Free Republic

Trump’s Dynamic Growth PoliciesBy: Larry Walker, IIIn an October 4, 2015 interview on Meet the Press, Donald Trump was asked which government programs he will cut so his tax reduction plan won’t blow a hole in the deficit.Trump’s first response described how we are going to save a lot in administrative costs by exempting millions of Americans from filing income tax returns. Under his plan, single individuals making under $25,000 and couples making less than $50,000 will not owe any income tax, and will thus not be required to file tax returns. This totally makes sense to me, as I...

President Ronald Reagan is invoked incessantly by conservative commentators and politicians, but never more so than when the subject is taxes. And so it was when Donald Trump released his plan for tax reform. Several conservative commentators have done Trump a favor (and the public a disservice) by vouching for the legitimacy of the plan and saying it is very much in the Reagan tradition. That gives Trump far too much credit. His tax plan bears a superficial resemblance to Reagan’s agenda, but Reagan would never have proposed something so transparently infeasible. Reagan is invoked too casually on taxes both...

Michigan lawmakers who would like to cut the state’s personal income tax rate may have found their way eased by a largely overlooked benefit: A rate cut would reduce the amount the state owes to corporations that are benefiting from extensive tax breaks and outright cash subsidies granted by the Michigan Economic Growth Authority during former Gov. Jennifer Granholm's administration. The state’s liability to these corporations was revealed earlier this year, and shocked lawmakers preparing to adopt a budget for the coming fiscal year. Under a program repealed in 2011, corporations were granted some $9.38 billion in tax credits. The...

Hollywood star Emily Blunt has revealed that she took on citizenship in America to pay less tax. The British actress was sworn in at a ceremony at the United States Court House in Los Angeles in August. The 32-year-old caused a stir in the after saying that she regretted the decision and was forced to apologize following a backlash. However, she has since opened up about the reasons she went for duel nationality - and it was all about the money.

REEDSPORT — The Reedsport School District again is able to provide free meals to every student for the 2015-2016 school year, a program that began last year. A controversy in the North Bend School District, with which Reedsport cooperates to get bulk pricing on food items, should not affect that program. “We're a school-wide free-lunch program,” said first-year Superintendent Brian Gander. “That's based on our local incidence of poverty. We started that last year.” Gander said the district would have 65 percent of students eligible for free and reduced lunch, if that program were still in effect. The current program...

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has disclosed that his record property tax hike plan entails significant cuts for nearly 300,000 homeowners, leaving Chicago businesses predicting they will face hikes of up to 50 percent. The second-term mayor last week proposed a $544 million property tax increase, the city's biggest ever, to help fix one of the worst-funded city pension systems in America ... Emanuel's office, which has said one in four dollars of the tax hike would come from the city's central business district, did not contest the 50-percent figure. But a mayoral aide insisted Emanuel's plan is his best effort...

He’s identified a bloc of culturally conservative voters who are to the left of the Republican Party on economics. But is it enough to win the nomination? A new Pew poll on the Republican race says several useful things about Donald Trump. For example: He’s still solidly ahead of the field in the race for the Republican nomination. The poll has Trump at 25 percent, followed by Ben Carson at 16, Marco Rubio and Carly Fiorina at 8, and Ted Cruz at 6. Jeb Bush, meanwhile, has taken a beating—sliding out of the top five, only a bit ahead of...

He's not expecting a vote, though. Many undocumented immigrants who pay taxes would be able to access Obamacare under a long-shot bill introduced Wednesday by Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-Ill.). The Affordable Care Act currently limits access to its exchanges and subsidies to those "lawfully present." That means the approximately 11.3 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. are not eligible for Obamacare, nor can they shop on the exchanges if their employer does not provide them with coverage. Gutiérrez's bill would open the exchanges and extend the subsidies to undocumented immigrants who provide proof of state residency and tax filings. It...

Cutting taxes is great, but as I said, it must be done alongside genuine spending restraint — meaning serious changes to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and Affordable Care Act subsidies, which are consuming an ever-growing share of the budget. Doing one without the other would just kick the can farther down the road, an exercise that politicians are very good at. The good news for the candidates is that a plan to cut spending isn't that hard — on paper, at least. Cato Institute's Dan Mitchell calculated that we could balance the budget by 2021 by capping spending growth at...

