Free Republic

Now that the long Memorial Day holiday is over and legislators and the governor have returned from their road trips, we hope they have a better sense of the condition of highways around the state and a renewed sense of urgency on the need for upgrades and repairs. The first order of business, it would seem to us, is to come to some agreement on a state transportation budget for the next two years. Hopefully, hopefully, when that is done they will also take a longer-term view of Wisconsin’s highway construction needs and how best they should be met —...

DENVER (AP) — Colorado's legislative leaders knew they faced a hard sell when they unveiled a bipartisan measure to ask voters for a sales tax hike and a bond issue to generate billions of dollars for transportation. That hard sell was on full display before the Democrat-led House initially approved the bill on party lines Thursday. Even after that approval, Republicans kept trying to change the bill.

The Trump administration, at work on a new plan for tax reform, is reportedly considering a plan to cross into one of the most dangerous territories in American politics: fiddling with the Social Security system. According to multiple reports, the administration is entertaining the possibility of eliminating the 12.4 percent payroll tax, which would require it to find a new dedicated funding source for the retirement checks that millions of Americans count on in their old age. The plan, first reported by the Associated Press, would be part of a major overhaul of the tax code that would make the...

FEBRUARY 17, 2017 WEEK THREE We are starting to have a few bills working their way through the system, but at this point nothing of any major impact. There are, however, the beginnings of discussions in some subject areas that will have significant implications. Having said that, the real issues taking front stage are the budget and the projected deficit. From that perspective I took a look at the bills that have been assigned to the House Revenue committee to see how many tax increase measures were there. I counted 38, but I have since been told there are now...

More than a year after Texas voters approved routing billions in state sales taxes to roads and bridges, some lawmakers are questioning whether the first payment of $5 billion should move forward as planned. Texans voted in 2015 to boost funding for state’s public roadways and bridges, which have strained under the state’s growing population. Proposition 7 — loudly cheered by top Texas leaders and supported by 83 percent of voters — changed the state constitution to route some taxes collected on car sales to the State Highway Fund. But in an unusually tightfisted legislative session, some Texas lawmakers are...

Larry Hauth has a farm in Coffey County and a daughter in Wichita. Good roads are kind of important to him. So he’s disturbed by the ongoing and accelerating trend of the state taking money out of the highway fund to balance the rest of its budget. “One of the things Kansas has going for it, compared to our surrounding states, is our road system,” Hauth said. “When they built them in years past, they were thinking ahead. I don’t think we’re thinking ahead right now. We’re trying to tread water, at best.” Gov. Sam Brownback wants to take nearly...

New Jersey’s low gas prices are about to get more expensive after Republican Gov. Chris Christie on Friday signed legislation raising the gas tax by 23 cents per gallon, from the 49th highest in the nation to the sixth, to pay for an expired transportation trust fund. The gas tax, though, is still lower than the gas tax in neighboring New York and Pennsylvania. The hike is set to go into effect Nov. 1. Christie also rescinded an order that shut down transportation projects in the state. He first issued the order when the transportation trust fund expired months ago....

Retail sales in Texas boomed for five years straight, from March 2010, their low point during the Great Recession. Sales tax collections jumped 46% from the first half of 2010 through the first half of 2015 – dizzying growth for a mature market! Given the size of the Texas economy, it helped prop up US retail sales. But by May 2015, 10 months into the oil bust, things began to sag. Sales tax collections in September for sales that occurred in August dropped 3.5% year-over-year, according to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. And in August, sales tax collections had...

There’s a famous old fable known as “Belling the Cat.” For those who haven’t heard it, it goes like this: A bunch of mice are threatened by a vicious cat, and they call a council to figure out how to solve the problem. One mouse proposes that they place a bell around the cat’s neck. That way, they’ll hear the cat approaching and have plenty of time to run and hide. The mice applaud the plan. They love the plan. It’s a great plan. One mouse asks who’s going to volunteer to place the bell around the cat’s neck. Suddenly,...

Probably the greatest rarity among politicians would be one who said (and really believed), “The government collects plenty of money as it is and I don’t want to plunder the taxpayers any further.” The vast majority of them know that spending tax dollars helps them remain popular and that’s why they’re constantly looking for new revenue streams. They will even trample upon clear legal rulings when they get in the way of their designs on the wealth of the citizens they supposedly serve. A new example is the renewed push by state officials to impose sales taxes on out-of-state transactions,...

