Free Republic

An unexpected drop in state tax collections has created a mid-year budget deficit that could be as high as $400 million, adding dark new clouds to the state's bleak financial forecast as lawmakers prepare for the start of their annual session in two weeks. The news, delivered to Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration late last week by state economists, comes less than three months after the governor cut $248 million from the 2009-10 budget to adjust for shrinking state tax collections. Those cuts have led to hundreds of layoffs in state government and fell particularly hard on health care and higher...

Self-paying tax cuts are a popular delusion, except among economists. University of Michigan economist Joel Slemrod is adamant on one of the key economic issues of our day: 'Tax cuts don't pay for themselves! Period!' Hardly any economist would disagree. This is true for Republicans as well as Democrats. It is also true regardless of whether they describe themselves as NeoClassical, New Classical, Rational Expectations, Monetarist, Keynesian, Austrian or New Institutional economists. Yet, for a substantial portion of the general public, the idea that cutting tax rates will increase tax revenues has become an article of faith. The following anonymous...

OKLAHOMA CITY – Everywhere you look, people are talking about budget cuts in Oklahoma. This week, an Associated Press article reported that in the state Senate, there is a battle over the state’s $669 million budget shortfall and cuts that would need to be made to senior nutrition programs. At the end of February, the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government reported Oklahoma was No. 1, with the fifth consecutive quarterly drop in tax collections. Oklahoma, which had largely weathered the maelstrom, is starting to feel the effects. And in a recent editorial in The Oklahoman, headlined “We’re No. 1:...

Is al Qaeda Bankrupt? Nathan Vardi, 02.11.10, 04:00 PM EST Forbes Magazine dated March 01, 2010 Desperate for funds, the terrorist group has turned to affiliates that rely more and more on crime. Jihadists had a name for Abd al Hamid al Mujil--"the million dollar man." Al Mujil had forged a personal relationship with Osama bin Laden and Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, the self-described mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, spending parts of the late 1990s in Afghanistan. In those days the Kuwaiti-born al Mujil traveled to various Arab countries to meet with bin Laden's deputies. As recently as 2006 al...

Battle lines are drawn over lucrative traffic fines An L.A. councilman and a state senator clash over which entity should issue red-light and other citations and keep the money. By Rich Connell 5:14 PM PST, February 12, 2010 In an emerging high-stakes battle fueled by government budget woes, a Long Beach lawmaker is attempting to stop cities from launching what she calls a "raid" on state coffers by collecting and keeping traffic fines. With some tickets now costing more than $500 -- and with most of the money going to the state and the courts -- California municipalities in small...

Political and public pressure is building to bring bingo bling to Alabama’s financially ailing school and general government revenue. Republican gubernatorial candidate Bradley Byrne said acute issues like education and jobs are out there, but bingo is becoming the issue in an election year when all constitutional and legislative offices are on the ballot. “It’s the tail wagging the dog,” Byrne said Friday. Alabama’s main revenues continued their drop for the fourth month into the 2009-2010 fiscal year. All revenues were down 2.75 percent for the four months of the year compared with last year, according to the Revenue Department,...

First there was the "Bo-tax" on elective cosmetic surgeries. Now, a new tax on indoor tanning services could be in play, as Senate Democrats continue to hunt for healthcare revenues anywhere they can. The concept of an excise tax on tanning services, which could include salon walk-ins or tanning beds and sunlamps sold for residential use, was floated in a weekend Senate staff meeting on the health bill. Officials described the idea as preliminary and not being seriously considered at this time. But as senators continue to draft amendments to add spending or scale back other pay-fors, all bets could...

U.S. State Tax Revenue Drops Most Since 1963 Oct 17, 2009 - 04:57 PM By: Mike_Shedlock Bloomberg is reporting State Revenue Falls Most Since 1963 on Incomes, Sales. U.S. state tax collections tumbled the most in almost half a century in the second quarter as the economic recession curbed levies on incomes and sales. The 16.6 percent plunge was the biggest since at least 1963, the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government said today. For the 12 months to June 30, the fiscal year for most states, revenue declined 8.2 percent, or $63 billion, about twice what states got from...

U.S. states suffer "unbelievable" revenue shortages By Lisa Lambert Fri Oct 9, 5:59 pm ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. economy may be creeping toward recovery after the worst slowdown since the Great Depression, but many states see no end in sight to their diving tax revenues. Tax revenues used to pay teachers and fuel police cars continue to trail even the most pessimistic expectations, despite the cash from the economic stimulus plan pouring into state coffers. "It's crazy. It's really just unbelievable," said Scott Pattison, executive director of the National Association of State Budget Officers, and called the states'...