I quit. Or, more exactly, I’m quitting. Not a job or writing, I’m quitting smoking. And does it ever suck. I haven’t had a cigarette since the day I got married, Sept. 5th. It hasn’t been easy. It’s not “pass a stone” or “give birth” hard, but I have had moments of “I’d kill everyone in this room for a drag.” Less now, and less thanks to something politicians across the country are moving to ban – a vaporizer. Vaping, as it is called, is the ingestion of water vapor infused with nicotine and some sort of flavor – tobacco,...

There is no such thing as free care. Someone else must pay for it either through higher taxes, non-use of services, confiscatory premiums, writing-off costs, government subsidies, or denial of needed services, rationing When the government promises too much free medical care to too many people without making a significant investment in the medical infrastructure, its staff, and its professional delivery, innocent victims of a shortchanged, diluted, and inefficient service are likely to emerge. And the victims will suffer in silence physically or financially, paying for much reduced or unaffordable healthcare. Add to the poorly planned mix an enormously expensive...

Fiscal Policy: It isn't as ambitious as a flat tax or a national sales tax, but there's a surprising amount of sensible tax policy changes recommended in Donald Trump's tax reform plan released on Monday. He's proposing the biggest reduction in tax rates since the 1986 Tax Reform Act under Ronald Reagan, and like the Gipper's reforms, this plan would cover the costs by closing loopholes. So, bravo. Trump would cut tax rates across the board. The highest income tax rate would shrink from about 40% under current law to 25%. The top capital gains tax rate would be reduced...

Are you aware that there is an international effort to increase taxes, including those paid by Americans? On Oct. 5, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) will release its “final package of measures for a co-ordinated international approach to reform the tax system under the OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Project.” In plain English,..[snip] It has also been well known that as government spending on pensions and other “entitlements” grows, it has a negative effect on hours worked and economic growth. A new paper published by the European Central Bank also shows a strong negative...

I wrote earlier today how Trump could “surprise me in a good way” over his tax plan, and you know, he did. His personal income tax reform plan for people who don’t have stocks is really simple and something which he should be praised for.The simplification is really good and is a lot easier than the current system. Good on Trump for doing this. From a personal standpoint, I prefer either a very low flat tax (7%) or zero income tax at all. But the income tax part of Trump’s plan isn’t bad at all. I’m still not sure...

GOP 2016 POWER INDEX: JEB JOLTED FROM TOP SPOT There’s been a seismic shakeup this week, knocking Jeb Bush from the top spot for the first time since the race began and putting Sen. Ted Cruz at the top. The latest WSJ/NBC News poll has Donald Trump and Ben Carson tied for the lead with Sen. Marco Rubio and Carly Fiorina tied for third place. But few would imagine that those rankings will be predictive. Bush and Cruz in are farther behind, but the Fox News First Power Index is about more than just the latest polls. It’s about who...

The Legacy Lives On! Mark’s Lost Dog & Cat Rescue Foundation “Conservatism is the antidote to tyranny precisely because its principles are the founding principles.” --Mark Levin in Liberty and Tyranny Welcome to “The Levin Lounge”… Step in and have a virtual FRink.Taking the country by storm, one radio station at a time – and kicking the BUTTS of the competition! Welcome all, to the most FUN LIVE THREAD on FreeRepublic.com! You can call Mark’s show: 1-877-381-3811

Pennsylvania schools have a new source of disparity: A state budget impasse that has driven some districts to borrow while others expect no problems for months. School districts missed more than $1 billion in payments in August and expected to miss another $700 million in September, according to estimates by the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials. How the state’s 500 school districts are absorbing the loss depends on their reliance on local resources and existing budget reserves. “I believe firmly 10 percent of the districts have had to go borrow,” said Jay Himes, executive director of the association. “Some...

Donald Trump’s tax plan, released Monday, does not live up to the populist language he has offered on taxes all summer. When talking about taxes in this campaign, Donald Trump has often sounded like a different kind of Republican. He says he will take on “the hedge fund guys” and their carried interest loophole. He thinks it’s “outrageous” how little tax some multimillionaires pay. But his plan calls for major tax cuts not just for the middle class but also for the richest Americans — even the dreaded hedge fund managers. And despite his campaign’s assurances that the plan is...

During his “60 Minutes” interview Sunday, Republican presidential front-runner appeared to come out in favor of a form of single payer health insurance for the uninsured ... and openly called for raising taxes on the wealthy.

September 28, 2015: At Trump Tower in New York City, GOP Presidential candidate and current front-runner Donald J. Trump unveiled his tax policy plan at a news conference.