Free Republic

Both houses of the North Carolina legislature are currently considering competing bills that lower taxes by $1 billion or more over the next five years, move the state to a pro-growth flat rate income tax system, and slash tax rates on businesses and North Carolina families. Both proposals have incredible potential to supercharge economic growth in North Carolina, leading to higher job creation and higher income growth across the income spectrum. ALEC’s Rich States, Poor States Economic Outlook Index measures a state’s future growth prospects given the state’s current public policy environment. The 6th Edition of Rich States, Poor States...

The State Department, under Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton, created an arrangement for her longtime aide and confidante Huma Abedin to work for private clients as a consultant while serving as a top adviser in the department. Connect with NYTMetro Follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook for news and conversation. Ms. Abedin did not disclose the arrangement — or how much income she earned — on her financial report. It requires officials to make public any significant sources of income. The disclosure of the agreement that Ms. Abedin made with the State Department comes as her husband, former...

(Reuters) - Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, one of the nation's most prominent Republicans and a possible 2016 presidential candidate, has fallen out of favor with local voters, and his bold plan to scrap the state income tax is running into trouble. Jindal was re-elected to a second term with two-thirds of the vote in 2011. But his Louisiana approval rating was down to 38 percent in a recent poll, worse than Democratic President Barack Obama in one of the most conservative states. The poll suggested voters think he is spending more time traveling outside the state and burnishing his credentials...

IRS checking out your Facebook and Twitter to help keep you honest You have less than two weeks to file your taxes and your Facebook or Twitter accounts could end up getting you in big trouble with the IRS. They're looking for tax cheaters. The IRS has been known to check car records, employment documents and other public records. Now, your social media page is on that list too. “I think that’s a little bit ridiculous,” replied one person we talked to. Some of the people we talked to were surprised. “I think it’s still an invasion of privacy,” commented...

Mickelson expects to make 'drastic' changes LA QUINTA — San Diego professional golfer Phil Mickelson said after the final round of the PGA Tour’s Humana Challenge on Sunday that he will have to make “drastic changes” in his life because of the federal and state taxes he is paying, and he confirmed that his decision to not buy an interest in the Padres was directly related to his financial situation. "I'll probably talk more in depth next week (at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines). I'm not going to jump the gun,” Mickelson said. “There are going to be...

President Barack Obama released his recent personal finance records in 2008, which included his 2004 U.S. Individual Income Tax Return and Senate Annual Finance Report. President Obama's records for 2004 do not reconcile with the State of Illinois Comptroller's Office. There are inconsistencies in the total compensation received as an Illinois State Senator. The largest error likely is President Obama's omission of a "Leadership Stipend" of over $8,000. This stipend should have been recorded as income. According to the Illinois Comptroller's office, then-State Senator Obama received: 2004 State of IL compensation: $ 52,817.38 (salary) $ 8,040.01 (leadership stipend) Stipends of...

House to vote on bill terminating federal workers who don't pay their taxesBy Pete Kasperowicz and Bernie Becker - 07/30/12 09:27 AM ET The House will vote on legislation as early as Tuesday that would require the federal government to terminate workers with "seriously delinquent" tax debts. The bill, which also would prohibit the government from hiring people who are late on their tax payments, tries to deal with the roughly 100,000 federal workers who are usually behind on their taxes each year. Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), the bill’s sponsor, has cited IRS data indicating that these workers owed a...

Investigating the IRS: Why it gives billions to illegal immigrants INDIANAPOLIS - Why are many illegal immigrants getting a bigger tax refund than you? Blame it on the IRS and a massive tax loophole that's now being exposed by Eyewitness News. 13 Investigates has found the IRS is giving away your tax dollars to illegal workers and people who don't even live in the United States - and the problem is costing billions! We want you to see exactly where your money is going and why the IRS is allowing it to happen. From the homes of illegal workers in...

Peace has a day in Court For those of you who know me and have been following my story, you know that part of my resistance to the US Empire is my refusal to pay income taxes. This morning (April 19th), a new episode unfolded in my ongoing struggle with the IRS and the Empire the agency is nestled in. I was subpoenaed to appear in the 9th Circuit court of the US Federal Court system in Sacramento, California—my state’s capitol. For background, I have had two meetings with the IRS agent assigned to my case where I expressed to...

