Free Republic

A Long Island suburb voted to wallop homeowners with a 87% property tax hike— with local officials saying the insane increase was necessary because of a years-long administrative goof. Atlantic Beach’s village board of trustees told residents the big number was needed because of how taxes were assessed by the county in recent decades but officials refused to give The Post further information or answer any questions. The Nassau County assessor said it was the village government that was improperly billing commercial properties. ... Though village officials blamed assessment quirks, some residents said part of the hike is to cover...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WTVO) — Illinois drivers: brace yourselves. The annual gas tax increase is about to kick in on July 1st, 2025. The automatic Motor Fuel Tax increases to account for inflation. Currently, Illinois residents pay the second-highest gas tax in the country, behind California. The gas tax is now 45 cents per gallon, but on July 1st it will go up to 48.3 cents per gallon. The average car holds between 12 and 16 gallons of gas, meaning drivers should expect to spend between .24 and .32 cents extra at the pump. The Motor Fuel Tax will account for...

California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) reacted Monday evening to President Donald Trump’s proposed 100% tariff on movies made outside the U.S. by asking for a $7.5 billion tax credit for the industry instead. Trump made the tariff proposal Sunday as a way of shifting Hollywood production back to the U.S., after decades in which the industry sought to cut costs by filming in Canada or even as far away as South Africa. The president’s proposal drew applause from unions that represent “below the line” workers in the film industry, such as the Teamsters, which praised the president for taking American...

More than 8 in 10 likely voters want President Trump’s 2017 tax cuts extended before they expire at the end of this year, according to a new poll released as Congress rushes to finalize a “big, beautiful” bill making those provisions permanent. A Public Opinion Strategies survey exclusively obtained by The Post found 84% of possible US voters would back keeping the current tax rates if they were in Congress — while just 16% would favor a tax increase. By party affiliation, 95% of Republicans, 81% of independents and 74% of Democrats prefer the status quo in terms of taxation....

WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader John Thune told Breitbart News exclusively he is targeting a July 4 deadline to get the big budget reconciliation plan that would extend President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts– adding no tax on tips, Social Security income, or overtime wages–to the president’s desk for his signature. This is welcome news for the president and his team, as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also has recently said he hopes for a July 4 date for the package to be wrapped up. The package is also expected to fund more of the president’s immigration priorities, as well as...

Planning a vacation in Hawaii? Might be better to make it sooner rather than later as local lawmakers are ready to hike a tax imposed on travelers staying in hotels, vacation rentals and other short-term accommodations. AP reports the first-of-its-kind impost will earmark the funding boost for programs to cope with “climate change” with the politicians responsible pointing to the wildfires that devastated parts of Hawaii in 2023 as evidence that something must be done. State leaders highlight projects like replenishing sand on eroding beaches, helping homeowners install hurricane clips on their roofs and removing invasive grasses as a starting...

We have some good tax minds here, so I have a question about the HSA last month rule. I can’t seem to get a good answer, elsewhere, so YES, this is a vanity. A relative had an HSA 2023 and most of last year. The relative got a new job last year that had normal health insurance and no HSA. On the tax program being used, the question brings up “2023 contributions eligible due to last-month rule.” How is this determined? What does 2023 have to do with anything, when that tax year was on their taxes last year? Note...

Property taxes are due twice a year. You will receive a statement with upcoming due dates in April. Statements include two coupons, one for each due date, to be used when mailing a payment or when paying in person or at a bank. Current property tax due dates are: May 10, 2024 November 12, 2024 You may pay all your property taxes for the year on the first due date, or pay in two installments. View a list of your payment options.

President Donald Trump has stated multiple times that he wants to eliminate income taxes and replace them with tariffs. Such a decision would be one of the most significant changes to the tax code in decades, and it could help Americans save a lot of money. The government still needs to collect funds, so the tax code could shift to a combination of tariffs and sales tax. However, even if the IRS isn’t eliminated, Trump has floated the idea of no one paying taxes if they earn less than $150,000 per year. According to the TaxAct tax bracket calculator, a...

New York -- As the trade wars launched by US President Donald Trump continue to escalate, all eyes are on Wednesday. Trump has repeatedly called April 2 “Liberation Day,” with promises to roll out a set of tariffs that he says will free the US from a reliance on foreign goods. To do this, Trump has said he'll impose “reciprocal” tariffs to match the duties that other countries charge on US products. But a lot remains unknown about how these levies will actually be implemented. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that Trump would unveil his plans to...

