Free Republic

Soda will cost you more in Philadelphia, Seattle, Boulder, Colorado, and a bunch of California cities because politicians in those places voted to tax it. The social engineers claim soda taxes will "reduce obesity," "lower diabetes rates," "reduce medical costs," etc. But the politicians' main goal is to bring in money. Philadelphia city council members applauded wildly when their tax passed. But store owner Melvin Robinson says, "It's a bad tax." Robinson, who runs Bruno's Pizza, says the soda tax punishes his business. His customers quickly agreed. One I interviewed for my new YouTube/Facebook/Twitter video angrily said, "Who should pay...

Clark County School District educators have won an arbitration over their 2017-2018 contract that will provide increases in pay and health care contributions. The district says the estimated $52 million deal could cause another major budget shortfall. Teachers will move a step in the salary schedule effective June 1, 2018. The district’s contributions to health care through the Teachers Health Trust also will increase from roughly $538 to $583 a month. That increase will be retroactive to July 1, 2017.

Beginning Friday, the Travis Central Appraisal District is sending out property value appraisal notices to homeowners in Travis County. Overall, taxable values in Travis County increased between 7 percent and 27 percent. The biggest increase from 2016 is in Northwest Austin near Lakeway...    Beginning Friday, the Travis Central Appraisal District is sending out property value appraisal notices to homeowners in Travis County. Overall, taxable values in Travis County increased between 7 percent and 27 percent. The biggest increase from 2016 is in Northwest Austin near Lakeway. "We are in our 9th consecutive year of an upward market...

For a nation accustomed to instant gratification, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is a winner.Before President Donald Trump even signed the bill, companies were announcing employee pay raises, bonuses, and increased investments to grow their businesses and bring operations back from overseas.Among the first out of the gate was AT&T, which said it would give $1,000 bonuses to more than 200,000 nonmanagement employees and make an additional $1 billion investment in the United States. Boeing put $100 million toward training, education, and other workforce development. Walmart expanded paid parental leave and boosted starting wages to $11 an hour.Then in...

A majority of Americans is not yet seeing President Trump's tax cuts reflected in their paychecks, according to a new poll. A CNBC All-America Economic Survey finds 52 percent of respondents say they haven't seen a change. Just 32 percent of respondents report taking home more money due to the tax cuts, which Trump signed into law late last year. Of that percentage, 38 percent say the extra pay they helps them a "great deal" or a "fair amount." Another 40 percent say the extra pay helps "some" or "just a little" and 22 percent report that the extra pay...

In Fiscal Year (FY) 2016, Colorado collected $25.4 billion in state and local taxes—or $4,590 for every man, woman, and child. While this is an impressive sum of money, it tells us little about whether or not the average Colorado taxpayer can afford this level of taxation. ... Colorado’s state and local tax burden (tax collections divided by private sector personal income) was the sixth lowest in the nation for FY 2016 at 11.8 percent—or -17 percent below the national average of 14.3 percent. ... Colorado’s tax burden has increased over time by only 3 percent to 11.8 percent in...

The spending bill, which President Donald Trump signed into law on Friday, includes a section that makes it clear that employers may not pocket any portion of tips that diners leave for workers... Representatives for the restaurant industry, however, are also pleased. The National Restaurant Association said it never asked for employers to be allowed to keep tips in the first place. Angelo Amador, senior VP at the trade group, argued that most employers wouldn't skim tips even if they were allowed to... The language in the spending bill also effectively does another big thing: It allows employers to pool...

Along the south shore of Lady Bird Lake east of Interstate 35, Oracle has built a new campus that will eventually house 10,000 employees. At the end of 2015, one of the world's largest software companies announced it was expanding in Austin with the construction of a 565,000-square-foot campus located on South Lakeshore Boulevard just west of South Pleasant Valley Road, that sits on 40 acres of waterfront property. "We wanted to be in downtown Austin on the river and specifically I wanted to be in downtown Austin on the river because I thought it would be great to take...

Full Title: 'I want to know what the f*** you're doing with my f***ing money!': Cardi B flies into rage over paying 40% in taxes in expletive filled Instagram post It's tax season, and Cardi B is not a happy camper. The New York City native, 25, took to social media on Thursday launching into a fast-paced rant about how she was unhappy at the rate she was being taxed, as well as not seeing any sort of return on her dollar. 'So you know the government is taking 40 percent of my taxes and Uncle Sam, I want to...

The new tariffs announced by President Donald Trump have generated intense controversy. With the debate ongoing, it might be useful to examine how other countries have dealt with similar policy debates in the past. New Zealand now ranks third in The Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom and is one of the champions of economic freedom around the world. But it wasn’t always so. In the mid-1980s, New Zealand was facing an economic crisis, with its domestic market and international trade both heavily regulated. Unemployment had reached 11 percent, and inflation was a sky-high 15 percent. In response, the government...

