Free Republic

Well, it looks like Ukraine’s army is surrending in droves to Russian forces. Maybe this will end Biden’s obsession with doling billions of dollars to Ukraine. Nah, Biden will continue doling out billions to Ukraine, but this time it will be to rebuild Ukraine (while major US cities continue to rot). But in any case, Biden and Democrats refused to return to pre-Covid levels of spending. Federal outlays (spending) has increased by 30% from January 2020, just prior to Covid. Yet, Republicans are unable (or unwilling) to get the Biden Administration and Democrats to cut Federal spending back to pre-Covid...

The federal deficit is projected to roughly double this year from last ... The 2023 deficit appears to be headed for at least a doubling ... The federal fiscal year, which ends after this month, has already run up a $2.2 trillion deficit thus far ... The revelations come as the 2024 budget appropriations are set to be hashed out in Congress, setting up a difficult message for House and Senate Democrats' plans to continue to increase spending for progressive initiatives. ... The U.S. government has spent $6.7 trillion and taken in just $4.5 trillion, a 16% increase in spending...

The US’s credit rating has been cut to AA+ from AAA, in an unexpected blow to the world’s biggest economy. The rating agency said its downgrade “reflects the expected fiscal deterioration over the next three years, a high and growing general government debt burden, and the erosion of governance relative to ‘AA’ and ‘AAA’ rated peers over the last two decades that has manifested in repeated debt limit standoffs and last-minute resolutions.” The US narrowly avoided a default just weeks ago, with the federal borrowing limit lifted at the eleventh hour after months of tension over spending cuts.

New Yorkers may soon be forced to pay more for their streaming subscriptions like Netflix and Hulu in a bid to stave off a major MTA fare hike. Democratic members of the New York state Assembly on Thursday submitted a budget proposal that would impose a 4% sales tax on popular video and audio streaming services. Other money-making schemes introduced in Albany include a fee on package deliveries and a surcharge on ride-hailing rides, the Wall Street Journal first reported. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said it needs an influx of $1 billion to keep subways, buses and commuter trains running,...

ANSING, Mich. (AP) — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Friday vetoed Republicans' proposal to permanently cut the state income tax, make more seniors eligible for deductions and restore a child tax credit, saying it would reduce funding for basic government services. The veto, which was expected, may prompt negotiations between GOP legislative leaders and the Democratic governor, who has called for more targeted tax breaks for retirees and lower-wage workers....... While Michigan has a $7 billion budget surplus, her administration says it is largely one-time revenue that cannot be counted on in future years..... “This plan would have cut taxes for...

A planned £12bn rise in National Insurance from April is "the right plan" and "must go ahead", Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak have said. In an article in the Sunday Times, the PM and chancellor said the rise - which applies to employees and employers - will help clear the NHS backlog. Despite opposition, including from some Tory MPs, they say it is "progressive" because higher earners pay more. With inflation rising sharply, there had been calls to scrap the tax rise. Under the plans, employees, employers and the self-employed will all pay 1.25p more in the pound for National...

The Democrats’ $1.75 trillion tax and spending bill is filled with special interest giveaways to trial lawyers, union bosses, wealthy blue-state taxpayers and even reporters. Aside from being a blatant giveaway to favored political interests, this is an effort for the Left to utilize the tax code for social engineering and to push woke policies. Here are six ways Democrats are using the tax code to reward special interests: 1. Giveaways to the News MediaThe bill provides a $1.6 billion tax giveaway to media companies of all sizes. In addition to the conflict of interest created by politicians giving reporters...

The latest version of the House Democrats’ massive $1.7 trillion reconciliation bill contains a provision guaranteeing four weeks of federal paid medical and family leave, even if you’re unemployed.The provision in question is buried deep in the Build Back Better Act as Democrats desperately try to get legislation across the finish line after a GOP trouncing at the polls on Tuesday.Click the link below to read the rest of this story.(Mad Nan)

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration and congressional Democrats are moving toward dropping their push to raise corporate and individual income tax rates to pay for their sprawling domestic policy bill, instead drafting a plan that includes new ways to tax the wealthy and multinational corporations, according to people familiar with the discussions..... Mr. Biden had proposed paying for those programs by raising the top individual income tax rate to 39.6 percent from 37 percent and the corporate rate to 28 percent from 21 percent. Administration officials have said privately in recent weeks that they believed Ms. Sinema would eventually support...

