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Americans spent more money on taxes than they did on food and clothing last year, according to data released earlier this week. In an assessment of “Consumer Expenditures” for 2016, the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed the average bill for federal, state and local taxes was $10,489. By comparison, Americans spent $9,006 on food and clothes, with most of that going toward food. CNSNews.com first pointed out the findings. While it may not come as a surprise that American households are shelling out to Uncle Sam, the data showed that bill has risen sharply in recent years -- the average...

Americans on average spent more on taxes in 2016 than they did on food and clothing combined, according to data released this week by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The same data also shows that in three years—from 2013 to 2016—the average tax bill for Americans increased 41.13 percent. In 2016, according to BLS, “consumer units” (which include families, financially independent individuals, and people living in a single household who share expenses) spent more on average on federal, state and local taxes ($10,489) than they did on food ($7,203) and clothing ($1,803) combined ($9,006). The average tax bill for American...

In their passion to achieve a government-crafted utopia, the liberal/progressive movement often does more harm than good. This is because their tool of choice – the government – can only apply superficial solutions that come with harmful side effects. Efforts to correct “income inequality” and “fight poverty” through government entitlement programs are a prime example. As columnist George Will recently asked and answered, “[W]hat if large causes of poverty are not matters of material distribution but are behavioral – bad choices and the cultures that produce them? If so, policymakers must rethink their confidence in social salvation through economic abundance.”...

Destroying the left-wing narrative For whatever reason, the voters of California have decided that Maxine Waters is the kind of crazy person they want to keep in Congress. I’m not sure why that is, but left-coasters also keep Pelosi employed so, clearly, there’s something in the water out there. Anyway, Ms. Waters hates Trump. She wants him impeached. She’s vowed to impeach him herself. On what grounds she intends to do this, no one seems to be sure.

Related video: See how much California's gas tax bill will cost drivers (provided by KCRA Sacramento). California legislators approved a $52 billion infrastructure plan on Thursday meant to address a massive backlog of repair and maintenance projects, while creating thousands of new jobs. State drivers will shoulder much of the financial burden for the new plan: The bill raises gas taxes by 12 cents a gallon and creates a new annual fee for vehicle owners. Supporters of the bill said the average driver would pay about $10 more per month in fuel taxes, and most drivers will pay between $25...

Worst Humanitarian Crisis since 1945 Twenty million people at risk of starvation in Somalia, South Sudan, Yemen, NE Nigeria. https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-n-says-world-faces-largest-humanitarian-crisis-since-1945-1489223549 My Congressman, McClintock CA 4th, represents rice farmers. All these countries eat rice. We pay farmers billions not to grow food. No starvation is natural. All starvation is man-made geo-political manipulation, slow motion murder for political power gain. Please ask the President to declare an international crisis. A new Marshall Plan for Africa. Bomb them with food. What a positive PR blizzard for the Trump Administration.

Most other developed nations already have a VAT -- a system in which taxes are paid by each business in the different stages of production of a good or service, and, ultimately, directly or indirectly, by the consumer. VAT is considered a consumption tax, since it taxes what people consume, rather than how much they earn or their profits from investment. That's also a reason why some consider it unfair for lower-income households. And critics say it could let government take a bigger slice of the overall economic pie, enabling higher spending. Its supporters, meanwhile, say VAT is better for...

An economic adviser of President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday that the transition team was working on plans for a tax code overhaul that would be “the biggest tax changes since Reagan.” Steven Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs banker who is considered a leading candidate for Treasury secretary in the Trump administration, told reporters at Trump Tower in New York that the team was hard at work on an economic plan. “We’re working on the economic plan with the transition, making sure we get the biggest tax bill passed, the biggest tax changes since Reagan, so a lot of exciting things...

Dutch Finance Minister and Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem BRATISLAVA (Reuters) - Multinational companies should refrain from tax-avoidance practices and pay their fair share, the head of euro zone finance ministers said on Saturday in a new endorsement of the European Union's fight against tax-dodging. In the wake of the 'Panama Papers' revelations of widespread tax-avoidance practices, Brussels has toughened up its drive for fairness by tightening controls and adopting stricter rules. The recent shock multi-billion euro tax demand on Apple was part of that trend as the EU also drafts plans for a common corporate tax base and a single...

