Free Republic

LAS VEGAS — Proponents of a ballot measure that would remove a mining-tax cap from the Nevada constitution said the industry has a sweetheart deal that keeps it from paying its fair share, while opponents said the measure is the first step toward raising taxes and discouraging mining companies from doing business in the state. The remarks came during a debate on Question 2 that was scheduled to air at 7 p.m. Thursday on Vegas PBS. Passing the measure would repeal a 150-year-old constitutional provision that applies a 5 percent cap to taxes on the net proceeds of minerals and...

An Ohio Democrat argued that “the real issue” with the Ebola crisis is “a disinvestment in the pubic health infrastructure in the United States.”“This is a very difficult task and I find it very ironic that the very political party and politicians who are criticizing every single step, every single move that’s being made as I said by some of the best public health officials in the world are the same people that voted to cut, you know, over $500 million from the Centers for Disease Control budget over the last four or five years, over $440 million from the...

In a stunning move that could reshape the face of city schools, the Philadelphia School Reform Commission voted Monday to unilaterally cancel its teachers’ contract. The vote was unanimous. The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers was given no advance word of the action — which happened at an early-morning SRC meeting called with minimal notice — and which figures to result in a legal challenge to the takeover law the SRC believes gives it the power to bypass negotiations and impose terms. Jerry Jordan, PFT president, called the move "cowardly" and vowed to fight it strongly. "I am taking nothing off...

Colorado Democrat Mark Udall has taken the unprecedented step of refusing to debate his Republican opponent on statewide television, so the voting public’s insights into his views generally come from one of three sources: (1) His voting record, which backs Barack Obama 99 percent of the time, (2) his ads, a ludicrous percentage of which obsess and mislead over birth control, and (3) clips from untelevised candidate forums and interviews. On that last front, Udall has uncorked some real head-turning quotes over the last 48 hours. In an exclusive sit-down with KDVR television, Udall said he doesn’t regret any...

The tax reform plan from Sens. Mike Lee and Ted Cruz could turn out to be a big deal for Republicans. Essentially, the plan sets just two rates for income tax - 15% and 35%. It also raises the child tax credit by $2,500 from $1,000 to $3,500. It also reforms corporate imcome taxes. The Week's Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry says the next Republican to win the White House will have a tax plan very similar to this one, which focuses on building the middle class. Here are two Tea Party senators, one of whom is thought to be a strong candidate...

Amazon.com today begins collecting sales tax from purchasers in Minnesota and Maryland, marking the 22nd and 23rd states where the online retailer assesses the levy. With the new states, about 69% of Americans—nearly 219 million people—will be subject to tax on their Amazon purchases. That's a big switch from a few years ago, when Amazon fought to protect customers from sales tax, viewing it as a competitive advantage over brick-and-mortar rivals. Now, Amazon perceives itself as disadvantaged versus online rivals such as eBay and Overstock. That's because a 1992 Supreme Court ruling allows states to apply sales tax to any...

Northeast States: For an area that used to be a political powerhouse, it is becoming increasingly marginalized due to excessive taxes and the ensuing population shift I have written on this subject before, and now the affects of high taxes and population migration are playing out in a substantial, political way: the decline of about 40% of Congressional seats in the Northeast. According to the Census Bureau, high taxpayers are moving south. It notes that in the 11 states that comprise the Northeast, population grew at a rate of only 15% over the thirty year span from 1983-2013, while the...

Scandal: A court tells the White House to ac knowledge the existence of a probe into whether one of its advisers used private tax records for political gain. Transparency is being forced on an administration that's anything but. In 2010, an attorney for industrialists and libertarian political donors Charles and David Koch told the Weekly Standard of a senior Obama aide telling reporters on background that the Kochs "do not pay corporate income tax" through their company, Koch Industries. How, the attorney justifiably wondered, did the White House get his clients' private information from the IRS? The anonymous official has...

