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UNHINGED: @SenSchumer says "WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE" if we pass the largest tax cut in history, block illegals from taxpayer-funded health care, and cut the deficit. These are NOT serious people.

Beginning next year, visitors to Hawaii will be subject to a “climate impact fee” which aims to generate funds for mitigating future environmental challenges the state expects to face. Hawaii Gov. Josh Green signed Act 96 into law Tuesday, effectively approving a tax — also known as the “Green Fee” The law now increases the the state’s Transient Accommodation Tax (TAT) by .75%, to 11%. This fee will be applied to costs for tourism-related activities including hotels and cruise ships that dock in Hawaii. Unlike other state programs, the money generated won’t go into a dedicated special fund. Instead, the...

IMF paper warns of 'savings tax' and mass write-offs as West's debt hits 200-year high ... Debt burdens in developed nations have become extreme by any historical measure and will require a wave of haircuts, warns IMF paper. The paper said policy elites in the West are still clinging to the illusion that rich countries can chip away at their debts with a blend of austerity cuts and growth. – UK Telegraph Dominant Social Theme: The West is out of control and only taxes can save it. Free-Market Analysis: The UK Telegraph has discovered that the IMF wants to inflict...

A closed-door meeting of left-wing non-governmental organizations (NGOs) was held on January 16, 2003, in Washington, D.C. to consider how to apply international financial pressure through a global tax on the U.S. Bruno Jetin, a representative of ATTAC France, spoke to the gathering and acknowledged in private conversation that his group works hand-in-glove with the French Communist Party and the "Socialist parties on the Left." A representative of the embassy of France in the U.S. was listed as a participant. ATTAC stands for the Association for the Taxation of Financial Transactions for the Aid of Citizens. The International ATTAC Movement...

Radical leftist president of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva used his opening speech to the U.N. General Assembly Tuesday to condemn the government of Israel for allegedly seeking “revenge” against Hamas terrorists and to defend widespread censorship of conservatives. Brazil opens the speeches at the General Assembly every year, a tradition that began in 1955 when Brazil’s leaders offered speak first as other countries hesitated. Lula began his speech, the second since he took office for a third term in January 2023, by making special mention of the Palestinian delegation and welcoming the presence of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud...

Apple has been ordered to pay Ireland €13bn (£11bn; $14bn) in unpaid taxes by Europe’s top court, putting an end to an eight-year row. The European Commission accused Ireland of giving Apple illegal tax advantages in 2016, but Ireland has consistently argued against the need for the tax to be paid. The Irish government said it would respect the ruling. […] A separate European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling on Tuesday also brought a long-running case with Google to a close, with the company ordered to pay a €2.4bn (£2bn) fine for market dominance abuse. […] Apple said in a...

Over a century ago Washington laid the corner stone of the Capitol in what was then little more than a tract of wooded wilderness here beside the Potomac. We now find it necessary to provide by great additional buildings for the business of the government. This growth in the need for the housing of the government is but a proof and example of the way in which the nation has grown and the sphere of action of the national government has grown. ... As a matter of personal conviction, and without pretending to discuss the details or formulate the system,...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) questioned former President Trump's commitment to slashing government spending in a heated exchange with top Trump ally Russell Vought during a recent closed-door meeting, Axios has learned. Why it matters: Paul is among a dwindling number of Republicans who've refused to publicly back the former president as the party's 2024 nominee. And those in Trump's orbit are getting antsy. "There's a growing sentiment in Trumpworld that Rand can't be trusted, and it's a great disappointment," Trump ally and consultant Alex Bruesewitz told Axios. Driving the news: Paul grilled Vought on May 22 over the Trump administration's...

Arcane tax rules based on carbonation levels are flattening the growth of America's craft cider industry. America's tax code is notoriously convoluted, but the complexity really sparkles when it comes to the federal government's approach to alcohol taxation. Wine, beer, and liquor are all subject to varying tax rates based on intricate calculations, but the so-called "bubble tax" for hard cider is the star of this regulatory circus. Unbeknownst to most Americans, the tax rate for alcoholic cider is based on, among other things, the amount of carbonation the drink contains. Yes, America technically already has a carbon tax and...

April 15 is usually Tax Day in the United States – the day by which your individual federal tax return has to have been filed, if you’re to avoid a late penalty. And if you’re in one of the many states with its own statewide income tax – 43 at last count – that usually shares the same deadline. By what right does the government take this money from us? That’s an easy one. The Constitution says it can. To be specific, the 16th Amendment authorized the federal government to collect income taxes, so it’s been legal for 110 years....

