Free Republic

On Morning Joe, Mika Brzezinski welcomed Maine’s new Democratic Senator-elect Troy Jackson with the kind of enthusiasm usually reserved for family. He finally ended the career of Sen. Susan Collins, oh joy! She teased his appearance by telling viewers that she was "excited about this. I really like Troy. I can't wait to meet him."She told Jackson: "You know, I've had the honor of seeing the beauty of the great state of Maine and the people of Maine for 59 years, visiting every year, and I lo- [love], I wish that could be home, consider it home."Q. Given that Mika...

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani scored a legal victory Wednesday after a state appeals court cleared the way for his administration to move forward with a controversial tax on high-end second homes, according to The New York Times. The Brooklyn-based appellate court reversed a September ruling by a Staten Island judge, who found that the city mishandled the tax's rollout and ordered officials to start over. The city appealed the decision while continuing to implement the tax, also called a pied-à-terre tax. The ruling marks a win for Mamdani's progressive agenda, which includes raising taxes on wealthy New Yorkers...

California Rep. Ro Khanna boasted about return of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) after historic Democratic victories across the country Tuesday — while a high-profile wealth tax measure he championed looked headed for defeat at the ballot box. “Tonight, DEI is back as America celebrated diversity and inclusion,” the progressive Silicon Valley congressman bizarrely said in a video posted to X as election results rolled in on Election Night. “Likely three Black governors: the first Latina governor in Texas, the first Muslim American senator, the first gay senator. I love this America tonight,” Khanna added. His celebration came as the...

Despite a huge media campaign against the passing of this Amendment, it passed with 62% of the public approving. The Amendment will raise the Homestead Exemption from $50,000 now to $150,000 next year and $250,000 the following year and index to inflation after that. It will cap non-homestead property at 5% instead of the 10% now. Public education property taxes are unaffected by this amendment. It requires that police, fire and public safety services be funded first. Every other Statewide Race in Florida was extremely close; this Amendment was supported by voters across both political parties. What has happened here...

An initiative on Idaho’s ballot this November would make it legal for a child to be killed at eight months’ gestation. President of Idaho Family Policy Center Blaine Conzatti believes this is too extreme for the historically red state. If passed, Idaho Proposition 1, the Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act Initiative, would allow any woman to “make personal decisions about reproductive healthcare that directly impacts the person’s own body,” which is a euphemism for destroying her pregnancy. Experts say it’s also the most extreme pro-abortion ballot initiative or constitutional amendment in any state this election cycle. “We have two laws...

On paper, owning a home is almost always more expensive than renting — about 14% more, on average, after factoring in expenses like insurance, taxes, and upkeep. But the difference has grown much more extreme in recent years as just about all homeownership costs have ballooned.

Zillow and Thumbtack found property taxes, maintenance and insurance now add $1,380 a month beyond mortgage payments ... The hidden costs of homeownership are rising and have increased by nearly one-third in the last five years as expenses like insurance, maintenance and property taxes take a bite out of homeowners' budgets. A new report by Zillow and Thumbtack found those costs amount to about $16,566 per year, which amounts to roughly $1,380 a month in addition to a mortgage payment. Within the $16,566 total cost, the typical U.S. homeowner faces about $11,171 in annual maintenance, $2,266 for homeowners insurance and...

During the run-up to elections, I like to look a little deeper into the trends that seem to be driving people to the polls. For the 2026 midterms, we're told that the main issue is "affordability." I don't disagree. I live in a deep blue region of a blue state: New Jersey. My particular county (Camden) has been under total Democrat control for a very long time. The state itself has been under Democrat legislative control since 2001, with the governor's mansion also occupied by Democrats except during a hiatus when Republican-in-name-only Chris Christie held the office from 2009-2017. So...

A convicted Wall Street swindler who was named New York’s No. 1 tax deadbeat a decade ago has been living it up in California, running a charity praised by Gov. Gavin Newsom and hawking erectile dysfunction pills — all while dodging a tax bill that has soared to $59.1 million, The Post has learned. Daniel Gordon — an ex-Merrill Lynch trader who pleaded guilty in 2003 to bilking the bank out of $43 million in a brazen wire fraud scheme — lives with his wife, Kate, in a 10,495-square-foot spread near Palm Springs, Calif. that’s worth more than $5 million,...

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby is calling for a national wealth tax and inheritance taxes approaching 100% for certain estates, arguing that growing wealth inequality poses a threat to American society...snip The airline executive argued that a wealth tax would need to be implemented nationwide rather than at the state level to prevent wealthy Americans from relocating to avoid paying it.

