Free Republic

VIDEO AT LINK........... Last night, it became certain that a wealth tax would be placed on the November ballot in California. I’m voting no. And I’m going to spend the rest of this piece telling you why, and what we should be doing instead. When 10% of the people in this country own two-thirds of the wealth, when we have minted the first trillionaire in human history, and yet your wages have stagnated, and your healthcare costs have skyrocketed, something is fundamentally broken. Over the decades, the American economy has been engineered for the very top, a story as old...

An investigation by the House Oversight and Accountability Committee has found that 571,000 federal employees and retirees have failed to pay their share of income taxes, depriving the U.S. Treasury of more than $6.3 billion in revenues. The number of tax scofflaws working for Uncle Sam is continuing to surge, with tax debt among federal workers growing 32% since 2021. And the number of current and former government employees who aren’t paying taxes has increased by 43% in three years, according to House Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., who serves as chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform....

California seems determined to prove out that old saying of President Reagan's, about government: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. California has become a veritable tax-a-palooza, and they have already driven many of the productive residents out of the state—those being the people who work, who invest, who start and run businesses, and who create jobs. From the impeccably coiffed Governor Gavin Newsom, he of the questionable finances, on down, nobody in California's government seems to understand the notion of incentives, or how they work. Now, California is...

A wave of investigators descended on comedian Carlos Mencia’s Encino mansion Thursday as officers moved methodically through the property, hauling out boxes, sealed cases, and bags of materials tied to a sweeping tax fraud investigation. Photos from the scene show a heavy presence from the California Franchise Tax Board enforcement team, with officers posted across the driveway and front entrance as they carried evidence containers from inside the home to waiting vehicles. Multiple images capture officers actively removing stacked banker-style boxes and hard cases from the residence, staging them outside the property in organized piles. Black duffel bags and additional...

A proposal to impose a one-time 5 percent tax on the assets of California billionaires has qualified for the November ballot. The California Secretary of State’s office announced Wednesday that supporters had gathered enough signatures to place the measure before voters after months of maneuvering and opposition from influential political and business leaders. The proposal, backed by a health care union, would levy a one-time tax on the assets of the state’s wealthiest residents. Advocates of the measure claim the increase in revenue would help offset the effects of federal spending reductions and provide resources to prevent hospital closures and...

Just yesterday, it was reported that Hollywood insiders fear the city is turning into the next Detroit. Movie and TV productions are talking their business to other, more attractive locations with fewer rules and better tax rates. In response to this, Adam Schiff and other lawmakers want to give Hollywood a federal tax subsidy. In other words, they want taxpayers to bail out Hollywood.

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....