Free Republic

Cook County Board today cleared the way for President Toni Preckwinkle's plan to raise the county's sales tax a penny on the dollar, mostly for pensions. The action came when the board's Finance Committee, which includes all board members, voted 9 to 7 to 1 to send the $474 million a year tax hike to the full board, which will consider it later today. The key votes came from Commissioner Luis Arroyo, a Chicago Democrat who voted "yes," and suburban Republican Elizabeth Gorman, who cast a "present" ballot and who is widely rumored to soon be headed to a new,...

Excerpt: ... The agency [ODOT] wants to move away from fuel taxes and instead charge drivers based on the distance they drive. ODOT officials have been conducting a decade long search for ways to do it—and it’s turned into an unfocused, meandering and expensive effort. The latest plan: Starting July 1, the state is seeking as many as 5,000 volunteers to pay the state a mileage-based rate rather than taxes at the gas pump. The pilot program, called OreGo, relies on drivers signing up with one of three companies that will supply plug-in devices to count the miles. But the...

The Michigan state budget is $54.5 billion — so why can’t legislators find an extra $1.2 billion or so for road funding? That’s the question MLive tries to answer in a video. But they buy into a bad argument in their explanation. Many proponents of raising taxes to increase road funding often say that the total budget number of $54.5 billion is misleading and that lawmakers have “only” about $10 billion to work with. MLive accepts this argument and assumes new spending for roads can only come from this portion of the state budget. But that is incorrect. While it...

How long will it be until we begin to see a movement — egged on by activists, encouraged by receptive judges — to revoke the tax exemptions currently enjoyed by churches? A few months? A year? I don't know precisely when it will happen. But I do know that it's going to happen. The arguments have already begun. New York Times religion columnist Mark Oppenheimer recently made the case against such tax exemptions in a much-discussed essay for Time. We also know that the solicitor general of the United States believes that the opposition of religiously affiliated institutions to same-sex...

Now that Donald Trump has the American People’s attention, will he support tax reform which will end the nefarious and slavish socialist experiment allowing Congress to lay and collect taxes calculated from profits, gains salaries and other lawfully earned incomes? Will he work for real tax reform and move us to a federal tax system which taxes consumption as our founders intended? Carly Fiorina was correct when she said about our current system “The complexity and lack of transparency only benefits the powerful and connected while crushing small businesses and innovation. The result is crony capitalism–because only big businesses can...

The Seattle City Council is expected to take up an ill-advised proposal that will impose a $25 tax on each firearm and a nickel tax on every round of ammunition sold by a retailer in Seattle. Proposed by anti-gun Council President Tim Burgess, the so-called “Gun Violence Tax” ordinance will have no effect on decreasing gun violence. It is designed to place a huge burden on legitimate firearms retailers and law-abiding gun owners. The City Council is expected to take up the proposed ordinance next Wednesday, July 15. The proposed ordinance would impose a tax on those “engaging in the...

There should be small print on “Welcome to Chicago” signs – something along the lines of “businesses and innovators not actually welcome.” With its recent, growth-killing hike of the minimum wage and its ever-looming $20 billion pension hole, the Windy City finds itself at a major competitive disadvantage. Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his Department of Finance just made matters worse with the introduction of new tax rules that will notably increase the cost of using popular streaming services like Netflix , Hulu, and Spotify. Desperate for new revenue to fill its dwindling coffers, Chicago is applying a 9 percent tax...

A Republican House member is introducing legislation to increase the federal gas tax by 10 cents-per-gallon to help pay for transportation projects across the nation. The measure, sponsored by Rep. Tom Rice (R-S.C.), would offset the gas tax increase with a $133 income tax credit that would be offered to drivers to minimize the impact of higher prices at the pump. Rice said in an interview with The Hill that his measure would not cost extra money but would give states "certainty" about the availability of federal transportation funding as a July 31 deadline for the expiration of the current...

Seattle City Council president Tim Burgess is proposing a new tax on guns. The proposal would tax gun sales $25 per gun and add a five cent-tax on each round of ammunition. Five cents per round adds up to a roughly $2.50 increase for a box off handgun ammunition. The legislation would also impose a $500 fine on gun owners who do not report guns lost or stolen.

Even as Mayor Rahm Emanuel warns about a property tax hike of up to $250 million for the cash-strapped Chicago Public Schools, another big wave of increases likely is coming to rescue the pensions of police officers and firefighters. A massive payment due to those retirement plans next year could drive up Chicago property taxes by more than 30 percent, according to a Crain's analysis. And if the current logjam in Springfield continues, it could be a lot worse. Taxes on a $250,000 home would jump $224, assuming the city continues its current practice of using property taxes to fund...