The Denver Post’s editorial board has come out against Amendment 87, the proposed graduated income tax ballot measure. In an Oct. 11 editorial, the board argued that extracting $2.7 billion in a single year from the state’s largest businesses would “do more harm than good.” While the board took exception to some opponents’ claims, such as the measure’s impact on businesses under $500,000 in taxable profit and on deductions for seniors and veterans, it concluded that the risk to Colorado’s largest employers outweighs the benefits. Citing conversations with Gov. Jared Polis and Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce president J.J. Ament,...

Charles Laughton shows his humorous side with Tennessee Ernie Ford on The Ford Show, April 6, 1961 in this historic television appearance.Charles Laughton - Dramatic Reading Of The Tax Form (The Ford Show - April 6, 1961)

LA’s “mansion tax,” sold to Angelenos as a way to tax the rich and boost housing, has instead blocked the building of 9,100 homes, wiped out 16,650 full-time construction jobs and cost $452 million in revenue. A damning new report says the tax, officially known as United to House LA, or ULA — has had a negative impact on the city’s high-end and multi-family real estate markets and collected less than half what it was expected to generate to tackle the city’s housing crisis. The ULA was expected to raise about $900 million a year, or $2.7 billion over its...

The Trump administration is considering adding a citizenship and work authorization question to next year's federal tax return, while separately proposing rules that could restrict access to the full value of several tax credits for some immigrants who are legally allowed to live and work in the United States. A draft of Form 1040 released by the Internal Revenue Service this month asks filers to check "Yes" or "No" to this question: "At the time you file your return, are you, and your spouse if filing jointly, a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, or an alien lawfully authorized to work in...

Death, taxes and tolls may be inevitable in life, but a bill proposed by two members of Congress from New Jersey and one from New York would allow commuters to deduct tolls from their federal income tax. Yes, New York City’s controversial congestion pricing tolls would be included, in addition to transit fares.The Lowering Commuting Costs Act would create a federal income tax deduction totaling more than $4,080 a year or $340 a month, for personal commuting expenses, including the cost of gas, public transit and tolls.It was introduced Tuesday by U.S. Reps Jeff Van Drew, R-2nd Dist., Tom Kean...

The Trump administration is proposing investing $5 billion in a fund that would help Middle East countries rebuild their energy infrastructure following the Iran War, the Wall Street Journal reported.The goal would be to have the countries reduce their reliance on the Strait of Hormuz for transporting oil and gas, the Journal reported. The U.S. would seek matching contributions from eight Middle Eastern countries: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Iraq, and Jordan, hoping to establish a $10 billion investment fund. The investment would be called the Partnership for Allied Trust and Construction, or Pact. Officials told...

As construction advances on New Mexico’s first $10 million forced taxpayer-funded abortion killing center in Las Cruces, NM, the New Mexico Alliance for Life (NMAFL) confirms that pro-abortion administrators at the University of New Mexico (UNM), in partnership with state officials, are targeting Las Vegas, NM as the site for the second state-funded abortion killing center. The information comes directly from Christopher Arndt, M.D., Interim President and CEO of the UNM Health Sciences Center, during a 2026 University of New Mexico Board of Regents meeting earlier this year. Discussing the state’s plans for a second facility, Arndt said: “And we...

For a government in as deep kimchi financially as the current Labour government running the United Kingdom, you would think there would be significant thought given to collecting taxes as much as they do to handing out what they'd actually collected and what they've promised. Granted, none of it balances on either side of the ledger as it should - the 'incoming' column is decidedly less than the 'what I told them I'd give them' side, but most governments run on a deficit. The key is to try to continually reduce them, or at least keep them at bay in...

Inflation can make an investment account look far healthier than it really is. Once taxes are added, investors may discover that a significant portion of their apparent profit never increased their purchasing power at all.The Hidden Tax Inside a Long-Term GainConsider an investor who puts $10,000 into a stock, earns 10% annually and sells after 20 years.The investment grows to approximately $67,275, producing a taxable capital gain of $57,275.That sounds like an exceptional result. Yet if inflation averaged 3% during those two decades, nearly half of the gain would reflect rising prices rather than a true increase in purchasing power.Compounding...

Manhattan’s wealthiest residents just found a new way to dodge Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax: Don’t buy at all. The city’s luxury rental market is shattering records as wealthy New Yorkers who could easily afford $20 million or $50 million trophy homes are choosing to rent instead, brokers say, a trend accelerating since the new tax on high-value second homes took effect. Manhattan median rents hit $5,295 a month in July, a record high, up 6% compared with last July and unchanged from June’s plateau, according to a Corcoran Group report obtained by The Post, with the average rent citywide...