Free Republic

Chief Assistant Corporation Counsel Wes Hanscom told a City Council panel that City Hall is preparing to sue ticket resellers who make a killing on the Internet but leave taxpayers in the lurch. The crackdown can't come soon enough for Finance Committee Chairman Edward M. Burke (14th). He believes that as much as $16 million in amusement taxes is slipping through the city's fingers because of growing Internet purchases. $4.2 mil. loss on Sox postseason? "One registered ticket broker paid $140,000 in amusement tax on White Sox postseason. EBay, it is estimated, is 20 times the size of that broker....

<p>U.S. December Previously Owned Home Sales Rise 6.9% (Update1) Jan. 26 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. sales of previously owned homes increased to a 6.47 million annual pace in December, concluding a record year, an industry report showed. The median sales price rose 7.5 percent in 2003, the biggest rise in more than two decades.</p>