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A District of Columbia federal judge rejected a lawsuit Wednesday that challenged tax credits for Obamacare coverage in the 36 states with federal-run exchanges – one of the most significant remaining legal fights over President Barack Obama’s health care law.The four individuals who brought the lawsuit, Halbig v. Sebelius, had argued that the IRS overstepped its legal authority by allowing federal-run exchanges to provide tax credits for people who purchase health insurance. They contended that the Affordable Care Act only allows for state-run exchanges to access such credits and that Congress purposefully designed the law that way to incentivize states...

LINCOLN — Gov. Dave Heineman is wasting no time promoting his push for tax-relief legislation in 2014. Heineman scooped his own State of the State address — scheduled for delivery this morning — by revealing his plan Tuesday night to seek up to $500 million in tax cuts over the next three years.

Almost 36 years after it was passed by voters, controversy continues to swirl around Proposition 13, the 1978 tax limitation measure. Periodic calls to repeal or modify it, supposedly to gain more tax revenue, so far have gone nowhere. The main objection is that it’s unfair because homeowners — and especially businesses – that have held their properties for decades pay less in property tax than new property owners. Prop. 13 assesses taxes at 1 percent of value, plus a maximum of 2 percent more per year due to property value increases and inflation. Property is reassessed when it changes...

They are generally regarded as historic relics and part of a bygone era of broadcasting history. But even in today’s digital age, there are 11,550 households in the country still watching black and white television, official figures reveal. The number of black and white licenses have dropped dramatically in recent years and the total has decreased by a further 12 percent over the past year. […] The cost of a black and white TV license remains frozen at £49 ($80.37) until the BBC Charter Review in 2016. A color license costs £145.50 ($238.65). …

Much of the Western world will require defaults, a savings tax and higher inflation to clear the way for recovery as debt levels reach a 200-year high, according to a new report by the International Monetary Fund. The IMF working paper said debt burdens in developed nations have become extreme by any historical measure and will require a wave of haircuts, either negotiated 1930s-style write-offs or the standard mix of measures used by the IMF in its “toolkit” for emerging market blow-ups. “The size of the problem suggests that restructurings will be needed, for example, in the periphery of Europe,...

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks as he unveils his plan on climate change June 25, 2013 at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. President Obama laid out his plan to diminish carbon pollution and prepare the country for the impacts of climate change. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) When President Obama leaves office three years from now, the major policy story of his second term — barring some kind of unforeseen invasion — is likely to be climate change. I made this argument at feature length last year, and the evidence continues to mount. Coral Davenport reports today about Secretary of...

Al Sharpton is celebrating Bill de Blasio’s appointment of Zachary W. Carter as the chief lawyer of the City of New York. The announcement by Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio regarding the appointment of former Judge Zachary W. Carter as Corporation Counsel for the City of New York is an unprecedented and huge step for progress. Zachary Carter personifies the forward movement of fairness and equality in the criminal justice system. I have known Zachary Carter for many years and worked with him as he prosecuted the Abner Louima case and he has done legal work for National Action Network...

Analysts expect gas prices to decrease or remain mostly flat not only in 2014, but for years to come. Nonetheless, drivers in some states will see higher prices at the pump, starting January 1. Gas prices may not have seemed all that cheap in 2013. But in fact, prices for the year as a whole were less expensive than they have been. According to AAA’s year-end report, American drivers paid $3.49 per gallon of regular, on average for 2013. That’s the cheapest per-gallon average since 2010; the national average was just above $3.50 in 2011 and hit $3.60 per gallon...

When Sen. Max Baucus launched his opening volley against oil and gas industry tax breaks, he proposed eliminating a host of their long-cherished deductions. The Montana Democrat offered a plan to bar companies from immediately writing off intangible drilling costs, block taxpayers from claiming a percentage depletion for oil and natural gas wells, and force U.S. firms to abandon using the “last in first out” accounting technique to value stockpiles. But Baucus left one big deduction out of the mix. Spared from the Finance Committee chairman’s plans is the Sec. 199 domestic manufacturing deduction, which is broadly claimed by a...

ObamaCare includes so many taxes that it's hard to keep track, but one of the worst takes effect on Jan. 1. This beaut is a levy on health insurance premiums that targets the small business and individual markets. At $8 billion in 2014 and $101 billion over the next decade, the insurance tax is larger than ObamaCare's taxes on medical devices and prescription drugs combined. The Internal Revenue Service classifies the tax as a "fee" but it functions like an excise tax on premiums. The IRS collects an annual flat amount specified by the Affordable Care Act to be allocated...