State tax revenue in the second quarter plunged 17% from a year earlier, according to Census Bureau. It was the sharpest decline since at least the 1960s. The biggest drop was in state income taxes, which were down 28% in the second quarter from a year earlier. Some of the sharpest tax declines were in states that have been among the hardest-hit by the recession, in particular those with high concentrations of jobs in the battered housing sector. In Arizona, overall tax revenue fell 27% in the second quarter from a year ago. Tax revenue fell 12% in Florida and...

<p>This is pretty ugly; we were not supposed to have a negative income-to-outlay view on Social Security for another decade or so.</p> <p>Well, the recession fixed that. Tax receipts are in the toilet but outlays sure aren't.</p> <p>This, unfortunately, is terribly misleading. The Social Security "Trust Fund" contains nothing other than IOUs. That is, it does not contain money, it contains "special" Treasury Bonds that form part of the "public debt."</p>

4 weeks, 10,000 traffic tickets Heath officials say they didn't expect such a windfall Saturday, August 1, 2009 3:01 AM By Josh Jarman THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH HEATH, Ohio -- City officials say they were shocked by the number of violations recorded during the first month of traffic-camera enforcement and decided to make it cheaper to protest multiple tickets. More than 10,000 violations had been recorded by Heath traffic cameras through Tuesday. At $100 apiece, that would net the city a little more than $830,000 after paying the vendor, Redflex, its share. In four weeks, the cameras will have generated an...

They deliberately twist and use that class-envy reaction under the big lie of fairness, to gain even more control of the economy and then use that control for their ends and best interests, not the nation's. So this is why flat tax, Fair Tax, works. This arbitrary setting of rates based on what Obama thinks is rich, leads to even further diversions and divisions in the country among the population. Plus it doesn't raise any money! You know, the fascinating thing? If you were listening yesterday and you heard me say you didn't want to listen and you didn't want...

It is absolutely mind boggling how people continue to confuse higher tax rates with higher tax revenues. Numerous pundits continue to argue that we need to raise tax rates to fund the growing budget deficit. But raising tax rates is one sure way of making sure the budget deficit grows even larger.

Mark Schuster and Jeffrey Webb are immigrants of a different sort. So are Lynn Adler and Paige Warren. The gay American couples resettled in Massachusetts, where they are treated -- legally and socially -- like any other married folks. They moved in part because they wanted their children to grow up in a welcoming environment.... This month marks the fifth anniversary of Massachusetts' breakthrough -- opening marriage to gay couples: More than 12,000 have since tied the knot there. Three new studies document wonderful results: Gay matrimony has been a $111 million boost to the state's economy. The average gay...

Libya's executive and legislative bodies have voted to delay an oil distribution scheme of Muammar Gaddafi, the state news agency Jana has reported. The Libyan leader, who has advocated handing out oil revenues directly to the people to beat endemic corruption in the government, would have distributed about $32bn this year alone. The results of the vote were announced at a meeting of the General Public Congress (GPC) at Gaddafi's home town, Sirte, on Tuesday. Only 64 of the 468 Basic People Congresses (LBPCs), or municipalities, voted for Gaddafi's plan to hand out the money now, while 251 endorsed the...

California collected just $7.34 billion in personal income tax payments in April, putting further stress on the state's budget. The state controller's office said the collections in April were down from $13 billion a year earlier. About a quarter of all income tax revenue is collected in April, the agency said. In addition, the dismal April means the state is falling behind the revenue forecasts incorporated into the budget deal adopted by the Legislature in February.

I am struck by the lack of coverage in the media of the obvious beneficiary of the rise in Somali piracy. Let's just ask the question; who stands to gain from this phenomenon? It's pretty simple really. The piracy in the northern Indian Ocean raises large sums of money for fundamentalist Mullahs and puts a big hurt on Suez Canal traffic. This piracy is a de facto extension of the strategy behind the assassination of Anwar Sadat and busloads of foreign tourists. This is an attack on world trade and the civilian government of a sovereign nation by a coordinated...

It's been all over the news - Rush Limbaugh packing up camp and abandoning his operations in New York City. It's been the subject of a Jon Stewart "The Daily Show" tirade [0] and even drew the attention of New York Gov. David Paterson [0]. Limbaugh appeared on Fox News Channel's April 8 "Your World with Neil Cavuto" [1] and explained why he was leaving and how he felt about those that were glad he was leaving. "Well, if they're glad I'm leaving, Neil, then I assume that the governor of New York, the unelected governor - has no interest...

Surprise. Surprise. The California deficit is climbing again. Despite the recent budget “deal,” the deficit is on the rise again. The Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) says that the deficit – even with the claimed “12.5 billion” in tax increases - will be another $8 billion dollars. Time and again, Republicans in and out of the legislature have rightfully claimed that the California has a spending problem. Our Politicalvanguard.com CA Spending Addition Chart also makes that same case. The obscene, March 16, 2009, Sacramento Bee story indicating that the State payroll has risen by 2000 employees over the last year -...