The greatest collapse of a mighty state, a large human so­ciety and a fruitful civilization of which we possess a reasonably ac­curate record, has been immortal­ized by Edward Gibbon’s histori­cal classic, The Decline and Fall of The Roman Empire. Henry Adams remarked that Gibbon did not really explain the fall; but this criticism is not altogether just. As the following excerpts from The Decline and Fall show, the philosophic historian offered a number of reflections on the symp­toms and causes of the drama which he set out to describe: "This long peace and the uni­form government of the Romans introduced...

Well, this week Republican Presidential candidate Nikki Haley said something that upset people who weren’t going to vote for her anyway. At a Town Hall setting someone asked her “What caused the American Civil War?” It’s not at all a question with great relevance 163 years later, but it is a modern litmus test for many people on the left, i.e. people who likely weren’t going to vote for her anyway. History is amazing. Like all hindsight, it can be 20-20 in vision and clarity. Over the past 30 years, this is less and less the case. Led by late-night...

Countries need to increase their taxes on alcohol and sugar-sweetened beverages, the World Health Organization said Tuesday, saying too few states were using tax to incentivize healthier behaviors. After studying taxation rates, the WHO said the average global tax rate on such "unhealthy products" was low, and hiking taxes could result in healthier populations."WHO recommends that excise tax should apply to all sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) and alcoholic beverages," the UN health agency said in a statement.Excise taxes target particular goods and services.The WHO said 2.6 million people a year die from drinking alcohol, while more than eight million die from...

The Biden administration has just spent two years negotiating with a group of foreign countries to raise taxes on U.S. companies operating overseas. Now we’re being told it’s been “delayed” for two more years. But why delay a bad decision? It’s an awful idea that should be rejected out of hand. “Americans have already been crushed by inflation caused by the Biden administration,” argued West Virginia congresswoman Carol Miller, in a recent op-ed. “But now, they want to add fuel to the fire by giving American taxes to foreign countries, raising costs for Americans, and sticking us with the bill...

In 2022 Norway’s third richest man, Kjell Inge Røkke, announced in an open letter to shareholders he was moving to Lugano, Switzerland. “My capital will continue working in Norway,” wrote the fishing magnate turned industrialist who launched his empire four decades ago with a 69-foot trawler he bought while saving money working on ships off the coast of Alaska. Røkke, who Forbes estimates has a fortune of $5.1 billion, will cost the Norwegian government an estimated 175,000,000 kroner annually (roughly $16 million) with his departure. That might not sound like a lot of money, but Røkke is not the only...

French President Emmanuel Macron has suggested the imposition of a global taxation system in order to subsidise the green agenda to mitigate climate change. Speaking at the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact in Paris on Friday, Mr Macron argued that actions from individual governments would be insufficient to deal with the alleged armageddon set to descend upon the world and therefore a new international taxation framework should be established.

Tomorrow is the Federal government’s inflation report. As it stands today, overall inflation is slowing as M2 Money growth crashed. Core inflation remains persisitently high (white line), rent is still getting worse (orange dotted line at 8.1% YoY. What about food? Online food prices are up 8.2% YoY. Shopping online is a good place to find cheaper computers and appliances, but grocery prices are still rising at a fast clip. Prices of consumer goods sold online fell 2.3% in May in the US, the ninth consecutive month of declines and the biggest drop since the pandemic started, according to data...

This is a story about weed (i.e., marijuana or cannabis), and it’s a story about greed — greed on the government’s part, which encourages more greed on the part of those willing to break the law for profit. There has been a long-running debate over legalizing the recreational use of drugs, especially marijuana. Proponents argued that legalization – or at least decriminalization – would undermine black market sales of those drugs. Prices would fall and organized crime and gangs, which have long profited from the distribution and sale of illegal drugs, would diminish. Meanwhile, the government could regulate vendors to...

Denver City Council member Candi CdeBaca, who is running for re-election, says white owned businesses should be taxed extra and redistributed to black owned businesses.

Getting that pizza delivered could cost $5 to $7 more if the city adopts a new pay rate for delivery-app workers. A controversial proposal by the city Department of Consumer and Worker Protection would hike pay for GrubHub, UberEats, and DoorDash delivery workers far past the $15 minimum wage. Under one plan, deliverers would be paid $33.27 per hour for time spent on active delivery. A second plan would pay them $19.96 hourly for the total time spent online and delivering. A final decision from the agency is expanded soon. The hikes would go into full effect in 2025. A...