Free Republic

Facts are a harsh mistress. And nobody seems more incapable of grasping facts than Democrats in general, and New York's Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul in particular. In her latest embarrassing slip-up, the climate law she supported, and the Empire States ever-more-onerous taxes are driving all the wealthy people, the people who start and run businesses and provide jobs, out of the state. Now, because of the green policies, utility rates are climbing, meaning that a big chunk of the rest of the residents of New York are looking to the exits as well. Now Governor Hochul wants to delay full...

Note to Democrat politicians. The Maasai is an African tribe known to bleed their cattle. In their culture they use the cattle blood often mixed with milk as food. One thing that separates the Maasai from leftist politicians is they carefully work to keep their herds healthy by never bleeding their cattle till they become weak and unhealthy. Unlike Democrat politicians the Maasai understand their herds are their livelihood thus must prosper and thrive for them to prosper and thrive. So they take very good care of their herds so the blood they do take does not harm the animal....

Imagine a small concert venue, hosting 900 people, give or take. That’s about the number of passengers and crew on a small cruise ship, or of students attending the average U.S. public high school. A group that size collectively holds more wealth than the bottom half of the country combined, because that’s roughly how many billionaires live in the U.S. But a new bill is asking the people in that hypothetical cruise ship, concert venue, or high school to chip in, and to bankroll multi-thousand-dollar checks for millions of middle-class Americans. Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Ro Khanna introduced the...

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul became the latest blue-state leader to lament the flight of wealthy tax-paying residents to Republican-led tax havens like Florida, Alaska, Wyoming and Tennessee, calling millionaires who stayed in the Empire State to fund its massive social services net “patriotic.” With Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declaring his jurisdiction a “free state” for transplants wishing to leave liberal policies and taxation behind, blue states like New York, Illinois and California are squeezing and at times pursuing natives who emigrate to financially greener pastures — while at the same time, some governors are blasting conservative voters as inauthentic...

The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation Wednesday to crack down on illegal immigrants participating in welfare fraud despite fierce objections from most Democrats. Lawmakers voted 231-186 to approve the Deporting Fraudsters Act, with 186 Democrats opposing the measure. The bill, sponsored by Rep. David Taylor, R-Ohio, would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to explicitly define fraud as a deportable offense. Republicans said the legislation is necessary to ensure that noncitizens who steal taxpayer dollars are no longer eligible for immigration relief services or legal protections.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is pushing to reduce the state’s estate tax exemption threshold by nearly 90%, from over $7 million to $750,000, while raising the top estate tax rate from 16% to 50%. The proposal appeared in a memo circulated by Mamdani’s office to state lawmakers negotiating the state budget. New York Focus first reported the memo. Mamdani is confronting a $5.4 billion city budget deficit for the fiscal year beginning July 1 and is seeking assistance from the state legislature to generate revenue to address the shortfall. The memo included nearly a dozen potential revenue-raising ideas....

Chuck Collins figures he won life's lottery by inheriting vast sums of money through his great-grandfather Oscar Mayer's processed meat company. Rather than fight to protect every dime, Collins helped push to hike taxes on the ultrarich like himself. He was successful in helping implement a higher tax in Massachusetts on income over $1 million, and the idea took hold in a handful of other blue states, including California, Maryland, Minnesota and New Jersey. Lawmakers in the state of Washington, which doesn't have an income tax, could send the governor this week a measure that would impose one on million-dollar...

Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is ditching his longtime residence in Seattle for Florida, just as Washington Democrats are nearing the finish line on a proposed "millionaires tax." Schultz, who served as board director of the coffee chain until 2023, said in a statement on social media that he and his wife are moving to Miami as part of the "retirement phase" of their lives. Schultz, who has lived in Seattle for more than four decades, purchased a $44 million penthouse in Surfside, Fla., according to reports, and will relocate his private family office to Miami. Schultz, who owns roughly...

Nature documentaries abound, covering the various species as they embark on their epic migratory journeys. From bird flocks to wildebeasts on the savannah to even monarch butterflies, these travels and travails are captured in dramatic fashion. Currently, another group shift is taking place in the corporate world, where a growing number of companies are pulling up stakes and seeking out more verdant economic landscapes, escaping harsh environments wrought by Democrat tax policies. It is enough to warrant its own Netflix documentary. Have David Attenborough narrating the footage of these fiscal nomads, and title it “March of the Corporate Titans”. In...

Planning to tie the knot in Spain? It’s highly expensive wherever you wed. But, if you are, you had better take it into account Hacienda (the tax agency). Newlyweds across Spain now face unexpected tax demands as Hacienda intensifies scrutiny on wedding gifts. Authorities now actively remind couples that cash and presents from guests qualify as taxable donations, potentially adding thousands to post-wedding bills. The idea behind this move is to close loopholes in revenue collection with digital transfers becoming more prevalent. Average weddings in Spain exceed €24,000, everything taken into consideration, including wedding meals alone consuming €13,000 to €14,000,...

