Free Republic

President Trump told The Associated Press on Friday that he intends to release a tax reform plan next week that includes a "massive tax cut" for businesses and individuals. This is what I have been waiting for and have been building my portfolio since December on this hope. I was very concerned when the "Freedom" Caucus damaged the momentum by not accepting reality and being hardliners who could not wait to stage in the required changes needed in the name of what Americans have their hopes in - jobs and the economy. My position is the DOW already "priced in"...

Taxes could soon be on the rise if a new house bill passes. House bill 7322 seeks to increase the sales tax up to 6.99 percent from its current rate of 6.35 percent and increase the income tax for some state residents. Other aspects of the bill would help towns generate more money by increasing state owned property payments. Properties like colleges and hospitals owned by the state would see an increase of their payments to their towns by roughly 23 percent. If the bill passes, regional governments would be responsible for creating plans to help pay for that. Another...

Headline of the Day Poll Should President Trump release his tax records? Yes. The American people deserve to know what is in them. No. They are totally irrelevant.

Ah, the blithe joys of springtime in the United States. Azaleas in bloom at the Masters, breezy picnics on balmy afternoons, Easter egg hunts — and the annual ordeal of tax forms, with helpful I.R.S. instructions like this: “Go to Part IV of Schedule I to figure line 52 if the estate or trust has qualified dividends or has a gain on lines 18a and 19 of column (2) of Schedule D (Form 1041) (as refigured for the AMT, if necessary).” Americans will spend more than six billion hours this year gathering records and filling out forms, just to pay...

Remember when Trump promised in early February that he would unveil a "phenomenal" tax plan within two to three weeks? Well, it was just scrapped, because as AP reports, Trump has scrapped the tax plan he campaigned on and is going back to the drawing board, hoping to find a plan that will have Republican consensus, something his current proposal has failed to achieve. In doing so, the president threatens the timetable of what many had seen as the primary driver behind his entire first year agenda, which is not in peril, and may not come until early 2018...

Two republican lawmakers are about to present a bill calling for the unpopular FATCA tax reporting law’s repeal. USA lawmakers have scheduled a first hearing on April 26 for a bill requesting the repeal of the controversial and much-disliked FATCA legislation. Republican anti-FATCA campaigners Senator Rand Paul and Representative Mark Meadows are determined to end the chaos caused to USA expats and overseas financial institutions since the unpopular legislation was introduced. Should the house vote for repeal, the FATCA legislation underpinning the Internal Revenue Service’s links with foreign governments will be a thing of the past. In a letter to...

California’s governor and legislative leaders on Wednesday proposed raising $52 billion to fix the state’s roads through a big gasoline tax increase, higher car registration fees and a charge on emission-free vehicles. The 10-year plan would boost gasoline excise taxes for the first time in more than two decades, raising them 12 cents per gallon — a 43 percent increase. The tax would rise automatically with inflation. For the first time, owners of zero emission vehicles would pay a $100 annual fee because they use public roads but don’t pay gasoline taxes that fund highway maintenance. The plan also includes...

TALLAHASSEE — A wide-ranging $296.8 million tax cut package from the House would eliminate sales taxes on diapers and feminine hygiene products, offer tax "holidays" for purchasing school and hurricane supplies, and trim a commercial lease tax. The package, introduced Wednesday by the House Ways & Means Committee, is smaller than a collection of tax cuts proposed by Gov. Rick Scott. The fate of the proposals will depend on upcoming budget negotiations between the House and Senate. Ways & Means Chairman Jim Boyd, R-Bradenton, said the House package would provide multi-year relief that could potentially reach $949 million and grow...

California’s governor and legislative leaders on Wednesday proposed raising $52 billion to fix the state’s roads through a big gasoline tax increase, higher car registration fees and a charge on emission-free vehicles. The 10-year plan would boost gasoline excise taxes for the first time in more than two decades, raising them 12 cents per gallon — a 43 percent increase. The tax would rise automatically with inflation. For the first time, owners of zero emission vehicles would pay a $100 annual fee because they use public roads but don’t pay gasoline taxes that fund highway maintenance. The plan also includes...