The Argentine government has used drones to catch out wealthy tax evaders who had not declared mansions and swimming pools. Unmanned aircraft were dispatched over an upper class area of Buenos Aires and discovered 200 homes and 100 pools that had not been detailed on returns. Tax officials said the drones took pictures of luxury houses standing on lots registered as empty. The evasions found by the drones amounted to missing tax payments of more than $2 million and owners of the properties have been waned they now face large fines. Use of drones has been expanding in Argentina and...

This week’s double-barreled release of government statistics on health insurance coverage leaves us with only one question: How many Americans are insured because of Obamacare? Remarkably, the two highly-regarded government surveys released this week do not even agree whether the number of uninsured increased or decreased. [mandatory excerpted, highly recommend reading the article]

NIH spends $466,642 to determine if it’s all about that bass The federal government is spending nearly a half a million dollars to find out why obese teenage girls have a hard time getting dates. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded a $466,642 grant last week for the study, which will examine whether social skills have an impact on why obese girls have fewer dating experiences than their less obese counterparts.

To hell with Obama–be un-American. I am! Our country has a great future. But it’s too popular. The U.S. of A. is 23% of global GDP yet sports 28 of the world’s 50 biggest stocks. American markets have outpaced foreign ones for seven years. These things fluctuate. Yes, America has inherent advantages that few see. When I was a young man in the 1970s, tech firms were scattered across the developed world. Since then America has come to dominate tech, almost totally. The largest official non-U.S. tech stock is China’s Tencent Holdings , which really isn’t a tech outfit at...

The closure will cost the town of 5,000 people almost half of its tax revenue. The state Department of Labor says the LePage administration has 60 days to find a buyer for the mill, which has operated since 1930.Hundreds of mill workers from across the state will find themselves without jobs at the beginning of the holiday season after Verso Paper Corp.’s sudden announcement Wednesday that it will close its paper mill in Bucksport effective Dec. 1. More than 500 employees will be out of work in the third mill closure in Maine this year, dealing a severe blow to...

Maryland is now facing a $405 million revenue shortfall over this year and next, largely the result of sluggish job growth, stagnant incomes and a weak housing market, state officials reported Wednesday. Five years after the official end of the recession, Maryland continues to confront fiscal trouble. This latest shortfall will force Gov. Martin O'Malley's administration and the General Assembly to make deeper cuts than previously expected to balance the state's roughly $40 billion budget. "Another year has passed, and ordinary families and small businesses haven't even recovered to where they were before the financial collapse, much less made up...

It's hard to keep up with the privacy-threatening shenanigans at the Internal Revenue Service, but let's give it a try. Just days after revealing that the tax agency's failure to follow its own rules put the private data of 1.4 million people at risk, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration publicized the sentencing of Tax Examining Technician Missy Sledge for aggravated identity theft and mail fraud, and IRS employee Monica Hernandez for making and subscribing a false income tax return, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft. According to the Inspector General's Office, "as part of her official IRS duties,...

On Tuesday, Judge Ronald A. White of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma vacated the IRS rule that allows premium subsidies in states that refused to establish an exchange under the Affordable Care Act. The court holds that the IRS Rule is arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion or otherwise not in accordance with law, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. §706(2)(A), in excess of statutory jurisdiction, authority, or limitations, or short of statutory right, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. §706(2)(C), or otherwise is an invalid implementation of the ACA, and is hereby vacated. As has been covered previously,...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Roger Susanin) -- A little-known Metro Parks & Recreation regulation requires people pay $125 for a permit to take photos or shoot video at Nashville public parks.

The Northeast, once the nation’s political engine that produced presidents, House speakers and Senate giants including the late Edward M. Kennedy, is losing clout in Washington as citizens flee the high-tax region, according to experts worried about the trend. The Census Bureau reports that population growth has shifted to the South and the result is that the 11 states that make up the Northeast are being bled dry of representation in Washington. Critics blame rising taxes in states such as Massachusetts and Connecticut for limiting population growth in the Northeast to just 15 percent from 1983 to 2013, while the...

His visit to Kansas comes just days after former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin campaigned with Roberts.