Free Republic

This abuse is intentional and must come to an end. ... In 2015, officials in Hennepin County seized an elderly woman's condo and sold it, over about $2,300 of unpaid property taxes, plus $12,700 in penalties, interest and fees. They sold that home for $40,000 and kept every penny, robbing elderly Geraldine Tyler of her home equity. And that's just one example. From 2014 through 2021, local governments in Minnesota seized and sold at least 1,350 Minnesota homes. The lost savings amounted to an average of $155,000 per home, or 90% of the home's value. Minnesota is one of 12...

Well, it dropped. The first of possibly many October surprises this cycle. Wikileaks’ Julian Assange has already offered teasers about new information he’s obtained about Hillary Clinton that has yet to be released. For now, it’s brief glimpse into Donald Trump’s tax returns that The New York Times says could've legally allowed the billionaire to avoid paying taxes for almost two decades. It’s a 1995 return that the news publication obtained, which showed that Trump had lost almost a billion dollars. The Times contacted a lawyer and accountant to Trump, who said that the return was “legit,” while also detailing...

The Supreme Court is taking up a dispute over how a state may tax income its residents earn in another state. The high court on Monday agreed to hear an appeal from Maryland officials who want to overturn a lower court ruling that found the state’s tax law unconstitutional. …

(Reuters) - The Internal Revenue Service has released new rules for investment income taxes on capital gains and dividends earned by high-income individuals that passed Congress as part of the 2010 healthcare reform law. The 3.8 percent surtax on investment income, meant to help pay for healthcare, goes into effect in 2013. It is the first surtax to be applied to capital gains and dividend income. The tax affects only individuals with more than $200,000 in modified adjusted gross income (MAGI), and married couples filing jointly with more than $250,000 of MAGI. The tax applies to a broad range of...

CNN went into full anti-Romney attack mode this morning, with a false report about an anti-Koch brothers protest at a fundraiser for Mitt Romney and endless discussion of Romney’s personal finances, in keeping with the Obama campaign’s current message. The worst moment came when CNN aired a charge by Nicholas Shaxson, the pro-Occupy, “offshore” British writer for Vanity Fair, that Romney had possibly broken tax laws. Shaxson’s article was the basis for a coordinated Obama campaign-mainstream media hit on Romney last week that CNN continues to pursue, long after theVanity Fair article has become old news--and timed, no doubt, to...

Every day there is a new revelation about Congressman Charlie Rangel, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. Rangel's committee is in charge of making tax laws, and Rangel's scandal de jour usually involves underestimating his net worth or income in some way. Charlie's problems usually don't involve misinterpreting the tax law, his problem is that he tends to hide income. At least he understands the laws he helps to write. Today's scandal is called Where is Charlie's Primary residence? Last year Charlie was found taking a tax break for people whose primary residence was in Washington DC, but...

St. Sabina's website continues to go after political opponents: Criminalizing gun ownership encouraged, State Reps. and Senators who support Second Amendment are targeted 6/2/2008 12:00:00 PM -CCI In spite of the so-called "agreement" between Cardinal George and Rev. Pfleger, stating that the embattled pastor of St. Sabina's would refrain from all political activism, the web site for St. Sabina's continues to be engaged in politics. A long time opponent of the Second Amendment to the Constitution, Rev. Pfleger attracted national attention last year (which was his goal) when he and Jesse Jackson were arrested after invading a gun shop and...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Private-equity giant Blackstone Partners, which is in the process of going public, found itself in the sights Thursday of the powerful Senate Finance Committee as top tax writers introduced legislation that would block publicly-traded private-equity and hedge funds from continuing to enjoy favorable tax treatment. The legislation would require publicly-traded partnerships to be treated as corporations for federal tax purposes. Under current law, income distributions for many private-equity funds are taxed at the capital-gains rates of 15% -- well below the top corporate tax rate of 35%. Blackstone, which is expected to hold its initial public offering...

