Free Republic

Unlike the John Mellencamp lyrics from Jack and Diane, “Don’t actually hold onto 16 as long as you can.” Context The first federal income tax was instituted in 1861 to pay for the Civil War, then repealed in 1872, a few years after the war’s end. After it was reimplemented in 1894, as the first peacetime national income tax, the Supreme Court struck it down as unconstitutional in the 5–4 decision Pollock v. Farmers’ Loan and Trust Company, because it wasn’t apportioned according to the states’ populations as the Constitution at the time required. So how to ensure that a...

“Toll free in ’73.” That was the campaign slogan over five decades ago that promised tolls on Illinois interstates would be a temporary revenue sources. Today, the tolls are higher and the tollway authority is more permanent than ever. Lawmakers promised tolls would help fund 186 miles of interstate construction and would be removed when the roads were paid off. After that, highway maintenance would be funded by the gas tax. In 1968, the General Assembly made the Illinois Toll Highway Authority permanent. What started at just 10 cents at the exits and 25 cents at the plazas has grown...

MOSCOW, November 13. /TASS/. Russia’s government has refused to support a bill on re-introducing a progressive income tax drafted by A Just Russia Party, the Izvestia newspaper reported on Friday. Russia’s Economic Development Ministry believes that switching to this system may lead to resuming the use of the so-called shady schemes of avoiding to pay the tax, including by lowering the real salary figures, according to the newspaper. "Now there is stability in collecting this tax what is a rather important argument in favor of preserving the current income tax scale," a ministry representative, Elena Lashkina, told the newspaper. Russia’s...

SEE: Ted Cruz readies for next round of tea party-fueled fight Gromer Jeffers Jr. 03 February 2014 10:36 PM Now, Cruz said, he wants to engage voters on other issues as well. He said he hoped Congress would use this year to overhaul tax and regulatory policy. And later he expressed his support for ideas like a flat federal income tax rate for everyone, saying people should mail back their tax returns on a postcard. “We need to get back to the policies that work, like fundamental tax reform,” he said. This is very disturbing. What we really need to...

The tax on luxury will become reality for all Russians without exception next year. President Vladimir Putin reminded everyone of that in his annual Address to the Federal Assembly. According to experts, the new tax may send a definite message to wealthy citizens to redistribute their revenues. The head of state said in his speech that the decision on the so-called luxury tax should be made in the first half of 2013. According to the official website of the President of the Russian Federation, one should not give up on the "flat" income tax scale, since the progressive taxation of...

Checkbook tax is bad, but you’ve heard nothing about the future of your checking account if you haven’t heard about the Progressive Consumption Tax that the Obama Debt Commission is considering.... The PCT is supposed to replace the income tax, but not to be confused with the Fair Tax (which is a sales tax). Here is how PCT works: At tax time you state your income. Then you subtract the amount that you have saved and pay tax on the difference (the consumption). So if you spend all your income – you pay tax on all your income. The more...

The progressive-liberal Blog, BlueOregon.com takes on ATR’s Kelly Cobb over a local car rental tax hike for Portland. Cobb uses their left- leaning organizations data to prove “ government can’t grow the economy”

This is the chart they don't want you to see: the purchasing power of the dollar over the past 76 years has declined by 94%. And based on current monetary and fiscal policy, we have at least another 94% to go. The only question is whether this will be achieved in 76 months this time. (Click chart to enlarge.)

I've recently discovered the wonders of "progressive" taxation. Earning a pretty average salary I never thought I would be complaining about higher taxes and here I am. In a nutshell, I decided to go to graduate school. My employer being very nice decided to pay for all of it. Then I discovered that if your employer pays for undergraduate class it's tax free. If it is graduate school it's taxed at 33% as income. What does that do? Well, each graduate class costs about 6k. I take 6-7 classes a year. 6x7= 42. Tack on 42k to my regular income...

While many studies answer the ques?tion of who pays taxes in America, the question of who gets the most government spending is often overlooked. Just as some Americans bear a larger portion of the nation's tax burden than others, some Americans also receive a larger share of the nation's government spending. This report summarizes the key findings of a comprehensive 2007 Tax Foundation study of federal, state and local taxes and government spending. The results show that when we consider the distribution of government spending as well as taxes, it provides a dramatically altered view of how U.S. fiscal policy...

Indeed, what would happen to the poker community if something like that were to occur? Let’s make an outrageous assumption and say that people would still actually play in a casino that enforces this rule through whatever means. The incentive of being a winning poker player would almost all be lost. Poker players would each try to earn enough to make a living for themselves, but not make so much as to get themselves into the top 20% of total players. This would indeed be counter-productive. Let us imagine even further that all of the money won or lost at...

A Battlefield for Tax Reform There are a few significant battlefields in the war for tax reform. One of them is Free Republic. What makes the Free Republic battlefield significant is that the debate is at the cutting edge. The debate on Free Republic is the most current and most knowledgeable. It is a year ahead of other significant battlefields (radio talk shows, political town-hall meetings, conversations among neighbors and coworkers.) The trend on Free Republic with respect to tax reform is going to show up in the real world. Free Republic is a tiny segment of the world, albeit...

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK … NOT EXACTLY A HISTORIAN  Retired Army General Wesley Clark has been very effective in keeping his face and opinions in the media forefront the past year or so.  There’s a reason for that. Political aspirations.  Clark is toying with the idea of announcing as a Democratic candidate for President of the United States.  Truth is, he’s after the number two spot.  Vice Presidential candidate for now, the Oval Office Later. Clark was a guest on Tim Russert’s Meet the Press this past Sunday. The questioning turned to Clark’s political ambitions and his feelings on the Bush...