Free Republic

In the terminal collapse of the Roman Empire, there was perhaps no greater burden to the average citizen than the extreme taxes they were forced to pay. The tax ‘reforms’ of Emperor Diocletian in the 3rd century were so rigid and unwavering that many people were driven to starvation and bankruptcy. The state went so far as to chase around widows and children to collect taxes owed. By the 4th century, the Roman economy and tax structure were so dismal that many farmers abandoned their lands in order to receive public entitlements. At this point, the imperial government was spending...

Ever since its creation in 1935 by Franklin Roosevelt as the key achievement of his New Deal, liberals have staked a proprietary claim to Social Security, which is amusing given the left's innate aversion to property rights. And with that sense of entitlement to the quintessential federal entitlement program comes the default liberal tendency to dissemble. A recent example comes by way of leading left-wing radio host Thom Hartmann on his program last week while reeling off the planks in the Democrat party platform. In the process, Hartmann made a claim about Social Security that was misleading if not outright...

In our last 11 episodes we chronicled the homeless crisis in Seattle Washington created by liberals and a particular nasty group of homeless who have started their own mafia of sorts. Share Wheel. In this episde we'll look at a devastating rape that took place at a tent city under Morrow's protection. rape at share Imagine you're a single mother of four, pregnant, and looking for work. Your husband dumps you and You lose your apartment and end up living in a tent encampment. The camp is far from social services. Going to job interviews means leaving your teenage children...

Giving Millennials discounts on Lyft rides is the newest attempt to bait them into subsidizing a substandard healthcare system. Last Tuesday, federal health officials pronounced a sneaky plan to scrutinize the tax records of young people ages 18-34 and compile a list of those who paid the penalty rather than signing up for Obamacare. Federal officials admitted they plan to use this list to target Millennials with emails and enticements to pressure them into joining Obamacare. Sweeteners to be dangled like bait in front of Millennials include reduced fares with the hipster rideshare service known as Lyft. * * *...

Hillary Clinton is proposing a child care income tax credit – mainly to pay for daycare for working moms. There already is a credit in the tax code. Clinton would expand that subsidy by tenfold or more, leading to a massive, new entitlement. It would remove any incentive parents have to find more economical ways of meeting their children’s needs and it would subject working women to high marginal tax rates – penalizing them harshly for working more and earning more. The conservative case against child tax credits. Before looking at the Clinton proposal, let’s consider the case against all...

When he descended the Trump Tower escalator on June 15 last year to announce his run for the presidency, Donald Trump polled near the bottom of the Republican field. An NBC-Wall Street Journal poll taken from June 14 to 18 reported Trump was the first choice of 1 percent of Republican voters, behind Rick Perry, Carly Fiorina, and eight others. A RealClearPolitics graphic tracking an average of several polls illustrates the stunning speed of Trump’s rise. For most of June, Trump’s line slithered along the bottom of the 17-person field, then headed by Jeb Bush. Two weeks after his announcement,...

Phoenix Proposes Property Tax Increase Ignores money in the bank On Friday, the Phoenix City Council is poised to increase its property tax rate by 19% for Fiscal Year 2017 from the longstanding combined tax rate of $1.82 to $2.17. Phoenix argues the rate increase is necessary to fund the debt service on voter approved general obligation bonds. Those bonds are financed through annual property tax levies. In recent years the city has paid the annual debt service from a combination of property taxes and cash from excess property tax levies from the real estate boom in 2007 through 2009....

May marked the 10th anniversary of the Pure Michigan advertising campaign, which is designed to lure tourists to the Great Lake State. It is sold as a program that leads to economic development and yields more in tax revenues than it spends. But our research shows that state-funded efforts to promote tourism are a net negative. Lawmakers should defund the Pure Michigan program. The state operates a travel bureau within the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, which has overseen the $261 million appropriated by the Legislature for Pure Michigan since fiscal year 2006. The campaign features advertisements about Michigan and is...

A vacant lot owned by a Jackson woman was foreclosed by Hillsdale County because she failed to pay a $7 late fee on her property taxes. A Freedom of Information Act request found that Pam Baker, a Jackson resident, owed Hillsdale County $7.70 in interest and late fees for delinquent taxes from 2013 on land she owned near Lake LeAnn in Somerset Township. The 2013 taxes on the property, which she owned since 2000, were due on Feb. 14, 2014. Baker says she paid her taxes two weeks late because she was in a car crash seven days before the...