Mississippi is bringing back a “competitive” edge with Gov. Tate Reeves’ (R) signing of legislation to phase out the state income tax, and he discussed what this means for the state during an appearance on Breitbart News Saturday. “So this is House Bill 1 that I signed into law on Thursday afternoon. And honestly, Matt, it’s really what I have called Mississippi’s one big, beautiful bill, and it is a bill that does a couple of different things,” Reeves began, explaining that it reduces the sales tax on groceries across the state and, over a period of time, eliminates the...

President Donald Trump announced Friday that he has spoken with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) about making interest payments on loans for American-made cars tax deductible. While speaking with reporters in the Oval Office, Trump revealed that he has spoken with the leaders of both chambers of Congress about his vision for tax deductions on loans for U.S.-made cars. “If you buy a car in the United States that’s made in the United States, if it’s manufactured here… if you borrow money you have interest payments, we’re going to let you deduct the...

Shares sagged Thursday in Asia, apart from China, after President Donald Trump announced he will slap 25per cent tariffs on imported cars. Trump said he was raising duties on auto imports to encourage more manufacturing in the US, but the impact will be complicated since US automakers and even foreign manufacturers with factories in the U.S. Source many of their components from around the world. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 1per cent to 37,662.36. Toyota Motor Corp stock dove 3.2per cent, while Honda Motor Co stock dipped 2.8per cent. Nissan was down 2.6per cent. Mazda Motor Corp shares dropped 6.5per...

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell released his payroll expense tax (PET) report for 2024 Tuesday, and its projections came up nearly $50 million short. “Today’s announcement that PET revenues collected in 2024 were $47 million lower than projected requires action to ensure our budget remains balanced,” Harrell explained in a statement. Harrell said that his 2025 budget proposal was based on the projections from the independent Office of Economic and Revenue Forecasts. But since they got it wrong, the mayor said for the 2026 budget, “my office will consider all options, including additional revenue sources and appropriate expense reductions, to ensure...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WTVO) — A new bill under consideration in the Illinois House would allow individual municipalities to impose their own, local motor fuel tax on top of the state’s gas tax. House Bill 1283 would create the Municipal Motor Fuel Tax Law, allowing cities, towns and villages to impose their own gas tax, at a rate not to exceed 3 cents per gallon. The bill was introduced by Rep. Anthony DeLuca (D-80th). Illinois residents currently pay the second-highest gas tax in the country besides California, at 66 cents per gallon.

America’s natural gas industry celebrated Monday after President Donald Trump signed into law a resolution repealing Biden-era fees on methane emissions. The Waste Emissions Charge, which Republicans say is the equivalent of a natural gas tax, was authorized by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act and implemented by the Environmental Protection Agency in November 2024. The resolution rescinds that regulation under the Congressional Review Act. The CRA legislation gives Congress the authority to repeal regulations issued during the final months of a previous administration. House Committee on Energy and Commerce Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., called the repeal “a victory for the...

Republicans are searching for ways to "pay for" their tax cuts. Democrats want the rich to pay more tax. Here's a solution that should make everyone happy. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith is suggesting a tax on the $840 billion college endowments. These endowments will soon eclipse $1 trillion in size -- more money than the entire GDP of many countries. It's high time that bloated and entitled universities pay their fair share for the government services they use. Why not? Their professors forever lecture us about tax "fairness," but the schools where they teach a few...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WTVO) — A new proposal in Springfield would change how Illinois funds its roads, by charging drivers by the mile instead of a gas tax. The proposal, filed by Sen. Ram Villivalam (D-Chicago) and Sen. Christopher Belt (D-East St. Louis), calls for starting a pilot program to study the effectiveness of charging drivers by the mile, something the state is considering due to the prevalence of more fuel-efficient and electric vehicles on Ilinois roadways. Since fuel-efficient cars use less gasoline, fewer tax dollars will be available for road infrastructure. Electric vehicle owners currently pay a $100 premium on...

A Long Island tax preparer allegedly bilked the IRS out of $12 million in a COVID scheme she used to buy jewelry, a Honda — and a house in the Dominican Republic. Damaris Beltre, 57, filed false tax returns for her clients between 2021 and 2024, and launched a scheme to illegally obtain Payroll Protection Program loans during the pandemic, federal prosecutors said. “The defendant’s fraudulent work as a tax preparer and in furtherance of a COVID-19 loan scheme, cost the government millions of dollars,” John Durham, US attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement...

Given the recent inflation surge, it is time to consider indexing capital gains for inflation. This would do more than any provision in the 2017 tax cut to create an incentive for investing in America. If the objective of the pending tax cut is to stimulate economic growth, there is a strong argument for indexing the capital-gains tax. If this election had any single defining economic issue, it was repairing the damage done by the Biden inflation.