France's highest court has approved a 75% tax on high earners that is one of President Francois Hollande's signature policies. The initial proposal to tax individual incomes was ruled unconstitutional by the Constitutional Council almost exactly one year ago. But the government modified it to make employers liable for the 75% tax on salaries exceeding 1m euros (£830,000). The levy will last two years, affecting income earned this year and in 2014.

Kevin Sorbo, the actor best known for his role as television’s Hercules, apparently likes to rage against government on Facebook. Who knew? In one of his latest posts, the Californian takes umbrage with a decree from self-styled Olympians governing from Sacramento: Oh, did I mention that the State of California, where I reside, has a bill on the table to tax/fine anyone who decides to leave California for another state or country. True story. Fine you for moving to another state!! WTF!! Maybe I can sneak out on a boat to Mexico. In a cursory search, I was not able...

New Obamacare taxes that were previously kept secret have been unveiled by outraged customers who feel betrayed. Residents in many states have yet to feel the change that will come when President Obama's signature health care program which will go into full effect in January. But Blue Cross Blue Shield subscribers in Alabama got a glimpse of the future when they received their latest bill which had a separate line spelling out how much extra they will have to pay as a result of national health insurance. A local paper, AL.com, obtained a picture from a reader who received a...

- Obama keeps fleeing the consequences of his own signature legislation - In the great tradition of American civil disobedience, President Barack Obama is defying a law. It’s just one that he himself lobbied for, signed, and lost a house of Congress over. Even Henry David Thoreau would be hard-pressed to understand this one. The famous dissenter refused to pay a tax because of his opposition to the Mexican-American War and slavery; presumably, though, he would have been willing to comply with the provisions of something called ThoreauCare.

This reminder from the New York Post came on Christmas, when few paid attention, but it’s worth noting today. The disastrous rollout of ObamaCare is only the appetizer for Americans, the 2013 lead-in to higher costs and fees built into the so-called Affordable Care Act. What most people haven’t heard — yet — is the new fees that ObamaCare charges for access to those higher premiums: The cost of President Obama’s massive health-care law will hit Americans in 2014 as new taxes pile up on their insurance premiums and on their income-tax bills.Most insurers aren’t advertising the ObamaCare taxes that...

That’s the ObamaCare tax if you listen to the Supreme Court. It’s the ObamaCare fine if you listen to Obama Inc. But considering how much of ObamaCare has been taken apart, it’s not clear to them if anyone will actually have to pay it. White House spokesperson David Simas declined to say if anyone will be subjected to Obamacare’s individual mandate tax in 2014 Friday on MSNBC.Host Chuck Todd put the question to Simas directly, asking if “a single person” will end up paying the tax in 2014. HHS announced yesterday they are suspending the mandate for consumers who had...

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) said earlier this week that his administration will consider ending the personal income tax as part of a major review of the state’s tax structure. In comments first reported by WisPolitics.com, Walker told reporters at a stop in Pembine that some states without personal income taxes are in better economic shape and are better equipped to compete for jobs. “There are many states that do very well, better than most states in the country, that have no income taxes,” Walker said, according to WisPolitics. “That’s one thing for us to look at. Is that feasible?...

He is the new tax collector for the welfare state. And House Speaker John Boehner’s latest gift to the American people — a 124% tax increase on air travel — can aptly be called The Air Boehner Tax. But first…a short time travel trip. The date: Monday. January 11, 1982 The place: The White House Wrote President Ronald Reagan in his diary of this day: Repub. House Leaders came down to the W.H. —Except for Jack Kemp they are h—l bent on new taxes… Another date: Wednesday, August 4, 1982 The place: The White House. Another entry from Reagan’s diary:...

More than a dozen oil and gas trade groups on Friday blasted a leading Senate tax plan that takes aim at incentives long cherished by the industry. At issue is a proposal by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., that would bar oil and gas companies from immediately writing off intangible drilling costs, such as repairs, site preparation and hauling supplies. The draft plan also would bar taxpayers from claiming a percentage depletion for oil and natural gas wells. And it would force U.S. companies to abandon the “last in first out” (LIFO) accounting technique that allows oil stockpiles and other inventories...

The rich are paying even more in taxes than you think.According to a Congressional Budget Office report this week, America’s top 40 percent of earners pay 106 percent of the taxes and the bottom 40 percent pay negative 9 percent, reports CNBC.How can one group pay more than 100 percent and another group pay less than zero? The formula that the CBO uses offsets taxes that are paid with refundable tax credits. These include money the government transfers back to the taxpayer for food stamps and social programs.Some low-income Americans received very generous subsidies. The report shows that Americans who...