Republicans are worried that touting this year's tax cut bill and tying Democrats to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., won't be enough to hold the House and Senate in the November midterms. While GOP lawmakers maintain that both are important campaign issue, some believe the party is leaning too heavily on them, particularly in light of some predictions that they are about to lose upwards of 45 House seats. Rep. Conor Lamb's, D-Pa., likely victory over Rick Saccone in Pennsylvania last Tuesday also showed both arguments can be neutralized. "I think the bigger challenge for members is defining themselves,"...

WASHINGTON — As President Trump congratulated the World Series champion Houston Astros at a White House ceremony last week, he also heaped praise on himself and congressional Republicans for passing a sweeping tax cut last year. He hailed Representative Kevin Brady of Texas, the House’s chief tax writer and an Astros superfan, as “the king of those tax cuts.” What he did not mention is that the new tax law Mr. Brady helped draft, and which Mr. Trump signed, levies a large new tax on the Astros, and similar franchises across professional sports. The law changed a corner of the...

Have you ever heard the old saying that a conservative is just a liberal who got mugged? Well, I got mugged – to the tune of $60,000 a year. It’s called “tuition.” Like everyone who cons themselves into attending a liberal arts college, I was captivated by the idea of changing the world. I would immerse myself in a diverse pool of academic thought, theory, and action. Well…it didn’t quite work out that way. Over the course of four years, I was transformed from a plucky, free-thinking free spirit into a cranky, get-off-my-lawn conservative. The process started not long after...

Jed, you OTTA MOVE AWAY FROM THERE!

Gov. Phil Murphy is set Tuesday to unveil a state budget proposal -- his first -- that will include more than $1.5 billion in new revenue from taxes and closing loopholes, including a small spike in New Jersey's sales tax, NJ Advance Media has learned. The extra revenue would also come from a proposed millionaires tax, closing tax loopholes used by corporations, and a plan to legalize marijuana, according to multiple sources briefed on the budget.

President Trump again brings up a "phase two" of tax cuts. The GOP law passed in December permanently chops taxes for corporations and temporarily reduces the tax rate for most individuals. Trump wants a 'phase two' of tax cuts Trump wants a 'phase two' of tax cuts 18 Hours Ago | 00:44 President Donald Trump said again Monday he wants a "phase two" of tax cuts on top of the law Republicans passed in December. Speaking as the World Series champion Houston Astros visited the White House, Trump asked Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, whether he planned to cut taxes further....

Small-business confidence is surging in 2018 as optimism rises among small-business owners about the newly enacted tax-reform package, according to the latest CNBC/SurveyMonkey Small Business Survey, released Tuesday. The CNBC/SurveyMonkey Q1 Small Business Confidence Index saw an increase of five points, from 57 to 62, a record high and the largest quarter-to-quarter move the index has seen since CNBC and SurveyMonkey began measuring last year. This is the first survey since President Donald Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act into law on December 22, 2017. In the Q4 survey, small-business owners were split evenly on the core question...

With the economy roaring as it hasn't in decades, the stock market at all-time highs, and unemployment (including for blacks and Hispanics) at all-time lows, the Democrats have just proposed to "fix things" by raising taxes. Say what? This proposal, which includes raising the highest bracket and the corporate rate (after years of trying to get it down), plus raising the rates for "30 million companies which are organized as sole proprietorships, partnerships, Subchapter-S corporations, and LLCs" not to mention bringing back the alternative minimum tax (a boondoggle for preparers), will end up costing the vast majority of Americans most,...

This story is a little over a week and half old, but it remains topical. A Florida man avoided paying millions in social security, federal, income and Medicare taxes by failing to report a number of illegal aliens working on his payroll. However, his story also shows the potentially dangerous work environment that exists for illegal aliens when immigration laws are neglected. Mac Johnson owns several roofing, tree services, and dumpster businesses. According to WCJB ABC 20 News, he "devised a scheme to conceal the amount of wages earned by his undocumented alien employees to avoid paying more than $1.7 million in...

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump's new-found opposition to funding the Gateway Tunnel project is just the latest example of how he's championed policies that punish New Jersey, where he has long ties and spends his spring weekends and summer vacation. The Trump-backed tax plan targeted New Jersey and other high-tax states by curbing the federal deduction for state and local taxes, and he backed Affordable Care Act repeal efforts that disproportionately cut funding from those states, which expanded Medicaid in order to expand coverage. Meanwhile, New Jersey taxpayers send billions of dollars more to Washington than they get back in...