Free Republic

Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Az) has introduced the Reproductive Healthcare Leave Act, HR 8158. Ansari called it "part of my Healthy, Equity, Rights (HER) package. It covers pregnancy terminations, menstrual pain, miscarriages, menopause symptoms, endometriosis, IUD insertions, vasectomies, fertility treatments and biopsies. My bill has 28 co-sponsors." Ansari said "pain related to periods, in particular, is something that I have dealt with for many, many years. Women's pain, whether from periods, from endometriosis, from the number of reproductive healthcare issues that exist, is severely underfunded and under-researched and therefore we don't have many solutions." Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich), a co-sponsor of...

A shifting economic landscape has culminated in Texas dethroning California as the nation’s premier hub for Fortune 500 companies. Data from the 2026 Fortune 500 list show Texas leading with 57 headquarters, compared with California’s 56, marking a reversal from two years ago, when California held the lead. Additionally, corporations in Texas generated $2.8 trillion in revenue, while those in California reported $2.7 trillion in revenue. “Texas is the undisputed headquarters of headquarters,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in a press release reacting to the news. “The world’s leading businesses invest with confidence in Texas because of our welcoming business...

Gov. Newsom Proposes 100% Tax on Trump’s January 6 ‘Anti-Weaponization Fund’ This is Gavin Newsom’s pattern of escalating federal-state tensions to bring attention to himself California Governor Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday he will impose a 100% tax on payments distributed from President Donald Trump’s Jan. 6th “slush fund.” And Newsom is looking forward to doing it. He said so. Newsom is talking about imposing a 100% tax on any payments received by residents of California from the Trump administration’s $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” – called the Jan. 6 “slush fund” by Newsom. “One thing I think ‌we’re going to try...

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has unveiled a legislative proposal to severely cut and eventually eliminate property taxes on primary residences in Florida, calling a special legislative session to address the issue. The move escalates a multi-year effort to reform the state’s tax structure, potentially positioning Florida as the first state in the nation to boast neither a personal income tax nor a property tax on primary, owner-occupied homes. “Today in Tampa, I outlined the Save Our Homes from Excessive Property Taxes plan that will eliminate taxes on homesteads. Property tax revenue collected by local governments has nearly doubled in the...

Nearly 15 million Americans moved in 2025, with many relocating across state lines in search of lower costs, job opportunities, and warmer climates.This map, via Visual Capitalist's Gabriel Cohen, shows net migration per 10,000 residents across all 50 states in 2025, revealing where population inflows were strongest and which states saw the biggest outflows.The data comes from HireAHelper.Southern and Mountain West states dominated the rankings for inbound migration, while several high-cost coastal states continued to lose residents.The data reflects large-scale shifts happening in the country’s population distribution, both from the Eastern half to the Western half, as well as shifts...

Florida homeowners have watched their property tax bills nearly double since 2019 – and they're still waiting for relief. DeSantis just showed up in Brevard County and dared his own party to stop him. He's calling a summer special session to gut Florida property taxes and get it on the November ballot – and he doesn't care who's in his way. The Governor Who Actually Means It For two years, Rick Scott, the House Speaker, and half the Republican establishment have told Floridians that eliminating property taxes sounds great but can't be done. DeSantis walked into a roundtable in Brevard...

When a state starts floating an exit tax, it is telling you something more important than any campaign slogan: the people running the place know their model is not working. They may not say it that way. They will call it fairness, responsibility, or making the wealthy “pay what they owe.” But the meaning is the same. If families, entrepreneurs, and investors are leaving, the state can either ask why its policies are pushing them out, or it can try to tax them for escaping. An exit tax chooses punishment over reform. I understand why these proposals resonate with some...

Hillsborough County Commissioners on Wednesday approved a nonbinding memorandum of understanding between the county and the baseball team for the Rays’ proposed $2.3 billion Tampa stadium. “Today is a monumental day,” said Commissioner Ken Hagan, who has supported bringing the team to Tampa for nearly two decades. “This is the closest we’ve ever come to finalizing a deal with the Rays.” Commissioners Joshua Wostal and Donna Cameron Cepeda, who voted against the memorandum, disagreed

Oregonians are on track to overwhelmingly reject hikes to the state’s gas tax, payroll tax and vehicle registration and title fees that would have gone toward funding the maintenance and operations of public roads and bridges. Initial election results from the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office shortly after 8 p.m. showed the measure failing by a 4:1 margin. Had it succeeded, the measure would have doubled most vehicle registration fees, raised the gas tax from 40 cents to 46 cents, raised title fees from $77 to $216 and doubled the payroll tax used for public transit from 0.1% of a...

If I didn't have my garage radio tuned to NPR (my early warning system) I never would have known about the stealth plan to build yet another "professional sports complex" with a price tag of $2.3 billion in Hillsborough County. I don't even know which sports team this one's for. The article featured Tampa's Mayor exclaiming they still had a lot of work to do on it but she hoped the "Commission" wouldn't need to "raise taxes" (hint, hint) to get it done. Excuse me, Ms. Mayor but where the hell have you been? In 2024 the County Commission got...

