Free Republic

Despite tax collection increasing by 50 percent in the last 9 years, California’s public pension insolvency is forcing Gov. Jerry Brown to propose a dangerously unpopular 42 percent increase in gasoline taxes and a 141 percent increase in vehicle registration fees. Breitbart News reported on January 9 that Gov. Brown announced that for the first time since 2012, California’s $122.8 billion General Fund Budget is in deficit by $1.6 billion. Despite a near bankruptcy during the financial crisis, California’s tax revenues have increased by about $43 billion in the last 9 years. Brown on Monday only suggested relatively painless spending...

FILE - In this Aug. 21, 2014 file photo, tax form 8962 is seen in Washington. If you haven’t signed up for health insurance this year, you may be getting a nudge from the taxman. The IRS is sending personalized letters to millions of uninsured taxpayers that they’re potentially on the hook for hundreds of dollars in fines. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File) WASHINGTON (AP) — If you haven't signed up for health insurance, you may soon be getting a not-too-subtle nudge from the taxman. The IRS is sending personalized letters to millions of taxpayers who might be uninsured, reminding them...

Despite backing what became one of the nation’s first successful soda taxes, Mayor Jim Kenney is now blaming businesses for the resulting spike in the cost of sugary beverages. “They’re gouging their own customers,” he said of retailers who have been passing along some of the costs associated with the new tax.

Legislators have been skirting the Nevada Constitution to pass tax increases for 20 years, and it’s time to expose their scheme. They’re violating the Gibbons’ Tax Restraint Initiative, a voter-approved constitutional amendment that requires the support of two-thirds of lawmakers (or a majority vote of the people) on any bill that “creates, generates, or increases any public revenue.” Nevada’s local governments already can’t raise taxes unless the Legislature approves first. That should provide state taxpayers with a double firewall against local tax increases. But big government worked out an end-around. After the initiative went into effect in 1996, the Legislative...

Mayor Jim Kenney, who lead the charge for the passage of his city’s “soda tax,” is lashing out at the business community over higher prices, even accusing retailers of attempting to stir up resentment for the tax in the community . . . The 1.5 cents per ounce tax on sugary drinks is implemented at the distribution level, meaning that retailers must choose how much of the cost to pass onto consumers at the shelves. . . . “From Jan. 1, it’s been completely dead,” Mohammad Alqtaishat, owner at Roxborough’s M&M Market, told Billy Penn. “I’m not making money at...

Suppose you, as a good neighbor, noticed an imbalance between a couple of families down the street. The Smiths — husband and wife, no kids, yet they have two cars. Then there is the Jones family — husband and wife, five kids and no car. A difficult life the Joneses have, hard to get to work or to the store, difficult to get the kids to school. You would like to help, because you are a kind, compassionate and merciful individual, but you only have one car for yourself, your wife and three kids. You decide one day to talk...

Who’s “we,” kemosabe? Twenty-four hours ago, over Ryan’s own objection, House Republicans were all set to revamp the Office of Congressional Ethics. Then Trump logged into Twitter and, three hours later, the plan was scrapped. Members of Ryan’s caucus were eager to reassure the media yesterday that it wasn’t Trump’s influence that made them reconsider, it was the barrage of angry phone calls their offices were getting from grassroots Republicans, but that seems to be a partial explanation at best: OVERHEARD in the Speaker's lobby: "The guy puts out a tweet and half our conference goes nuts. What are...

MSNBC’s hosts have a tax problem. A Heat Street review of public records show that a total of six current, prominent MSNBC pundits have recently settled federal or state tax liens, while one still has tax problems. Moreover, at least two other hosts who recently left the network have also had massive tax liens filed against them. MSNBC declined to comment, and none of the current or former tax debtors responded to requests for interviews sent through an MSNBC spokesperson. The Rev. Al Sharpton — MSNBC’s Sunday morning host — easily comes in first place when it comes to “issues”...

Rejecting “carbon” talk. As for those knowingly using the term for propaganda purposes, they should have a huge carbon footprint placed firmly on their carbon-based posteriors The side that defines the vocabulary of a debate, wins the debate. So we could ask: as we fight the global-warming scam, why are we using the language of the scammers? It’s harder to combat “carbon” taxes, “carbon” credits and callow “carbon” appeals if we accept that at issue is “carbon.” Calling CO2 “carbon” is like calling H2O “hydrogen.” Carbon is about as useful to a plant aspiring to photosynthesize as a tank of...

Lawmakers in several deep-blue states want to require presidential candidates to release their tax returns in order to appear on the ballot in those states, a sharp rebuke of President-elect Donald Trump's ongoing refusal to make his tax records public. A pair of Maryland Democrats on Tuesday announced they would introduce a bill mandating the release of five years of tax returns, mirroring similar proposals in New York, Massachusetts, California and Maine. If approved, the proposals could keep Trump from appearing on some ballots in 2020 if he continues breaking with the decades-long tradition of financial transparency and decides to...