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland's cabinet agreed on Friday to join Apple in appealing against a multi-billion-euro back tax demand that the European Commission has slapped on the iPhone maker, despite misgivings among independents who back the fragile coalition. A government spokesman said that following the cabinet's decision, it would ask parliament to endorse the legal challenge on Wednesday next week. Finance Minister Michael Noonan has insisted Dublin would fight any adverse ruling ever since the European Union began investigating the U.S. tech giant's Irish tax affairs in 2014, arguing that it had to protect a tax regime that has...

<p>Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary has weighed into the tax dispute between Apple and the European Union, saying the Irish government should write a letter to the EU telling them to "f**k off".</p> <p>Dubbing the EU's ruling "bizarre", the outspoken Irishman said: "One of the fundamental principles of the European Union is that each country has its autonomy to make its own tax decisions.</p>

It’s so great to be here tonight. I am honored to also be joined this evening by Governor Scott Walker, Chairman Reince Priebus, and Mayor Rudy Giuliani. We are at a decisive moment in this election. Last week, I laid out my plan to bring jobs back to our country. Yesterday, I laid out my plan to defeat Radical Islamic Terrorism. Tonight, I am going to talk about how to make our communities safe again from crime and lawlessness. Let me begin by thanking the law enforcement officers here in this city, and across this country, for their service and...

Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday called for a new tax on city water and sewer bills to stabilize the city's largest pension fund, a move he portrayed as his latest tough decision to secure Chicago's financial future. Emanuel's plan, which would increase the average water and sewer bill by 30 percent over the next four years, was quickly met with resistance from some aldermen who argued the city would be better off adding business taxes or even raising property taxes again to come up with the hundreds of millions of dollars a year needed to keep the city's municipal workers'...

Hillary Clinton called for raising taxes on the “middle class” while campaigning on Monday in Omaha, NE. Joined by left-wing Democrat billionaire Warren Buffett, she received applause from those in attendance. “Because while Warren is standing up for a fairer tax code, Trump wants to cut taxes for the super-rich,” said Clinton. “Well, we’re not going there, my friends. I’m telling you, right now - we’re going to write fairer rules for the middle class and we are going to raise taxes on the middle class!”

The L.A. County Board of Supervisors is planning to put a proposal on the November ballot that would impose a .5% tax for those with personal incomes exceeding $1 million annually. The revenue generated from the tax—estimated to be $250 to $300 million annually—would go toward funding the county’s 47-point program to wipe out homeless in L.A. county.

“The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.” – The 16th Amendment, Ratified 1913 The birth of the income tax! Prior to 1913, the constitutionally limited responsibilities of the federal government were generally covered by import tariffs. Occasionally, temporary taxes were imposed to pay for wars, but were to be apportioned by the states and could not be direct, personal taxes, according to the Constitution in Article I, sections 2 and 9. W. Cleon Skousen wrote a very...

The answer is no. Now let’s explain. Doug Wilson has published an opinion that “taxation can be done right,” by which he means there is legitimate taxation according to the Bible. While I esteem much of Rev. Wilson, and there is tremendous overlap between us in general, I disagree with this sentiment, and I think it is important for the Christian’s overall vision of the future. I offer this intramural essay. Doug makes a distinction between taxation that is without biblical warrant and taxation with biblical warrant, and which we should therefore accept as normative for society. While we would...

If you’ve ever paid taxes, you probably agree that the tax code is entirely too complicated. To that end, you would probably also enjoy having a simple, easy-to-understand one-page form that you can fill out in about ten minutes and be done with your taxes. For what it’s worth, the Tax Man agrees with you. I don’t have many nice things to say about IRS Commissioner John Koskinen (in fact, Congress should impeach him…), but when asked at a Congressional hearing this week about the flat tax, this was his response: Clearly, if you had a two-page form or a...

It’s that time of year again — tax season! Some people dread it; some people (like me), who think of the tax refund as a bonus, love it, even if it was my own money to begin with. Either way, taxes can’t be completely avoided — we all pay taxes.While the majority of Americans may not know what their tax money is being used for, most of us know that taxes caused the American Revolution — the colonists fought against taxation without representation. The straw that broke the camel’s back for the Revolutionary War was taxation on tea (the Boston...

If you’re not sure who Barbara Anderson was, you might offer up a little thanks to her while you’re filing your taxes. The longtime taxpayer advocate spent decades fighting to make life easier for the state’s overburdened taxpayers, saving them huge amounts on their tax bills over the years with a series of ballot questions that successfully challenged Beacon Hill’s taxation polices.Her longtime opponent and friend, Jim Braude, described her as a force of nature that will never be seen again in Massachusetts politics. She died on Friday at 73 of leukemia. Since stumbling into taxpayer advocacy in 1977 as...