Free Republic

Families are being squeezed harder than ever before by higher taxes, according to figures which lay bare just how much the Government is now taking from households. The income tax burden has soared to its highest level since records began two decades ago, dramatically eroding the amount of money left in people's pockets, figures released by the Office for National Statistics say. British households have experienced the biggest increase in taxes across the western world since Labour came to power, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has revealed. The result is that hard-working families have even less money left...

ATLANTA - With less than two weeks to go before the July 18 primary, a judge Friday issued a restraining order blocking Georgia's voter ID law, saying that requiring photos as proof of identity is an unconstitutional burden. Superior Court Judge Melvin Westmoreland said in a sharply worded written ruling that the Legislature doesn't have the authority to enforce the law and an amendment to the state Constitution would be required instead. The law, he said, "unduly burdens the fundamental right to vote rather than regulate it." The law requires that every voter who casts a ballot in person provide...

Analysts say she has lost once-fervent supporters and could hurt the party. There is growing concern among Republicans that Katherine Harris not only can't beat Sen. Bill Nelson this November, but she could drag other Republicans down with her. Harris continues to be dogged by her ties to a corrupt defense contractor, and poll numbers that show she's dropped 24 points since she announced her candidacy. [snip]A recent poll conducted by a Republican polling firm that used to be aligned with Harris tested Florida House Speaker Allan Bense's name against hers. No one has claimed responsibility for funding the poll....

SACRAMENTO — As Californians hit the tax deadline, an independent think tank is handing voters political ammunition in an election year — the burden of funding state services has shifted from corporate to personal income taxpayers in the past two decades. And Democratic Treasurer Phil Angelides — the only gubernatorial candidate talking about closing corporate tax loopholes and taxing the wealthy — has sunk to underdog status in the polls. "New, increased and expanded corporate tax breaks and the 1996 corporate rate reduction are responsible for the decline in the share of state revenues provided by the corporate income tax,"...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - California violated the Clean Air Act when it decided nine years ago that no regulations were necessary to cut smog-forming compounds in farm and commercial pesticides, a federal judge ruled Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton's decision means that lawyers for environmental groups and the state will meet to discuss possible remedies for the pollution. Lawyers for both groups have been ordered to file briefs in 20 days. "The bottom line is that the state should have had regulations in place to have a 20 percent reduction of these emissions in five basins by this year," said...

While Congress holds hearings on the security of the U.S.-Mexico border, states along that uneasy divide are looking for ways to take matters into their own hands. Even though a ballot initiative to create a border police force in California failed to qualify for the June election, its backers hope their cause is bolstered by similar movements in other states. "Although I still think it's the feds that should be doing it, but the Bush administration doesn't seem to want to do anything," said Andy Ramirez, executive director of Chino-based Friends of the Border Patrol. "We need something ... be...

MINNEAPOLIS - The U.S. Census Bureau reports that overall taxes in Minnesota are high, but the taxman has a light touch on smokes, gambling and booze. The state has the fourth heaviest tax burden in the United States, but so-called sin taxes are less than the national average. The overall ranking is because incomes are higher in Minnesotan than most other states and because Minnesota relies more heavily on a progressive state income tax. Nan Madden of the nonprofit Minnesota Budget Project says it's no surprise that sin taxes are lower-than-average. She says when the national economy slowed down in...

If you are among those who cling to the politically fashionable view that San Diego's financial troubles are due to the simple fact that our taxes are too low, think again. A special watchdog report by Union-Tribune staff writer Steve Schmidt and research analyst Danielle Cervantes documents a very different explanation – one that the city's powerful public employee unions don't want told. The real truth is, for years San Diego has been run more for the benefit of its unionized work force than for the benefit of taxpayers. Consider these fundamental facts: In Los Angeles, a city with a...

A schizophrenic artist who died after handcuffing himself to a tree after throwing away the key, may have tried to free himself, an inquest has heard. The skeleton of Richard Sumner - 47 when he went missing three years ago - was found in a remote area of Clocaenog Forest, Denbighshire, in April 2005. Mr Sumner, from Crosby, Merseyside, may have changed his mind about killing himself but could not reach the keys, the Denbigh inquest was told. The coroner recorded an open verdict. Mr Sumner, at one time a scenic artist for opera productions at Glyndebourne, had suffered from...

WASHINGTON, July 24, 2005 – A group based here at Walter Reed Army Medical Center here has stepped forward to help families of wounded servicemembers with expenses to stay in the area while their loved ones recover in this high-cost area. Out of concern for the overwhelming number of family members of war-wounded servicemembers showing up at the hospital's doorstep needing financial assistance, the Walter Reed command asked the Walter Reed Society to help. "So on March 19, 2004, we created the Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom Family Support Fund," said retired Army Sgt. Maj. Daniel J. Bullis, the society's...

