Free Republic

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...

New Jersey’s openly gay state assemblyman, who was called “numbnuts” [1] in 2012 by Gov. Chris Christie (R), thinks he can do what Christie has never been able to do, numb or not: get New Jerseyans to stay in New Jersey.Assemblyman Reed Gusciora’s (D) solution is astoundingly simple. He wants to offer state home and business owners the opportunity to slash their property taxes by 25 percent.The New Jersey Legislature would then be tasked with figuring out how to make up the difference through budget cuts.The best Christie has been able to offer is a cap on future property...

Sen. Ted Cruz is lobbying hard to prevent government regulation of the Internet, but one measure the Texas Republican supports is expected to create a sizeable budget hole for his state. Cruz, a likely presidential candidate in 2016, spent ample time last week promoting a permanent extension to an expiring ban on federal, state, and local taxation of Internet access that is currently being considered in Congress. The measure, which passed the House earlier this year, is popular in both parties and considered a lame-duck "must pass," as the ban is set to lift on Dec. 11. But a lesser-known...

Japan's economy unexpectedly slipped into recession in the third quarter, setting the stage for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to delay an unpopular sales tax hike and call a snap election two years before he has to go to the polls. The recession comes nearly two years after Abe returned to power promising to revive the economy with his "Abenomics" mix of massive monetary stimulus, spending and reforms, and is unwelcome news for an already shaky global economy. Gross domestic product (GDP) shrank by an annualised 1.6 percent in July-September, after plunging 7.3 percent in the second quarter following a rise...

Japan reported Monday that its economy contracted at a real annual rate of 1.6 percent in July-September, in a second straight quarterly decline that returned the country to recession. A 24.1 percent plunge in private residential investment from a year earlier failed to offset a modest recovery in exports and a 1.5 percent increase in household spending. Most economists had forecast that the world’s third-biggest economy would expand at about a 2 percent pace. The negative growth figure was much lower than expected and makes it very likely Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will delay implementation of a sales tax hike...

Amazon.com Inc. will begin collecting sales taxes from Minnesota customers next week, ending a cost advantage it’s enjoyed over brick-and-mortar retailers in the state. The news also triggered a mystery. Online-only retailers don’t need to charge sales tax in Minnesota unless they have physical presence or affiliated business here. Monday’s revelation led to speculation that Amazon may open a warehouse, data center or some other operation in the state or buy an existing firm. The company was vague about what prompted the change, though it said it “will be required” to do so starting Oct. 1. “We’re considering various opportunities...

The Japanese economy shrank at an annual pace of 6.8 percent in the second quarter after spending got slammed by a sales tax hike that kicked in from April, government figures showed Wednesday. Japan’s gross domestic product, or the total output of goods and services, also contracted 1.7 percent during the April-June period from the previous quarter. The decline in GDP was the worst since the March 2011 tsunami and quake disaster in northeastern Japan. In the first quarter of 2011, Japan’s economy shrank at an annual rate of 6.9 percent. The weak figures were expected as consumers and businesses...

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) is wading into the crowded Arizona governor's race by throwing his support behind state treasurer Doug Ducey (R) Wednesday morning. "Doug Ducey demonstrates the kind of conservative, common-sense leadership that our party needs in Arizona," Walker said in a statement shared with Post Politics by Ducey's campaign. "He’s not afraid of taking on tough challenges, and that’s why I know he’d be a great Governor."

The latest Reason-Rupe poll asked Americans if they would support or oppose changing the federal tax system to a flat tax, where everyone pays the same percentage of his or her income, finding that 62 percent favor the flat tax and 33 percent are opposed. When asked where they would set the flat tax, the aveage response was 15 percent.This reflects another recent Reason-Rupe poll finding that 67 percent of Americans say it is "not the responsibility of the government to reduce the differences in income between people with high incomes and those with low incomes," while 29 percent...

On April 1, as was widely known, Japan raised its sales tax from 5% to 8% - a move many dread could unleash a recession as happened the last time Japan hiked a consumption tax in 1997. A week later the verdict on just how much consumption was frontloaded ahead of the hike is in, as we get the first sales data on the ground. The result is, in short, a disaster: overnight the Nikkei reported that Japanese department store Takashimaya’s revenue in April 1-7 period crashed 25%!  We for one can't wait to see what Japan's Q2 GDP...

The Texas Legislature’s point man [Drew Darby] on transportation funding says Texas motorists need to understand that a higher gas tax would be a more 'open and transparent' way of dealing head on with the state's transportation crisis than the 'congestion tax' that motorists are currently paying every day. "I think we need to revert to pay as your go," State Rep. Drew Darby (R-San Angelo) told the San Antonio Mobility Coalition."Nine times members of the Legislature have raised the gasoline tax to pay for our transportation infrastructure, but that hasn't happened since 1991. Lawmakers over the past several years...

In the coming weeks, Americans will spend an average of 13 hours and $210 to prepare their federal taxes. Beyond the compliance burden the federal tax code imposes, it also distorts economic activity and discriminates against some taxpayers in favor of others. But one of its most egregiously unfair provisions is also among its most popular - the mortgage interest deduction. In theory, the mortgage interest deduction is supposed to encourage home ownership, a questionable goal for government to begin with. The purpose of taxes is to raise money to finance government services, not to manipulate human behavior or economic...

"A new rule in the Alabama tax code that went into effect at the end of last month will change the way some companies collect and remit sales taxes....Put simply, the new rule's aim is to have businesses pay taxes to the county and city governments in places where they do business.",,,In short if you want the store to deliver that refrigerator to your home, now they won'tbecause this requirement costs them time and money.....the state has not announced this and retailers don't know but are liable.,,,,

As the holiday shopping season approaches, consumer may find an unlikely adversary: the retail industry. According to reports, “big retailers like Walmart and Apple ramp up their holiday ads early this season” and “Representatives from leading retail associations name online sales tax legislation as a chief concern for their members right now.” That’s right, the retail industry is targeting online Christmas shopping. What proponents misleadingly call the “Marketplace Fairness Act” would significantly increase the cost of buying goods on the Internet. The bill would force online businesses to collect and remit sales tax based on each customer’s location. Put another...

Massachusetts residents have only a few days of tax-free shopping left on Amazon.com. Beginning Friday, the state will apply its 6.25 percent sales tax to purchases made from Amazon, though the tax will not apply to third-party vendors who use the site. The state reached an agreement with Amazon last year. Owners of traditional "brick and mortar" stores have long complained of being at a competitive disadvantage to online retailers who are not required to collect sales taxes. State revenue officials tell The Boston Globe the tax on Amazon purchases is expected to raise nearly $37 million for the state...

Jefferson County commissioners on Wednesday were informed the sales tax in the county will be going up 0.25 percent on Sept. 1. The state Legislature voted to increase the state sales tax to 5.75 percent. Coupled with the county's 1.5 percent sales tax, purchases made in Jefferson County will have a 7.25 percent sales tax. County Commissioner Tom Gentile expressed some displeasure with the announcement. Gentile said the state's budget surplus has grown to $1.5 billion, the state has taken money away from local governments and then is raising the state sales tax. The Ohio Department of Taxation is mailing...