Free Republic

Federal tax revenue increased 33% since Congress passed the Trump-era tax reform bill in 2017, while spending increased more than 50% over that same time frame. The data is contained in the Congressional Budget Office's recently released 10-year budget outlook. "Measured as a share of the economy, tax revenue averaged 17% of gross domestic product in the years since the TCJA was passed, the same share as in 2017, and would have been higher if not for the pandemic and associated economic shutdowns," wrote Alfredo Ortiz, president and CEO of the Job Creators Network. "The CBO projects the tax share...

With stiff, cold fingers, Sambeittou Sambeittou removed the neatly folded piece of cardboard he carries in his pocket like a wallet and treats like a precious jewel. “I’m looking for carpenter jobs” is written in marker along with a phone number. The 45-year-old huddled with other migrants from Africa at the entrance of a Lowe’s in Brooklyn, hoping for a few dollars in tips from customers loading drywall, lumber and insulation into their vehicles. Sambeittou never learned to read and write in Mauritania, the West African country he left three months ago on a journey that took him through Senegal,...

SAN JOSE (Reuters) - Nicaraguan migrants sent relatives back home record remittances this year through November, data from the country's central bank showed on Wednesday, fueled by massive waves of migration leaving the Central American nation in recent years. In a statement, the bank noted a record haul of about $4.24 billion in remittances for the 11-month period, 47% more than the amount sent home during the same period last year. The 2023 remittances tallied by Nicaragua's central bank showed that nearly 60% came from the senders in the United States and almost 20% from neighboring Costa Rica.

The taxman just delivered a body blow to another member of the Biden family, informing her that she owes thousands of dollars in unpaid back taxes. The revelation, first reported by Fox News, is another indication of the pressure that multiple family members to President Joe Biden are under to profit off his stature and status. A recent tax lien docket by the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue shows that Ashley Biden, daughter to the president, owes $5,000 for unpaid tax bills accrued between 2015 — when Biden was vice president — and 2021, shortly after he took office again. The...

The Biden administration is facing heavy criticism from Native Alaskans over its crackdown on oil and gas drilling in Alaska, activity which generates tax revenue vital for key state and local programs. Native Alaskan leaders have particularly taken issue with the Department of the Interior's (DOI) recent actions blocking future oil and gas development in the National Petroleum Reserve (NPR), an area in North Slope Borough, Alaska, specifically set aside by Congress for resource development, in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), and in federal offshore waters off the state's coast. "My community unapologetically supports the leasing program," Charles Lampe,...

Walmart’s world We know you know Walmart is big, but it’s hard to overstate just how big America’s largest retailer actually is. In addition to selling the most stuff and employing the most people of any private employer, Walmart's physical footprint is unmatched, with enough floor space in stores in the US alone to fit some 12,500 football fields. On the topic of employment, Walmart’s roster is nothing short of an army, employing approximately 1.6 million “associates” just in the US — more than the 1.4 million people that call Hawaii home — enough to make it the 41st most-populous...

The Republicans’ little red book is showing people escaping big crime and tax states like New York and California for lower tax, lower crime states like Florida and Texas. But to Democrats who are really bad at math, 7+7 = 0? Most people are already familiar with the mass migration from the Democratic strongholds of California and New York, known for high crime and tax rates. We have delved into this in our article, “Americans Continue To Flee High-Tax New York And California,” highlighting Texas and Florida as preferred destinations. California and New York have sustained population declines during Covid...

On Friday’s broadcast of the Fox Business Network’s “Cavuto: Coast to Coast,” New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli (D) discussed the state’s projected $36 billion budget shortfall over three years and stated that taxpayers leaving the state is part of the issue along with the fact that the economy is slowing down. DiNapoli stated, “I think there are a couple of factors happening: There’s no doubt the economy certainly is slowing and we are feeling the effects in the current year collections of the slowdown, as far as financial services, Wall Street’s a very important part of the economy in...

Heavily taxed blue states such as New York and California last year had some of the country's most drastic drops in tax revenue. At the same time, Republican states are enjoying the highest revenue increases even as they keep income taxes low. Under Democratic governor Gavin Newsom, California has turned a $100 billion budget surplus into a $32 billion deficit, Bloomberg reported Friday, forcing the state to trim its "lofty climate change program, delay funding, and increase internal borrowing." In this year alone, the once-Golden State has seen its tax revenue crater by nearly 25 percent as it hemorrhages wealthy...

Still, that upward [revenue] revision for the upcoming year would not be enough to cover a shortfall created by a cost overrun related to a state expansion of health care to noncitizens who would otherwise be ineligible for Medicaid benefits. Those programs, which provide health care benefits similar to Medicaid to noncitizens aged 42 and older, are now expected to cost about $1.1 billion next year – a 400 percent increase from the original estimate of $220 million included in Pritzker’s February budget proposal.

