Free Republic

States that consistently grew faster than the national average over the past ten years are in line to gain representation in Congress. Democrats will work to undermine people's vote with their feet.The U.S. Census Bureau released its once-in-a-decade national census on April 26. Most of the discussion about the census has focused on states losing or gaining seats in the U.S. House, a process known as reapportionment.For the 2022 midterms, seven states will be down one member of the House: California, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Colorado, Florida, Montana, North Carolina, and Oregon each gained one...

The peer-to-peer property renting website, artAirbnb, makes it possible for people in crisis-stricken states to earn extra money, but the company itself has placed its headquarters in places like Ireland, Jersey and Delaware to avoid paying tax. EurActiv France reports. […] In late March 2014, the website announced that one million French holidaymakers used Airbnb since it launched in 2008, the same number as in the UK. In Spain, one million tourists used the website to rent property. The French Ministry of Finances has condemned this kind of revenue. “France has nothing to gain from developing this kind of renting…...

Critics charge that Texas’s growth depends on the oil and gas industries and is weighted toward low-wage jobs. But in fact, Texas’s low-tax, light-regulation policies have produced a highly diversified economy that from 2002 to 2011 created nearly one-third of the nation’s highest-paying jobs. In those years, its number of upper- and middle-income jobs grew 24 percent.Where are Americans moving, and why? Timothy Noah, writing in the Washington Monthly, professes to be puzzled. He points out that people have been moving out of states with high per capita incomes -- Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, Maryland -- to states with lower...

We wish it weren't so. But the evidence keeps coming in that other states, such as Texas and its Sun Belt neighbors, are doing something right in promoting business and jobs creation, and California is doing something terribly wrong. The U.S. Census Bureau just released estimates of the top 10 fastest-growing metropolitan areas, by population, from April 1, 2010, to July 1, 2011. Not one was in California. The fastest-growing was Kennewick-Pasco-Richland, Wash., which grew 4.3 percent during the 15-month period. It enjoys a diverse economy and Washington's lack of a state income tax. Second-fastest growing was Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos,...

Despite not being a member of the European Union, Switzerland is under intense pressure from Brussels to raise taxes as companies flee high-tax EU welfare states in favor of more business-friendly Swiss cantons. And if the nation refuses to bow down soon, so-called “eurocrats” are threatening retaliation. The Swiss government has been in discussions with EU bosses for over a year regarding Switzerland’s non-compliance with the “EU Code of Conduct for Business Taxation.” The EU’s goal, according to the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, is to eliminate what the supranational regime in Brussels calls “harmful tax practices” — low taxes which attract...

Economics: As the U.S. languishes, Chile posted a head-turning 15.2% yearly gain in GDP in March, and forecasts for the year are rising. Why can't we do that here? A year ago, Chile lay in rubble, victim of the world's fifth most powerful earthquake. So Chile's 15.2% growth is a big bounce from a bad setback. But it shouldn't be dismissed as an anomaly. It's a showy number, but not the only one. The same day Chile released its data, Goldman Sachs raised its 2011 growth forecast for the country to 6.4% from 6%. In its annual regional business index,...

RFFM.org Commentary by Daniel T. Zanoza, executive director I was sitting there, eating popcorn and watching one of the Republican presidential debates. Sounds like real entertainment, but that should tell you something about my life these days. Don't ask me which debate it was because they all seemed to run together like those old Bowery Boys episodes we were forced to watch before cable gave us 98 channels of infomercials. But next up for questioning was former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and the moderator was asking him something about the economy. Suddenly, I heard a voice, very low, but very...

Another primary week....a critical week for the R candidates, particularly Mitt Romney.A fast-moving winter storm hits the n.e.

What nation is this? 7,100,000 cell phone subscribers - up from 1,400,000 only two years ago. This nation's leading cell phone company took in $333,000,000 in 2005, and is on track to take in $520,000,000 in 2006. 34,000 registered companies in the chamber of commerce - up from 8,000 two years ago. GDP growth in 2005 was 17%, in 2006 13%. (We get jazzed when our GDP is 3-4%.)

Any Freepers have links to online resources ranking states and municipalities freedom and low taxes? Freeper opinions and data welcome as well.

The president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ireland, Eoin O'Driscoll, has called on all political parties to put the retention of Ireland's 12.5% corporation tax rate at the heart of their policies. He told the chamber's annual Thanksgiving lunch that investors needed certainty on the issue. 'Any suggestion that our rate of corporation tax may be coming under threat internally, not to mind at EU level, will only serve to undermine those who are working to attract further investment in the country,' he said. His defence of the tax rate follows recent reported concerns in the US about...

A report from cross-border trade group InterTradeIreland shows that there are 324,000 entrepreneurs on the island of Ireland. "Entrepreneurship in Island of Ireland", published in conjunction with Enterprise Ireland and Invest Northern Ireland, shows that 253,000 are based in the Republic and 71,000 in Northern Ireland. These figures include owner managers of existing companies and new entrepreneurs. 'These figures show a very high level of owner managed businesses on the island with 9% of the adult population involved,' said Dr Eileen McGloin of InterTradeIreland, one of the report's authors. She said this figure was one of the highest in the...

Un-Freakin-Believable Pathetic Warning: SOCIALIST PSYCHOBABBLE FOLLOWS... "It is a source of great satisfaction to me to be writing an introduction to our newsletter again. For all the years of my life I have heard \"important people\" lament their high taxes. As the CEO of a corporation still more \"important people\" keep me well informed as to the arcane methods used to reduce tax liability. For the first fifty or sixty years of this I agreed with them. About thirty years ago I raised the question with myself about what my low taxes were bringing me. Today more than ever before,...