WASHINGTON — President Trump called Monday for the temporary suspension of the federal gas tax to give Americans relief at the pump amid surging oil prices caused by the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz. “I think it’s a great idea,” Trump told CBS News during a brief phone interview. “Yup, we’re going to take off the gas tax for a period of time, and when gas goes down, we’ll let it phase back in.” Gasoline has been taxed at 18.4 cents per gallon since the 1990s to generate up to $40 billion in annual revenue for the Highway Trust...

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday once again shut down the idea of a possible gas tax holiday as gas prices in the state climb near record highs and as experts suggest it's something lawmakers could do to help consumers. "Is Donald Trump promoting that? Why isn't Donald Trump providing a federal gas tax holiday?" the governor said when KCRA 3 asked him if he would consider the holiday.

The Trump administration’s cancellation of more than $100 million in humanities grants to scholars, writers, research groups and other organizations was unconstitutional, and the Department of Government Efficiency had no authority to end the funding, a federal judge in New York ruled on Thursday. U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon in Manhattan sided with The Authors Guild, several other groups and several people who had their grants canceled and sued DOGE and the National Endowment for the Humanities. McMahon permanently barred the administration from terminating the grants and criticized DOGE’s use of artificial intelligence in nixing the funding. Government lawyers had...

For months, I’ve been a bit confused about “affordability,” the latest Democrat meme. Then, early last week, I read a piece about “affordability” and realized: “of course.” Affordability is just the Democrats’ latest excuse for giving out free stuff to their supporters, paid for by you and me. Even though I can’t find the article that I read, I wrote about “affordability” on my Substack.AdvertisementIf you look at the Congressional Progressive Caucus “New Affordability Agenda” you realize that Affordability is not just about free stuff, but something else. “Affordability” is about politicians trying to fix things they screwed up already....

WASHINGTON — Tax cuts are becoming the hottest new idea in Democratic politics from coast to coast, as candidates across the party spectrum seek to capitalize on cost-of-living struggles and win back working-class voters. Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., recently rolled out sweeping tax cut plans. Booker seeks to create a federal tax exemption for up to $75,000 in income for married couples. Van Hollen wants to set that figure at $92,000. Both have been floated as potential 2028 presidential candidates. In California, progressive candidate for governor Katie Porter, a former Democratic congresswoman, is proposing to...

[From Grok, after my prompts] Here is a simple, ready-to-use formula for your "Work Life Hours" metric, expressed directly in average taxpayer lifetimes: Taxpayer Lifetimes = (D × 1.104) / 2,960,000 Where: D = dollars funded to the project 1.104 = overall multiplier for government overhead/efficiency (IRS collection cost ≈ 0.36% + typical agency/program administrative overhead ≈ 8–10%) 2,960,000 = dollars of tax revenue that one average U.S. taxpayer generates over a full 40-year working lifetime (based on current data) Why this formula works. It first calculates the total taxes that must be collected to deliver D after overhead: D...

Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) is pushing back on a Republican proposal to spend up to $400 million in federal funds on President Donald Trump’s planned White House ballroom, citing the nation’s mounting debt and deficit spending. Scott’s comments came after Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) announced legislation Monday that would help finance the ballroom project with federal dollars. Graham argued the facility would serve security and operational purposes beyond hosting events. “Underneath it will be a lot of military stuff. There will be a Secret Service annex, and we pay for it by offsetting it with customs fees,” Graham said at...

First-Year Filings – Tax Cuts Mean More Money in Americans’ Pockets this Tax SeasonDownloadDue to President Trump’s leadership in the passage of the Working Families Tax Cuts, Americans will see the largest refunds in history this tax-day. The legislation made permanent the reduced income tax rates implemented under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), restored and strengthened business tax cuts, and increased refunds through added benefits on top of the already low rates.These new and enhanced provisions include No Taxes on Tips, No Taxes on Overtime, No Taxes on Social Security, No Tax on Car Loan Interest, an Enhanced...

The United States is on track for what economists call the “great wealth transfer,” with an estimated $72.6 trillion expected to pass from older generations to younger heirs over the coming decades. On paper, that should create one of the largest generational financial shifts in history. But there’s a growing threat quietly eating away at that future wealth: long-term care costs.For most families, the reality is blunt. The cost of caring for aging parents or spouses is so high that it is erasing decades of savings, destroying home equity, and in many cases, forcing middle-class households into financial decline.And according...

ALBANY – Embattled New York Attorney General Letitia James on Friday repeatedly refused to tell The Post why she won’t release her tax returns like other top Democrats in the state did earlier in the week. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul have made income tax returns available for review by reporters, but James is refusing to do so — even as she fights back allegations she falsified information on mortgage applications. The Empire State’s AG bizarrely claimed that the decision to release her own tax return was up to her staff. “They will make that...