $330 for a net savings of $230. Then wait....

A 72-trillion-pound elephant is in the room and we have a patriotic duty to acknowledge him before he devours our economy, crushes the quality of our health care and destroys our retirement security. According to the 2004 Social Security Trustees report the unfunded long-term obligations of Social Security and Medicare amount to $72 trillion. The total bill for current and future taxpayers breaks down as follows: $21.8 trillion from Medicare Part A; 23.2 trillion from Medicare Part B; $16.6 trillion from the new Medicare prescription drug benefit; and $10.4 trillion from Social Security. It's highly unlikely that either party will...

The End of Income Taxes by David A. Hartman The tax cuts proposed by President George W. Bush take significant steps toward the reform of a federal tax code that retards growth of the capital stock, productivity, and incomes of all Americans. His plan to eliminate the death tax, increase expensing of investment for small businesses, end double taxation of dividend income, expand “returns exempt” taxation of IRA savings, and lower progressive rates on individual incomes are all welcome contributions toward a more efficient tax code. Yet even if it is enacted, the President’s proposal will likely add more obstacles...

CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) — The incoming leader of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Camden has decided that Gov. James E. McGreevey cannot receive communion. The Most Rev. Joseph Galante said Thursday that he was taking the stance primarily because the divorced governor, who is Catholic, remarried without receiving a church annulment. He also cited McGreevey's support of abortion rights, stem-cell research and other positions which contradict church views. Galante, who was to be installed Friday during a Mass at St. Agnes Church in Blackwood, said he felt duty bound to take a hard line stance on the issue. He said...

Washington: Feeling particularly worn down after tax day? Maybe it's because this year it took longer than ever before to complete an average return. The federal government estimates that it took taxpayers 28 hours and 30 minutes to grind through the trial of completing 2003 returns with itemized deductions and income from interest, dividends and capital gains. That's 42 minutes longer than it took last year and nearly a half day longer than the 17 hours and seven minutes it took in 1988, when the government first began to track this dismal ordeal. Blame the growing agony on the complexity...

More people than ever are using tax professionals or computer software programs to help prepare their tax returns. Convenience is one reason for the trend, but Internal Revenue Service officials say the increasing complexity of the federal tax code is what's driving most to seek help. "If the law gets too complicated," said IRS Commissioner Mark Everson, "people just throw up their hands." He said about 60 percent of all tax returns are now prepared by professionals, and many of the rest are prepared by taxpayers who use software programs to help them file over the Internet. So far this...

'It's time to get rid of income taxes' TIM ROHWER , Staff Writer 03/20/2004 It's time to eliminate income taxes and impose a national sales tax, said U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-5th District [Iowa] on Friday. "The cost of enforcing the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) is over $1 trillion a year," King said during a visit to Council Bluffs. "We're consuming 9 percent of our Gross National Product just with the IRS. It's time to get rid of income taxes, implode the entire thing." King's national tax on retail sales and services, also known as the Fair Tax, would mean...

<p>LACONIA, N.H. (AP) — Democratic presidential contender Wesley Clark said Saturday that one reason New Hampshire property taxes are high is the state has no income or general sales tax.</p> <p>"Some of the responsibility for your high property taxes is a function of your state government and leadership in the state," Clark said in response to a question at a morning campaign stop.</p>

<p>Ah, driving in New Jersey. The most crowded roads.</p> <p>The longest commutes. The, ahem, nicest drivers.</p> <p>And the highest average auto insurance bills in the nation. Again.</p> <p>New Jersey beat out all the other states for the eighth time in the past decade, according to the annual National Association of Insurance Commissioners' survey, released yesterday.</p>

Here's a Twist on Faith Based InitiativesHere's a twist. The conservative Republican Governor of Alabama, Bob Riley has moved the discussion of faith based initiatives to a whole new level with his bold proposal to INCREASE state taxes by a whopping total of $1.2 billion, the largest in history. Please continue reading below... For a Republican Governor this is surprising enough, but there's more. Riley is using the Bible as a source book for his decision. In a press release announcing his decision, Riley explained: "Alabamians are a faithful people who believe that creating a better world for our children...

To all families of 4 making 40k a year: From MSNBC "The president called on Congress to make years of projected tax cuts effective immediately, saying that a family of four with an income of $40,000 would see its federal tax bill fall from $1,178 a year to just $45." Swell, so that means that the costs of running this society are in the hands of the single people? This is typical. I believe we should all share in running this place together, but this seems quite unfair. What logic comes up a plan that penalizes someone who has worked...

SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal appeals court has ruled the Internal Revenue Service committed fraud and acted deceptively after giving secret deals to two pilots in return for their testimony against 1,300 pilots who bought into the same tax shelters. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday overturned a previous ruling against the pilots who were found guilty of tax evasion and were ordered to pay more than $2 billion in penalties. To remedy the IRS misconduct, the court ordered that all the pilots should receive the same deal that one of the pilots received. As part of...

Here are the poll questions: What do you think about your federal income taxes? I pay too much I pay too little I pay just enough At time of post, here are the results: I pay too much 95% I pay too little 1% I pay just enough 4%

<p>Prospects of raising the state income tax on the richest New Jerseyans are getting a boost from three Republican lawmakers who say they'll back the plan if the extra dollars are used to increase state aid to towns and growing school districts.</p>

The rich would get richer while the poor would pay more. Mayor Bloomberg's plan to hike property taxes, cut city income taxes and make commuters share the pain adds up to a direct hit on the middle class, a study obtained by the Daily News found. And while the proposal just happens to benefit the wealthy mayor, it doesn't take Bloomberg's billions to come out ahead under his plan. The goal of the mayor's approach is to raise $3 billion from suburban commuters by having them pay city income taxes. But a little-noticed aspect of the plan is that two-thirds...