We can make suggestions until Doomsday, Obamascare is here to stay It appears that Obamacare is here to stay. Those doctors who grew up with the conditioning notion of utopian “social justice” love it. Those doctors who hate the government intrusion and regulation into their medical practice hate it. The American public is split as well along those lines. Nobody really believed that Obamacare, deplorably named the Affordable Care Act, would be amended to benefit the wishes of the American people, much less repeal it. Once a bureaucracy has been ensconced and billions and billions of dollars have been spent...

The White House tried very hard Friday to send a clear message that the success of President Donald Trump’s tax and infrastructure agenda does not turn on the fate of the Obamacare replacement bill. House Speaker Paul Ryan, only minutes after pulling his health care bill, appeared to at least partially contradict that. “Yes. This does make tax reform more difficult,” Ryan said. “But it does not in any way make it impossible.” Even though Ryan went on to say the House would “proceed with tax reform,” he appeared to be far less optimistic than the two top Trump administration...

An obscure bureaucratic policy that allowed IRS officials to target conservative and Tea Party tax exemption applicants during the 2010 and 2012 election campaigns is still in place, meaning the same abuses may be continuing, according to a nonprofit government watchdog. The federal tax agency’s policy requires IRS officials to stop processing tax-exempt applications that are “likely to attract media or congressional attention,” the Cause of Action Institute said in a report made public Wednesday. The policy also directs IRS officials to prepare “sensitive case reports” for their supervisors and to ignore “the merits of the application” if it involved...

Philadelphians will soon no longer be able to purchase 2-liters or 12-packs of Pepsi soda products at local stores, according to grocers. Managers of two independent Philly grocery stores confirmed they’d received letters from Pepsi saying the company would no longer distribute 2-liters or 12-packs to Philadelphia stores, as of March 20.

ALBANY, N.Y. — Some of the wealthiest New Yorkers are asking the state to raise their taxes. Eighty people including George Soros, Steven Rockefeller and Abigail Disney wrote to lawmakers and Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo saying they and other top earners should pay more to support schools, roads, bridges and programs to help poor and homeless residents of the state. "Now is the time to invest in the long-term economic viability of New York," the letter reads. "We need to invest in pathways out of poverty and up the economic ladder for all of our fellow citizens, including strong public...

After a several day self-imposed silence, Trump took to Twitter on Tuesday morning, slamming both Snoop Dogg's recent controversial music clip and last night's MSNBC leak of his 2005 tax return.   Two days after rapper Snoop Dogg released a music video in which he shoots a "f--king clown" dressed as Trump with a toy gun, an angry Trump tweeted  "Can you imagine what the outcry would be if @SnoopDogg, failing career and all, had aimed and fired the gun at President Obama? Jail time!"   As the Wrap reported yesterday, a representative for the U.S. Secret Service said that...

Breaking on Drudge, from Rachel Madcow's twitter feed. She claims to have Trump's Tax Returns.

The state Senate has already endorsed the measure. Legislators in the House could consider it as soon as Tuesday. Companies that provide the internet service can apply for repayments of some, or all of sales taxes on a project. The state Board of Economic Development decides the amount of the refund.

The National Institutes of Health is spending nearly $400,000 studying transwomen in Uganda. A new grant worth $163,996 was awarded just six days into the Trump administration, continuing a project that was initially awarded in April 2016.

Corporate Taxes: Nobody knows for sure whether President Trump supports a "border adjustment tax." That's fitting, since nobody really knows what this tax would do to the economy. Trump has been hot and cold about the border adjustment tax. On Thursday, he told Reuters that he thought the tax "could lead to a lot more jobs in the United States." On Friday, Trump's top economic advisor reportedly said it was a nonstarter. The tax is part of a wholesale rewrite of the corporate tax code proposed by the House GOP leadership, which they say will vastly simplify taxes, lower rates,...

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Thursday that he wants to see "very significant" tax reform passed before Congress' August recess, in what could prove a tough task as lawmakers work through a complex agenda. "We want to get this done by the August recess. We've been working closely with the leadership in the House and the Senate and we're looking at a combined plan," he told CNBC in his first television interview since assuming office. President Donald Trump has repeatedly made pledges for tax reform and regulatory cuts since he took office, creating optimism among business executives and investors. So...