Free Republic

California expects the largest budget surplus in the state’s history with $97.5 billion projected by summer 2023, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on May 13.“Here in California, we’re putting in the work to grow our economy and implement real, inclusive policy change to create a brighter future for all,” Newsom said in a statement.Newsom announced the surplus while introducing the $300.7 billion budget that will go into effect at the start of the July fiscal year, if approved by lawmakers.The budget includes a $18.1 billion inflation relief package to “get money back into the pockets of Californians,” according to Newsom’s office,...

Today the Republican Party of Minnesota held a press conference calling for Democrats to give back the nearly $2 billion state budget surplus to hardworking Minnesotans! That surplus belongs to Minnesotans and the Democrats should give it back, not spend it. That's roughly $350 per every Minnesotan. The Democrats raised taxes by an unnecessary $2 billion, and now state government has a nearly $2 billion surplus, which they are proposing to spend! On top of that, Democrats are actually proposing to raise taxes another $6 billion on top of the $2 billion surplus!

When overtaxed and overburdened citizens finally reach their limit, they vote with their feet and their wallets. Roger Keats, a lifelong Illinois resident and local political figure, finally reached his limit. He and his wife, Tina, are moving to Texas, and their reasons are simple: no income tax, lower sales and real estate taxes, less corrupted government, and the list goes on. He's fed up with corrupt Illinois politics, where the last 5 out of 9 governors have been indicted for graft. He mentions that indicted public officials are so numerous that perhaps they should get fitted for their prison...

EUREKA -- Republican State Sen. Tom McClintock spoke to a riveted crowd at OH's Town House Friday, covering everything from what he called an out-of-control public employee lobby to illegal immigration and environmentalism. McClintock, widely considered to be one of the most conservative nominees to replace Gov. Gray Davis in 2003, lost that race to a more moderate Arnold Schwarzenegger. He received 13.5 percent of the vote, roughly a quarter of what Schwarzenegger received. He's now set his sights on becoming lieutenant governor in 2006 and beyond that governor. Roughly 100 people filled the restaurant's banquet room as McClintock and...

As the holidays descend upon us, so do the unfortunate encounters with our vacuous relatives. On Thanksgiving, for instance, my uncle stated that he had "no idea" whether or not we lived in a constitutional republic; and of course he didn't know who Senate minority leader Harry Reid was. However, he did know that taxation was necessary to keep people from getting too rich. Otherwise poor people would become angry and revolt; because after all, as he knew, European nations were overthrown constantly in the past millennium by peasant revolts led by the disenfranchised poor people. When asked to name...

LAWRENCE -- In the long battle to keep city residents from illegally registering their cars in New Hampshire, police here relied on a potent ally this week, the guy next door. One night this week, police officers slapped 57 drivers with $500 fines for living in Lawrence but owning cars with New Hampshire license plates. Some of the cars were towed away, requiring their owners to pay even more to retrieve them from a gravel lot surrounded by a chain-link fence. In a city where car insurance rates are notoriously high, it was the most dramatic strike yet against drivers...

<p>New Yorkers can earn cash rewards for ratting out bodegas, groceries and individuals selling bootlegged cigarettes if a bill supported by Mayor Bloomberg wins approval.</p> <p>Under the bill, the city would give a "suitable" reward to anyone who provides information that leads to the detection of violations of the cigarette tax.</p>

Determined to raise new funds for law enforcement, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca will start collecting signatures today for a November ballot initiative that would raise the sales tax by a half-cent. To collect the 200,000 signatures necessary to qualify the initiative for the ballot, Baca will rely on volunteers from community organizations. The effort will get underway at a South Los Angeles prayer breakfast. If approved by Los Angeles County voters, Baca's plan to raise the tax from 8.25% to 8.75% would generate $500 million annually. The money would be divided among the Sheriff's Department, the Los Angeles...

How the Republicans Can Snatch Defeat from the Jaws of Victory in 2004The economy sucks. There, I've summed up the feeling of the overwhelming majority of Americans. Dr. Howard Dean's prescription for the economy's sour stomach, restore the tax cuts, is clearly preposterous, but the discontent it epitomizes is significant, and it has pushed him to the front. The Federal Reserve, above the fray and obviously above mere politics, has responded with 13, count 'em, 13 interest rates cuts. Mr. Greenspan & Pals need to be reminded that doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different result...

NEW YORK, Aug 26, 2002 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- Standing behind a chest-high pile of more than 237,000 seized cigarettes, city officials said Monday they had cracked down on stores selling tobacco without a license. But smoker advocates say black-market sales will only grow in New York, where a tax hike has pushed cigarettes to $7.50 a pack and the mayor is waging a policy war against smoking. The city seized 11,871 packs - or 237,420 individual cigarettes - from 40 unlicensed sellers between February 2001 and February 2002, said Pansy Mullings, enforcement chief of the Department of Consumer...