According to an April report released by watchdog group OpenTheBooks.com, the Internal Revenue Service has spent $10 million since 2020 on guns, ammunition, and other tactical gear in an effort to militarize the agency. The report revealed that the IRS and 102 other agencies outside the Department of Defense invested a combined total of $3.7 billion since 2006 – adjusted for inflation – on weapons, ammunition, and military-style equipment. OpenTheBooks.com stated that 76 of the 102 are rank-and-file regulatory agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency, Social Security Administration, Veterans Affairs, and Health and Human Services. “There are now more...

A new report has put a price on exactly what the "work from home" trend has cost the office-laden city of Manhattan: a stunning $12 billion per year. Working at home means that office workers who would normally be out and about are spending $12 billion less than what they spent before the pandemic, according to a new Bloomberg News study.The average worker is spending about 30% less time in the office, meaning that spending on food and entertainment has fallen by about $4,700 per person, data from Stanford University shows.On a per-person basis, the figure is higher than anywhere...

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D.-N.Y., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R.-Ky., have struck a deal to include the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA) in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), according to Axios. If the deal holds, it will move this essential piece of legislation to President Joe Biden’s desk. The NDAA must pass by year’s end to fund America’s military. The JCPA would allow news organizations to band together to negotiate fair fees from online platforms, such as Facebook and Google, who derive ad revenue from the hard work of newsrooms — mostly small, local, community-rooted...

Microsoft has cut some jobs after it faced slower revenue growth last quarter. According to Axios, the tech giant slashed around 1,000 jobs across a variety of sectors. A spokesperson for Microsoft told The Hill that “like all companies, we evaluate our business priorities on a regular basis, and make structural adjustments accordingly.” “We will continue to invest in our business and hire in key growth areas in the year ahead,” the spokesperson said. Microsoft had employed about 220,000 people at the end of June.

Pfizer’s CEO Albert Bourla has said he is working on the creation of a new vaccine against COVID-19 that could be taken annually in order for people to become more “compliant” in taking COVID vaccines. Bourla made the comment at a press briefing organized by the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA), which took place Wednesday and where he discussed the creation of a new COVID vaccine. “What the world really needs is a vaccine that can last a year,” stated Bourla. The head of the pharmaceutical giant described this idea as “the optimal public-health solution,” arguing that...

To wage war, you need weapons. Tanks, airplanes, missiles, ammunition… that must be maintained and renewed regularly to stay on top of technology. France has a very important military-industrial complex which is the third largest arms exporter in the world behind the United States and Russia. With a turnover of 15 billion euros, the arms industry is made up of a dozen major groups (Thales, Naval Group, Safran, Dassault Aviation, the CEA and Nexter, manufacturer of the Leclerc tank in particular, as well as Airbus, the world’s 7th largest arms manufacturer, and MBDA, a European group). To this must be...

New York (CNN Business): Pfizer reported that earnings and sales more than doubled in the past quarter, and it raised its outlook for results the full year, thanks greatly to its Covid-19 vaccine. The company reported adjusted earnings of $7.7 billion, up 133% from a year earlier. Revenue soared to $24.1 billion, up 134%. Both easily cleared results forecast by analysts. The vaccine business alone was responsible for more than 60% of the company's sales, as vaccine revenue rose to $14.6 billion from only $1.7 billion a year earlier. The company said its Covid vaccine sales accounted for $13 billion...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The White House has solved the federal government's budget crisis by renting out ad space on the back of Joe Biden's suit jacket. "This is a highly visible space, seen all the time during the president's press conferences when he refuses to take questions from the press," said Jen Psaki. "Your brand will be seen by millions of Americans as they anxiously wonder what the president has to say about Americans we've left stranded abroad, inflation, the economy, gas prices, the border crisis, and every other crisis. As soon as the press asks a question, your brand will be...

What is now emerging is a picture of a virus that never quite goes away ... Investors should count on Covid-19 being a lasting threat. This means that a substantial market for vaccines and booster shots could persist for many years. That would help justify the sky-high valuations of companies like Moderna (ticker: MRNA) and BioNTech (BNTX) and give support to the Pfizer (PFE) bulls who say the company’s shares should be getting more credit for its Covid-19 vaccine.

Moderna reported better-than-expected earnings and said that its vaccine is more than 90% effective after six months, but that wasn’t enough to push the company’s stock, which has more than doubled during the past three months. Moderna (ticker: MRNA) reported a June quarter profit of $6.46 cents a share, beating forecasts for $6.04. Its sales of $4.4 billion were ahead of expectations for $4.28 billion. Moderna also said it would buy back $1 billion worth of shares over the next two years.