The plastic tax could mirror a proposal from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, which would implement a 20-cent fee per pound on sale of new plastics ________________________________________________________________________________ Senate Democrats are "looking at" and "seriously" discussing a national plastic tax as part of their $3.5 trillion filibuster-proof budget reconciliation bill, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday. "On the carbon and methane and plastic that you talked about, all those things are being looked at and seriously discussed," Schumer, of New York, told reporters on a press call. Schumer said Democrats are attempting to meet President Biden's "bold goal" of making 80% of...

Senate Democrats are considering several ways to tax Americans in order to pay for their leftist wishlist, otherwise known as the $3.5 trillion budget resolution. According to a four-page document obtained by NBC News, one of the ways Democrats propose to pay for their wildly expensive plan, which includes carveouts for a civilian climate corps, universal pre-K, and other woke legislation, is through a “plastics excise tax

Inequality is almost universally condemned by the intellectual elite. But most of the rest of the world doesn’t think inequality is such a bad thing. According to polling by Gallup, there are 138 million people in the world today who would like to immigrate to the United States. Most of these people are poor. They tend to live in egalitarian surroundings – they and their neighbors are all equally poor. (The country with the highest percentage of would-be immigrants is Liberia.) Yet they want to come to a country with a great deal of inequality, knowing they would start out...

With U.S. debt having soared to all-time highs and massive budget deficits as far as budgeters can see, the progressive refrain is the same: "ensure the wealthy pay their fair share." But a new tax wish list put out by 80 progressive groups shows that the math simply doesn't add up. Even in their wildest dreams of taxing the wealthy, they can't close the current budget deficit, much less pay for their new spending priorities like Medicare For All or the Green New Deal. The progressive soak-the-rich fantasy includes a wealth tax, a higher corporate tax rate, a higher estate...

During the 2020 campaign Joe Biden promised that taxes on small businesses would not go up. So why is he now pushing numerous tax hikes that would hit small businesses? His promise is not up for interpretation. During a Democratic debate in February 2020, Biden said: “No. Taxes on small businesses won’t go up.”Now that he is safely in office, it appears he has no intention of keeping this promise. The $3.5 trillion in tax hikes Biden has proposed includes several small business tax hikes. His proposal to increase the top marginal income tax rate would hit small businesses organized...

Americans want little more than their lives to return to normal, to get back to school and work so that their families can prosper. But with the virus tapering off, the Biden administration sees their window of opportunity to radically change our country beginning to close. Thanks to the pro-growth policies of the Trump administration, first quarter GDP rose a healthy 6.4 percent, economic output is at pre-pandemic levels, retail sales are up and consumers are flush with cash. Ignoring the economic recovery, the Biden administration has embraced a “Help is on the way” refrain, rather than embracing the momentum...

Virginia Democrats agreed to a deal raising gas taxes in the state by a total of 10 cents over the next two years, a move party leadership said would give people "more time with their families." . . . "This is a historic agreement that will give Virginians more time with their families and less [time] stuck in traffic," Virginia House of Delegates speaker Eileen Filler-Corn (D.) said.

While the new spending programs Sen. Bernie Sanders has proposed in his presidential campaign would at least double federal spending over the next decade, he has provided little detail about how he would implement or finance such a massive increase. The Vermont independent's agenda represents an expansion of government's cost and size unprecedented since World War II, according to estimates from his own website and projections by a wide variety of fiscal experts. Sanders' plan, though all of its costs cannot be precisely quantified, would increase government spending as a share of the economy far more than the New Deal...

“The goal is ensuring the green economy benefits folks who are hurt first and worst by global warming,” says Oriana Magnera. In just a few months, the city of Portland will begin investing the proceeds from a groundbreaking new tax on large companies. No other city in the U.S. has such a tax. The Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund, or PCEF, will raise as much as $60 million a year from a new tax on big retailers. The money is supposed to supply clean, efficient energy and jobs to people the city has long slighted. The overarching goals:...

The poll is based on interviews last month with 901 registered Virginia voters.

Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) and Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) on Thursday rolled out a proposal for a “millionaires surtax,” amid a growing interest from Democrats in increasing taxes on the wealthy. “This is a bill designed to address two major problems of public policy: the lack of revenue, and inequality,” Beyer said on a call with reporters. “It’s a laser-focused solution that requires those who benefited the most from the economy to contribute in a way they simply haven’t been asked to before.” The lawmakers’ bill, which is being co-sponsored by Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), would create a 10-percentage...