Someone earning $10,000 could be subject to maximum federal taxes under this limit of $1,500 per year. But someone earning 100 times as much at a million dollars would still be subject to maximum federal taxes of 100 times more, at $150,000 a year. The tax burden could still be skewed proportionally more to the upper income earners, but only by reducing the burden on the lower income earners. In other words, lower rates than 15% could still be imposed on those at the lower income levels, while the highest could still be subject to a top rate of 15%.

Taxes on Consumption are always least burdensome, because they are least felt, and are borne too by those who are both willing and able to pay them; that of all taxes on consumption, those on foriegn commerce are most compatible with the genius of policy of the states. James Madison, Address to the States, April 25th, 1783

In Philadelphia, a 1.5-cents-per-ounce tax on beverages goes into effect January 1, 2017. The regressive, highly unpopular tax will add 18 cents to the cost of a can of soda, $1.08 for a six-pack or $1.02 for a two-liter bottle. The new “soda tax” will be added on top of the already excessive 8% sales tax that applies to beverages in Pennsylvania.Yes, the tax is unpopular – 58% of residents oppose the measure. Yes, the tax will disproportionately harm poor residents – economic studies show that low-income Americans spend a larger portion of their income on consumer goods like soda. No, the...

Piper McGowin June 24th, 2016 This article was written by Piper McGowan and originally published at The Daily Sheeple. Editor’s Comment: The fact that armed IRS agents, along with those of other departments and agencies, now outnumber the ranks of Marines would be absurd if it weren’t so dangerous. The founding fathers complained of the abuses under King George III, writing in the Declaration of Independence: “He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.” Despite hard-fought attempts to keep these forces at bay, it seems...

Madison— Faced with delays and inflation over the past five years, four major state highway projects — including a Madison artery — have accumulated overruns in excess of $700 million. While some of these increases come from faulty cost estimates or unavoidable inflation, the new figures underline the obvious: Delays can be costly for Wisconsin taxpayers. When projects are paused because of financial challenges in the state's road fund, the price of materials, labor and real estate can rise. The numbers compiled by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel underline the urgency of a divisive issue for Wisconsin's Republican leaders: finding a...

During the 12 months ending June 30, the number of people leaving California for another state exceeded by 61,100 the number who moved here from elsewhere in the U.S., according to state Finance Department statistics. The so-called "net outward migration" was the largest since 2011, when 63,300 more people fled California than entered. "The main factors are housing costs in many parts of the state, including coastal regions of California such as the Bay Area," said Dan Hamilton, director of economics with the Economic Forecasting Center at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks. "California has seen negative outward migration to...

Republican candidate Donald Trump focused this weekend on his economic platform: Cut taxes and regulations across the board while also saving Social Security, Medicare, and other government safety-net programs. Trump’s platform is nearly invincible in the general election if he stresses it enough, polling shows. Trump’s plan will also have a transformational effect on how people view his party. But he still needs to make the accounting work to ensure that his Third Way platform is feasible.

In what is just the latest in a series of government overreach actions, the Obama administration, without any input from elected lawmakers or the authority of legislation, is moving to revise an old rule making it easier for students to have their student loans forgiven, leaving taxpayers on the hook to foot the bill. Naturally, the Democrats favorite constituency group, the trial lawyers, would get in on the action.On Monday, The Department of Education released a proposed amendment that vastly expands the conditions under which students can apply to have their student loans discharged if they feel that they have...

Chicago homeowners should brace themselves for sticker shock when they open their mailbox at the end of the month: property tax bills on average 13 percent higher than last year. The big increase is mostly being driven by the record tax increase Mayor Rahm Emanuel engineered last fall to fix city pension funds for police officers and firefighters. Cook County Clerk David Orr released tax rate figures Monday, revealing the practical effects of City Hall's painful decision. The owner of a single-family home with the current average sale price of about $225,000 can expect to see a property tax bill...

The “Take This Job and Shove It” singer has been ordered to pay the IRS more than $980,000 after pleading guilty to tax evasion and failing to pay $466,000 in back taxes, interest and penalties, prosecutors said. Coe, 76, was also sentenced Monday in Cincinnati federal court to three years’ probation. Federal prosecutors said the singer played more than 100 concerts a year between 2008 and 2013, but asked to be paid in cash to avoid paying Uncle Sam.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- In a big win for the Obama administration, a federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld the government's "net neutrality" rules that require internet providers to treat all web traffic equally.The 2-1 ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is a victory for consumer groups and content companies such as Netflix that want to prevent online content from being blocked or channeled into fast and slow lanes.