Military action in Iran is starting to impact prices at the pump as Americans have seen gas prices rise since strikes began in the Middle East on Saturday. We're keeping track of gas prices in California. The Get the Facts Data Team put together a map that shows what prices look like in your area using data provided by AAA. The map updates once a day early in the morning. You can view the map below. Crude oil prices in the U.S. have spike since Feb. 26 when it was tracked at about $65 per barrel. Want to see how...

Many Black, middle-class NYC property owners say they’d be among the biggest victims of the Democratic Socialists of America’s proposed tax hikes. Some told The Post the DSA’s Marxist measures — which include higher taxes for individuals making over $300,000, and taxing inheritances over $250,000 — would hurt New Yorkers like themselves who spent decades building up retirement accounts, paying off homes, and planning their estates to benefit their loved ones. “The reason you invest is to acquire wealth with the hopes of putting it towards your legacy, for your family — and this will greatly affect my family,” said...

"Democrats just cannot stop raising taxes. Their latest proposal would increase the top capital gains tax rate to 35.8% from the current 23.8%. This would impose the highest capital gains tax since 1978, the stagnant Jimmy Carter era. See the chart below:" eXCERPT. sEE url

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday that an increase in President Donald Trump's new temporary global import tariff to 15% from 10% was likely to be implemented sometime this week. The new tariff rate was announced by Trump in late February after the Supreme Court struck down his previous global tariffs under a national emergencies law. He initially imposed the 150-day tariffs under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 at a lower 10% rate. "That's likely sometime this week," Bessent said on CNBC of the 15% rate order from Trump. During the 150 days, we will see...

A powerful San Francisco group is unleashing $10 million this year to kill taxes that they say will destroy the city’s fragile economic recovery — and potentially increase the price of food and goods for already cash-strapped residents. Neighbors for a Better San Francisco, a moderate advocacy group, plans to beat back a wave of lefty initiatives and candidates this year that they say will derail years of progress in liberal San Francisco, according to its director Jay Cheng. One of the group’s main targets is a so-called “CEO tax” — a June ballot measure backed by progressives and labor...

Zohran Mamdani’s socialist pals wrap their proposals in the most innocuous language possible. So when activists rally in Albany on Wednesday to pressure lawmakers to raise taxes, the Democratic Socialists of America claim the bill it backs would “create new brackets starting at $1 million” so that “they pay a slightly higher share in taxes.” Sounds fair. It’s also a lie. Sponsored by Assemblyman Demond Meeks and State Sen. Robert Jackson, the tax increases actually start at half that. For individual incomes over $450,000, and joint incomes over $500,000, the state tax rate would be raised by a point to...

NYC Mayor Mamdani just hired a former Planned Parenthood lawyer to prosecute perceived violators of New York’s civil rights code, which includes abortion. This is a new threat posed to Christian pro-life pregnancy centers already SLAPP’d by New York Attorney General Letitia James. Given the current financial straights facing NYC, it would behoove Mayor Mamdani to not waste taxpayer money in frivolous lawsuits, investigations, and other attacks against Christian pro-life organizations like CompassCare. This kind of evil weaponization of government against the good lifesaving work of Christian pro-lifers is why I wrote my latest book. During his bid for New...

President Trump said Saturday he’s going to bump his newly imposed global tariff to 15%, in the wake of the Supreme Court decision blocking his sweeping import taxes on international trading partners.The increase was “based on a thorough, detailed, and complete review of the ridiculous, poorly written, and extraordinarily anti-American decision on Tariffs issued yesterday, after MANY months of contemplation, by the United States Supreme Court,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social. “During the next short number of months, the Trump Administration will determine and issue the new and legally permissible Tariffs, which will continue our extraordinarily successful process of...

America’s top 1% enjoy a fifth of the economy’s income and pay nearly a third of its federal taxes. Many politicians think they should cough up much more. Zohran Mamdani, New York’s mayor, wants a new 2% city levy on incomes over $1m. Virginia, Rhode Island and Washington state are weighing up similar measures; Californians are likely this year to vote on a “one time” 5% levy on billionaires’ wealth. In Europe, too, there is a similar clamour to target the wealthy. France has seen a popular campaign for a wealth tax. And with Sir Keir Starmer weakened or doomed...

As national Democrats search for a unifying theme ahead of the fall’s midterm elections, a California proposal to levy a hefty tax on billionaires is turning some of the party’s leading figures into adversaries just when Democrats can least afford division from within. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders traveled to Los Angeles on Wednesday to campaign for the tax proposal, which has Silicon Valley in an uproar, with tech titans threatening to leave the state. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is among its outspoken opponents, warning that it could leave government finances in crisis and put the state at a competitive disadvantage...