Oregon launches program to tax drivers per mile Never autoplay videos David Hastings is a rare American. This long-time hybrid car owner from Oregon wants to pay higher taxes for roads and bridges and says the current 30 cents per gallon state gas tax barely affects him. "I've been free-loading on the highways for 20 years driving electric cars or hybrid cars, getting at least 40 miles to the gallon. So I haven't been paying my share," Hastings said. Now, Hastings will pay more thanks to OReGO -- the first pay-by-the-mile program in the U.S. Oregon’s Department of Transportation has...

The Supreme Court's ruling on gay marriage makes it clearer than ever that the government shouldn't be subsidizing religion and non-profits Two weeks ago, with a decision in Obergefell v. Hodges on the way, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah introduced the First Amendment Defense Act, which ensures that religious institutions won’t lose their tax exemptions if they don’t support same-sex marriage. Liberals tend to think Sen. Lee’s fears are unwarranted, and they can even point to Justice Anthony Kennedy’s opinion in Friday’s case, which promises “that religious organizations and persons [will be] given proper protection.” But I don’t think Sen....

From Mark Oppenheimer in Time: Two weeks ago, with a decision in Obergefell v. Hodges on the way, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) 100% of Utah introduced the First Amendment Defense Act, which ensures that religious institutions won’t lose their tax exemptions if they don’t support same-sex marriage. Liberals tend to think Sen. Lee’s fears are unwarranted, and they can even point to Justice Anthony Kennedy’s opinion in Friday’s case, which promises “that religious organizations and persons [will be] given proper protection.” But I don’t think Sen. Lee is crazy. In the 1983 Bob Jones University case, the court ruled that...

Conservative religious schools all over the country forbid same-sex relationships, from dating to couples’ living in married-student housing, and they fear they will soon be forced to make a wrenching choice. If the Supreme Court this month finds a constitutional right to same-sex marriage, the schools say they will have to abandon their policies that prohibit gay relationships or eventually risk losing their tax-exempt status. The religious schools are concerned that if they continue to ban gay relationships, the Internal Revenue Service could take away their tax-exempt status as a violation of a “fundamental national public policy” under the reasoning...

"When I ran the second time, I didn't say that — and you didn't ask me. So we'll have to leave that as an open question." When taxes are "an open question," we think we know the answer. So the state with the highest income and sales taxes in the nation is now looking at new tax revenues to pay for roads. That probably means a gas tax hike, in a state that already pays America's highest prices at the pump and ranks as a "tax hell" in most ratings by business and taxpayer groups. But hey, things can always...

Whitehouse: "I extend an open hand, or an olive limb, to conservatives everywhere."Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) have proposed a bill that would establish an economy-wide tax on carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions. “My bill sets the fee for a ton of carbon at $45 in 2016, the central range of the social cost of carbon as estimated by OMB, and would increase it each year at a real 2 percent. When emissions fall 80 percent below 2005 levels, the annual adjustment would fall to inflation,” Whitehouse said at the American Enterprise Institute when presenting...

The House voted Thursday to repeal an ObamaCare tax on medical devices that is intended to generate billions of dollars for the law. The final vote was 280-140, with 46 Democrats voting in favor. Supporters of the bill say the 2.3 percent tax, which affects about 7,000 manufacturers nationwide, is holding back innovation on important devices like X-ray machines and ventilators. “Only in Washington would you impose a tax on life-saving medical technology and think you will actually reduce healthcare costs," said Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-Minn.), the bill’s lead sponsor. The House first voted to repeal the tax passed in...

Curtis Ellis is a long-time Democratic communications aide who runs ObamaTrade.com, a project of the American Jobs Alliance. The site promotes conservative opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, but Ellis is a self-described progressive. A three-time Democratic congressional candidate funds the site. Ellis on Monday criticized Republican TPP supporters for violating Americans for Tax Reform’s no-tax pledge due to a provision that raises penalties for businesses that fail to file 1099 tax forms from $30 to $50.

House Republicans called up Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf's tax-shifting plan on Monday, and the House shot it down by a unanimous vote. Minority Leader Frank Dermody, D-Oakmont, called the vote on an amendment that contained Wolf's tax plan “a political stunt.” “It does nothing to move this process forward,” Dermody said. “I would never ask (Democrats) to vote for a stunt.” Wolf denounced the vote as “gamesmanship” and said it was an effort to “‘see if we can embarrass the administration.'”

Oregon is about to embark on a first-in-the-nation program that aims to charge car owners not for the fuel they use, but for the miles they drive. The program is meant to help the state raise more revenue to pay for road and bridge projects at a time when money generated from gasoline taxes are declining across the country, in part, because of greater fuel efficiency and the increasing popularity of fuel-efficient, hybrid and electric cars. Starting July 1, up to 5,000 volunteers in Oregon can sign up to drive with devices that collect data on how much they have...