Dive Brief: Passaic County, NJ, has announced its intention to sue the state's Department of Transportation for costs resulting from Gov. Chris Christie's order to shut down all projects funded through the near-empty Transportation Trust Fund (TTF), according to The Record.Citing safety issues, Passaic County officials said they used their own funds to continue with certain state projects after the shutdown, such as a $330,000 repaving project that left raised manhole covers exposed. The county has a multimillion-dollar lineup of infrastructure projects now on hold.Passaic County Counsel William Pascrell, who notified the state DOT of Passaic's intention to sue over...

Coloradans on average paid 8.9 percent of their incomes in state and local taxes in fiscal year 2012, down a bit from the 9 percent rate in the previous year... The Colorado rate was well below the national local-tax burden of 9.8 percent.. Colorado ranked 35th among the states for collective state and local tax burden, with No. 1 -- New York, at 12.7 percent -- having the highest state and local tax burden and No. 50 -- Alaska, at 6.5 percent -- the lowest. ... Taxes covered by the report include state and local income tax, property tax and...

Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson on Monday called for imposing a 14.9% flat tax rate on income, ending taxes on capital gains and dividends and abolishing the charitable deduction and all tax credits. Mr. Carson’s plan would lower taxes on the wealthiest households, who get much of their income from investments that would go untaxed and from business income now taxed at a top rate of 39.6%. Complete estimates on the distribution of the tax burden and the revenue effect of Mr. Carson’s plan weren’t available on Monday.

INDIANAPOLIS — Maintaining the state’s roads and bridges is work fraught with obstacles and hazards. It doesn’t daunt Ed Soliday, a retired pilot and safety expert who loves telling stories and spinning metaphors. “I’m evangelist, and may 1,000 angels sing when somebody comes to see the light,� said Soliday, Republican chairman of the House Roads and Transportation Committee, who aims to convince fellow lawmakers to set aside politics in search of sustainable road funding. Don’t queue the music just yet. Soliday’s ideas for raising cash for deteriorating roads and bridges include some politically unpalatable proposals, such as tax hikes and...

Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) said Wednesday on C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers” that the tax revenue from legalized marijuana sales in his state will go in part towards treating drug addiction. When asked how much Oregon will tax legalized marijuana and how the tax revenue will be spent, Blumenauer said it will be allocated among a number of things, one of which will be to deal with addiction. “Voters decided that it’s available to deal with addiction, people who are addicted—whether it’s to a drug or alcohol, gambling—we need more resources,” he said, adding that some voters want it to go towards law...

BRIGHTON, Mich. (WXYZ) - Is Proposal 1 the right solution for our crumbling roads? It has the support of Republicans in Lansing, but one local GOP group is breaking with their party on this vote. Three weeks from today, voters across the state will have the final say on Proposal 1. In the meantime, there's no shortage of opinions on this proposed "fix" for Michigan's crumbling roads. "I'm like everyone, I'm for getting the roads fixed and I don't want taxes to increase," says voter Jim Johnson. "I want it to go to what they actually are saying it's supposed...

As of Wednesday it is more expensive to shop in parts of Alameda and Contra Costa Counties. Buy something in Hayward and you’re going to get whacked with a 10% sales tax. Take a few steps outside the city limits and the tax is a half cent cheaper. “A sales tax could scare businesses,” said Jessica Cuevas of 25 25 Vintage. “If it keeps increasing the way it does, it could have a negative effect on Hayward.” ... Soon, sales tax could go even higher. There’s a bill in the legislature that would allow cities to add one percent to...

Sales tax rates are going up in parts of California on Wednesday and will, for the first time, hit double digits in some Northern California cities. Shoppers in Albany, Hayward and Union City and San Leandro in Alameda County and El Cerrito in Contra Costa County will pay 10 percent starting next month. If a bill in the state Legislature passes, more areas could be paying that much. The statewide sales tax rate is 7.5 percent. State law allows cities and counties to add up to 2 additional percentage points in local sales and use taxes. The Legislature passed bills...

Interenet Tax

Gov. Tom Wolf is expected to call today for the Republican-controlled General Assembly to send him a budget that boosts state education funding and provides relief for school district property taxes while raising the rates of the sales and personal income taxes. His plan for doing so includes a proposal to raise the personal income tax rate in July 2015 from 3.07 percent to 3.7 percent, while increasing the eligibility for a poverty exemption, according to a briefing document prepared by the administration. He will propose increasing the state sales tax in July 2016 from 6 to 6.6 percent while...