The contentious soda tax secured passage in June but consumers in Philadelphia are still flabbergasted by the price increases the tax is sparking. In some cases, shoppers found that they were paying more for the soda tax than the actual product they were purchasing. The 1.5 cents per ounce tax on sugary drinks is implemented at the distribution level, meaning retailers must choose how much of the cost to pass onto consumers at the shelves. A 12-pack of Lipton Diet Green Tea at a Save-A-Lot in the city is now priced at $8.03, instead the $4.99 it costed in December,...

Among the first steps being floated by the incoming Trump administration is a 5 to 10 percent tariff on imports, implemented through an executive order. It’s the sort of shoot-first, ask-questions-later action that President-elect Donald J. Trump promised during the campaign. It’s also unconstitutional. That’s because the path to imposing tariffs — along with taxes and other revenue-generating measures — clearly begins with Congress, and in particular the House, through the Origination Clause. When presidents have raised (or lowered) tariffs in the past, they have tended to do so using explicit, if sometimes wide-ranging, authority from Congress. The founders thought...

Democratic politicians, including mayors in three major cities, are looking to use millions in taxpayer funds to protect illegal immigrants in their cities from deportation. Mayors of Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco are looking to create funds to provide attorneys to illegal immigrants who face deportation, the Wall Street Journal reports. If these efforts succeed, the amount of taxpayer money set aside to protect illegal immigrants will easily be in the millions. California alone will consider a bill that may cost between $10-80 million per year. Los Angeles has already set aside $10 million for an immigrant defense fund.

NPR fans received an e-mail with the subject line "Bold, unbiased journalism." That's pretty funny coming from a network that puts a loving touch on Barack Obama in interviews and never secured an interview with Donald Trump. . . . Dear Friend, As I said on the radio the other day,* journalism is at the heart of who we are at NPR. Facts matter. We strongly believe in and follow the core journalism values of accuracy, fairmindedness, integrity and independence. We are the public’s media. That is, we work for you....

President-elect Donald Trump’s goal of overhauling the U.S. tax code in 2017 will depend partly on the work of an obscure congressional committee tasked with estimating how much future economic growth will result from tax cuts. Known as the Joint Committee on Taxation, or JCT, the nonpartisan panel assigns “dynamic scores” to major tax bills in Congress, based on economic models, to forecast a bill’s ultimate impact on the federal budget. The higher a tax bill’s dynamic score, the more likely it is seen as spurring growth, raising tax revenues and keeping the federal deficit in check. As Trump and...

Nearly a third of retirees are playing chicken with one of the steepest tax penalties out there — and they are running out of time. IRS rules on so-called required minimum distributions generally kick in once you reach age 70½. For 401(k)s and other defined contribution plans, it's either when you turn 70½. or you retire, whichever is later. If you've inherited an IRA, you might also be subject to RMDs, even if your own retirement is years away. How much you need to take is usually based on the account balance at the end of the previous year, and...

Grade-A scumbag. I can disagree with someone and still get along well with them. I don’t need to share your politics to believe you’re a good person. Aside from communists and fascists, I know, trust, and respect people from virtually every point on the political spectrum. So, when I say that Harry Reid is a repugnant, lying, worthless dirtbag, I want you to understand that it has nothing to do with his political beliefs. It has everything to do with his complete lack of character, honor, and integrity.

WOODBURY, Minn. – As a proud owner of a boutique public relations firm, I , like so many small business owners throughout the United States, had a feeling that the national election results might deviate from the suggested outcome of the aggregate polling data. I have represented a variety of small businesses’ public relations needs for over 20 years and can confidently say I have spoken directly to over 5,000 small business owners nationwide. My specialty is small business; I have not worked for the Fortune 500 crowd or represented their business needs in any way. For those that feed...

On Monday, Bret Stephens wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal called “Doomed to Stagnate.” The article was predicated on a little-known annual survey by the World Bank known as “Doing Business,” a document that ranks the business climate of nearly every nation around the world. Most Americans might expect the largest capitalist economy in the world, the United States, to lead the pack — but they’d be wrong. In fact, most Americans might be surprised to learn that not only are we not on top, but we have become less economically competitive in the world since Obama took...

An Arizona Democratic lawmaker was indicted for illegally getting food stamps and falsifying her application to the program in June. . . . An Ohio millionaire descended from Iranian royalty was indicted for welfare fraud in December after prosecutors allege he fraudulently took $45,000 in Medicare benefits and received $8,400 in food stamps. Mahvi, 65, insists that he is innocent, that even though he has an 8,000-square-foot home, complete with horse stables, a swimming pool, and a garage where he parks his Lexus, his family gets very little income and lives off of loans from friends.