Tax Freedom Day® 2012 arrives on April 17 this year, four days later than last year due to higher federal income and corporate tax collections. That means Americans will work 107 days into the year, from January 1 to April 17, to earn enough money to pay this year’s combined 29.2% federal, state, and local tax bill...

Never on Sunday, apparently. So this year your income tax is due next Tuesday, April 17. Even if you pay none. And in fact, 41 percent of those filing last year, 2010, didn’t pay a dime in tax. But the government sent a good number of them checks for $105 billion...

It is no secret that business and jobs are flowing to Texas from California but that is not the only state that is benefiting with new jobs as a response to higher taxes in once was called the Golden State.

The economics of our federal income tax has been under assault by some of our best economists and tax men. The general conclusion seems to be that this tax acts as a drag on the economy, slowing economic growth, producing chronic commodity inflation, discouraging savings and enterprise, and putting America at some disadvantage in world trade with those nations, especially the miracle economies, who have moderate, simpler tax systems--systems that encourage and promote capitalism. Any Income Tax is intrinsically wrong – that is, the very concept of a tax on income is wrong. A tax that is arbitrary, like our...

A new NBER study of 14 European nations finds that football players tend to locate in countries that have comparatively low income tax rates. This response to tax rates is especially pronounced for the most able and well-paid athletes, and is actually negative for the least able and lowest paid among the professionals. Often, national tax breaks designed to lure top-notch foreign players displace the domestic players in a league. In Taxation and International Migration of Superstars: Evidence from the European Football Market (NBER Working Paper No. 16545), authors Henrik Kleven, Camille Landais, and Emmanuel Saez construct two models of...

In a response to my piece entitled, “Taxeaters”, a reader who favored progressive income taxation posed this question back to me: why shouldn’t the top 50% of income earners pay 96% of the taxes? My answer: for the same reason that they shouldn’t have to pick up 96% of the state’s collective bar tab. All knowledge builds upon what you know. That evening, I pondered his question some more and was inspired while enjoying a pub meal that Michelle Obama would ban if she could. And here is the problem with progressive income tax theory played out a fictional place...

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy intends to propose one of the largest tax increases in state history Wednesday, seeking $1.5 billion in new annual revenue from income tax hikes on the wealthy and middle classes, and new sales taxes on clothing and other long-exempt products and services. In a plan outlined Monday to The Mirror by his senior staff, Malloy also would extend the corporate tax surcharge for another two years and restrict tax credits for the motion picture industry, while modestly increasing incentives for research and development. The sales tax rate would change for the first time in 20 years,...

During the course of his pre-Super Bowl interview with Bill O’Reilly, President Obama said “I didn’t raise taxes once”. I guess he forgot. This year a new additional $2.7 billion a year tax was imposed on drug companies under Obamacare. Doesn’t affect me, you say? Of course it does. Drug companies, unlike the federal government, can’t print money, so this tax is being paid by you in the form of higher drug prices. Personally, I’ve already noticed the increase.

With a censure vote looming this afternoon, Rep. Charlie Rangel clashed with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) in a closed-door meeting this morning, as the New York Democrat and his supporters demanded the right to seek a lesser punishment for a series of ethics violations. Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and Jo Bonner (R-Ala.) came to the floor shortly after 4 p.m. Thursday afternoon to offer the censure resolution against Rangel, who was found guilty of 11 ethics violations related to his personal finances. Lofgren and Bonner are taking one hour of floor time for the resolution, half of which will be...

I predict that in the lame duck session, Congress will extend all of the Bush tax cuts, except that the $250K threshold of "rich" households facing higher taxes will be raised to $1 million as a compromise (there have been rumors of this) to have him save face and avoid vetoing an extension. I don't think the Republicans will allow the tax rates rise for everyone over $250K (but with the Maine twins etc. you never know), and I would be mildly surprised if Obama vetoed a bill raising taxes only on incomes above $1 million and thus caused everyone...

Lack of congressional action on 2011 income taxes may force the Treasury Department to make unprecedented moves to prevent U.S. workers from seeing large tax increases in their January paychecks. The issue: 2011 tax-withholding tables. Treasury officials usually release the tables, which determine the take-home pay of millions of wage-earners, by mid-November because it takes payroll processors weeks to adjust their systems before Jan. 1. But congressional leaders recently postponed voting on taxes until after the election and lawmakers don't reconvene until Nov. 15. The Senate is scheduled to take up several nontax issues when it returns and is expected...