Last week, I posted a note from a reader who urged that businesses not be allowed to deduct wages of workers who cannot prove their legal status in the United States. I didn't post the reader's name at the time, but he has since given me permission to give credit where credit is due: His name is David Barulich, and he is a financial professional in Pasedana, California. Meanwhile, another reader - who prefers anonymity - offers this addition to Mr. Barulich's concept: "Your reader's suggestion to modify the Internal Revenue Code, so that employers could only expense employee wages...

President Bush plans to overhaul his economic team for the second time in two years and wants to tap prominent figures outside the administration to help sell rewrites of Social Security and the tax laws to Congress and the country, White House aides and advisers said over the weekend. The aides said the replacement of four of the five top economic officials -- including the Treasury and Commerce secretaries, with only budget director Joshua B. Bolten likely to remain -- is part of Bush's preparation for sending Congress an ambitious second-term domestic agenda.

I know that this is long, but I have done a bit of the research for you. Front companies and 501c3's, 527's, common membership lists, names, donors, etc. There's more going on than one might at first think. As many of you don't seem to get it, I posted it separately. Pay attention and read it, then send it to someone who will listen. Some few of the links may be outdated. Everything you need to connect Kerry from the DNC to Soros to 527's is here. From ACORN to voter fraud to vandilism and violence to things you never...

SPARTANBURG, SC (Talon News) -- Liberal political action group MoveOn.org encouraged its members on Monday to "echo Kerry's message" to overcome the "misleading attack ads" from the Bush campaign in the coming weeks. In an e-mail to supporters, MoveOn.org founder Eli Pariser said liberal Democrats should be excited by Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John F. Kerry (D-MA) after last week's Democratic National Convention in Boston. "Last week, John Kerry laid out a powerful vision for our country in his speech at the Democratic Convention," Pariser remarked. However, Pariser said MoveOn.org supporters need to prepare for a wave of political attacks...

BOSTON - Howard Dean (news - web sites) isn't running for president anymore, but you'd never know it from the reception he got Sunday night. Speaking to a crowd of young voters at a party sponsored by Rock the Vote and Democratic Gain, Dean was welcomed like a rock star. He could barely get through the crowd. Once he reached the stage, with his shirt sleeves characteristically rolled up above the elbows, he was greeted with chants of "Dean, Dean, Dean" echoing back to his rallies this past winter, when the former Vermont governor was running for the Democratic nomination....

Free spirits frolic at Fremont festivities By Diane Brooks Seattle Times staff reporter It was a great day to be naked. But we only can hope those bicyclists mixed some sunscreen with all that psychedelic body paint and glitter that so vividly depicted the flamboyant heart of Fremont. Seattle welcomed summer yesterday with its 16th annual Solstice Parade, a joyous, 75-minute celebration of all things wild and pagan. "I love it, because it's not 64 big sparkly floats with beauty queens on top waving, and people politely applauding when they go by," said volunteer traffic controller Chelsea Teller, who coordinated...

(CNSNews.com) - In a letter to a conservative, pro-family group, the Internal Revenue Service established this week that homosexual couples filing joint tax returns would be in violation of the law under the federal Defense of Marriage Act. The Defense of Marriage Act, signed by President Clinton in 1996, says the states will not be forced to recognize homosexual marriages and it legally defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman. "Because of this statute, only married individuals under this definition could elect to file a joint tax return," said the June 14 letter addressed to Public...

PHILADELPHIA -- Last week, Sen. John Kerry was interviewed on MTV's Choose or Lose, during which he was asked predictably useless questions, such as, "Are you cool?" and "What musical and cultural movements interest you?" It was, nevertheless, interesting that his answer to the former was as muddled as the Massachusetts senator's view on a host of other things. And it was comically surreal to hear a Beacon Hill Yalie deem hip hop respectable poetry -- Kerry sailed with the Kennedys, who quoted Aeschylus, and he admires 50 Cent? There is, however, no comedy in the way young people are...