Analysis of the latest Census data indicates that California's illegal immigrant population is costing the state's taxpayers more than $10.5 billion per year for education, medical care and incarceration. Even if the estimated tax contributions of illegal immigrant workers are subtracted, net outlays still amount to nearly $9 billion per year. The annual fiscal burden from those three areas of state expenditures amounts to about $1,183 per household headed by a native-born resident. This analysis looks specifically at the costs to the state for education, health care and incarceration resulting from illegal immigration. These three are the largest cost areas,...

2005 SESSION 05-0002 05/01 HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 1 A RESOLUTION urging Congress to withdraw the United States from the United Nations. SPONSORS: Rep. Albert, Straf 1; Rep. Matthew Quandt, Rock 13; Rep. Hawkins, Hills 18; Rep. Buhlman, Hills 27; Rep. Headd, Rock 3; Sen. Boyce, Dist 4; Sen. Roberge, Dist 9 COMMITTEE: State-Federal Relations and Veterans Affairs ANALYSIS This resolution urges Congress to withdraw the United States from the United Nations. 05-0002 05/01 STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Five A RESOLUTION urging Congress to withdraw the United States from the United Nations. Whereas, the...

AccountingWEB.com - Jan-6-2005 - For the first time ever, the U.S. does not rank among the world's 10 freest economies in the Index of Economic Freedom, published annually by The Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal. The U.S.' score in the 2005 Index did not change from 2004. But improvements in the economies of Chile, Australia and Iceland enabled all three to surpass the U. S., leaving it in a tie for 12th with Switzerland and out of the top 10 for the first time in the 11-year history of the Index.

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

The Kerry campaign finally released Teresa Heinz Kerry's 2003 tax return, or rather two pages of it, late last Friday, and the story got buried next to the hardware-store ads.... ...In 2003, Mrs. Kerry -- or Teresa Heinz, as she declared herself on her IRS 1040 form -- earned $5.07 million, hardly a surprising income for someone estimated to be worth nearly $1 billion. The news is that $2.78 million of that income came in the form of tax-exempt interest from what the Kerry campaign's press release attributed to investments in "state, municipal and public entity bonds." ...On her remaining...

***Snip***** Progressivity and the Tax Burden Our tax system, however, is highly progressive, meaning that as one’s income rises, a higher proportion of that income is taxed. Thus, those in the highest tax brackets contribute more to the overall tax burden even though there are far more people in lower tax brackets. For example:1 According to data from the IRS, the bottom 50 percent of income earners pay approximately 4 percent of income taxes. The top 25 percent of income earners pay nearly 83 percent of the income tax burden, and the top 10 percent pay 65 percent. The top...

Despite a commendable drop in Washington's state and local tax burden, state taxpayers are still lifting the heaviest tax burden in the Northwest. According to a recent Department of Revenue (DOR) report, Washington's state and local tax burden has dropped to levels not seen since the 1980's. While progress has been made due mainly to citizen tax-reduction initiatives, Washington currently ranks higher than its neighbors in Idaho and Oregon in terms of state and local tax burden. TABLE Washingtonians pay the highest gas tax burden in the Northwest and third highest nationally (approximately seven cents more per gallon than the...

Politicus: Kerry-friendly Europe still has its own ideas John Vinocur IHT Monday, September 27, 2004 No German and French troops for Kerry ...But last week, just after Kerry's major speech on the war last week in which he insisted that the United States "must make Iraq the world's responsibility" and that others "should share the burden," Schröder's sense of courtesy collided with reality and he drove a spike into the notion. He told reporters, "We won't send any German soldiers to Iraq, and that's where it's going to remain." As for the Democrat, Süddeutsche (German newspaper) said Kerry "is suggesting...

Sharon gave me permission to post this with her name. Hello to all. Sorry I haven’t written in the last couple of days. Much going on here. I would, however, like to share something with you today. I am a firm believer that God sends us messages when we need them most. It can be in the form of a nod from someone passing you on the street, someone smiling at you when you are down, or in the written word from a page in a book, a message on a billboard, or the spoken word. The messages can be...

/begin my translationAging Yakuza...Growing Pension Burden Pushes Up The Cut Choi Heub 08/27/04 In the Japanese organized crime syndicates known as Yakuza, many of their members are aging, which increased their pension burden on the organization. As a result, the organizations are forced to demand more cut from their members, Yomiuri Shimbun reported on Aug. 27. At Yamaguchi-mi, the largest organization, the average age of 'second organization' unit boss (note: similar to a Capo in Mafia) is now 62, which prompted the organization to send the urgent calls for securing enough funds for their pension. It has pushed up, by...