Free Republic

"YES ON 1A STOPS OUR EXISTING GAS TAXES FROM BEING USED FOR OTHER PROJECTS." That, jarring capital letters and all, is a direct quote from Proposition 1A, which California voters approved last fall along with four infrastructure bonds. The argument for Proposition 1A also told us that the measure "closes the loophole in the law and ensures that the gas taxes you already pay are spent only on transportation projects benefiting California's 20 million drivers." That was the line. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state's legislative leaders knew voters would be reluctant to approve $40 billion in bonds, for fear...

So D.C. Council members are entertaining the novel idea of placing tollbooths at the city's entryways and sticking a hand in the pocket of those who opt to live in the suburbs because of lower taxes, affordable housing, safer neighborhoods and stronger public schools. This is a sign of resignation, of being unable to fix that which is broken, of appealing to those who might choose to live in the city if it were not so dysfunctional. Increasing the tax base with a significant bump in population would ease the budgetary gap that perpetually taunts the city's lawmakers. Or perhaps...

Congress will have to steer carefully to avoid a shock to the economy as it strives to balance the budget by allowing tax cuts to expire in the next few years, economists say. The biggest danger is the alternative minimum tax (AMT), which this year is scheduled to cut deeply into the pocketbooks of as many as 23 million upper-middle-income taxpayers unless Congress extends tax relief. President Bush's budget and the House and Senate spending plans rely on the expiration of AMT relief to achieve balance in the next five years. Mr. Bush's budget provides a one-year fix of the...

Ronald Reagan said it back in 1983: "Our federal tax system is, in short, utterly impossible, utterly unjust and completely counterproductive... [it] reeks with injustice and is fundamentally un-American... it has earned a rebellion and it's time we rebelled." But what politician would rail against the country's irrational, insufferable, infernal Internal Revenue Code today, except perhaps for ceremonial purposes? Some in Congress have made distinguished careers leading the innocent and unwary through its byzantine ways and byways, occasionally constructing secret passages to favor the special interests they represent. Whole industries like accountancy and tax law have been built on it.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Those three dollars you've set aside in your tax returns as a good deed toward clean presidential elections? Forget about it. Nobody wants them anymore.Strategists from both parties estimate the White House race in 2008 could cost each nominee $500 million — far more than the Presidential Election Campaign Fund can afford. As a result, this next presidential campaign could mark the first time in 30 years that the Democratic and Republican nominees turn down the fund's millions in both the primary and the general elections."The public financing system was a great system, but it's broke," said...

Shocking photos are now available that link Texas State House District 48 Republican Candidate Don Zimmerman to Senators Hillary Clinton and Ted Kennedy. Don Zimmerman's opponent, Jeff Fleece, has mailed out an attack ad claiming that "Don Zimmerman stood with liberal Democrats like Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton against President Bush". Now the truth can be revealed. On December 5th, 2003, Hillary Clinton came to Austin, Texas to promote her Living History book. We have uncovered evidence that Don Zimmerman was there to greet her as she arrived at BookPeople in downtown Austin. Only a week later on December 12th,...

RICHMOND -- House Republicans yesterday rejected a tax increase proposed by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, setting the stage for a financial standoff by gutting the Democrat's plan to ease traffic congestion. The House Finance Committee voted 14-8 along party lines to kill Mr. Kaine's bills, which would have raised the sales tax on purchasing a car and increased the levy on car insurance. A portion of the insurance revenue would have been dedicated to mass transit.