Free Republic

Some ideas are like horror movie villains. They’re dangerous, and no matter how many times they’re defeated, they never seem to die. The misguided idea of taxing unrealized capital gains is back on the scene. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., floated a proposal to tax unrealized capital gains in 2021. It was widely debated in 2022, when Congress was considering a multitrillion-dollar tax and spending package. Opposition from Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., to taxing income before it’s earned helped defeat the idea then. But the idea was far from dead. President Joe Biden included a version of the tax in his...

The latest Census Bureau data on population changes in America should have been a wake-up call to lawmakers in blue states and cities. The Census data provide even further evidence that “soak the rich” tax policies have incited a blue-state meltdown. California, New York, and Illinois all lost the most population last year. These states have nearly lost a combined 5 million people over the past decade. California and New York could both lose another three congressional seats by the end of the decade, and Illinois another two. Did I mention that these are the three states with the highest...

The federal appeals court based in Denver has dismissed the long-running lawsuit seeking to void Colorado's Taxpayer Bill of Rights, finding in a 7-2 decision that a collection of local governments has no basis to challenge the 1992 constitutional amendment. Chief Judge Timothy M. Tymkovich, writing for himself and six of his colleagues, concluded that the Boulder County Board of County Commissioners, a handful of school districts and one special district failed to show that the 1875 Enabling Act that guaranteed to Colorado a "republican" form of government had also given the local government entities the ability to challenge TABOR's...

When President Joe Biden announced former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg as his pick for Transportation Secretary, many scratched their heads. Why would he tap someone who oversaw a small budget, in a small town, in the midwest for such a roll? That puzzle is finally coming together. It turns out that Biden favors Buttigieg's transportation views, specifically the idea that America should move away from the gas tax and instead opt into a tax based on the number of miles a person travels. It would be a new way to provide cash for the Highway Trust Fund, which...

(CNN) – Hoping to help close the gap between workers' skills and the needs of businesses, President Barack Obama on Wednesday will announce he's putting hundreds of millions toward job training programs that produce highly skilled workers. Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will head to a community college in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania to make the announcement. The funding will come in two parts: $500 million toward a new job training competition that pairs community colleges with businesses, and $100 million for new apprenticeship programs to train workers. The White House says the new initiatives are meant to combat a...

Consider this headline from a Reuters article in The Huffington Post: "Raising Taxes on Rich Won't Hurt Economic Growth, CBO Says." But the first paragraph refutes the headline: "Allowing income tax rates to rise for wealthy Americans would not hurt U.S. economic growth much (emphasis added) in 2013 ..." The CBO did not say, as the headline suggests, that raising taxes on the rich has no negative economic effect. In fact, the CBO actually said that extending the Bush-era rates for all would increase economic growth by 1.5 percent. If, however, the Bush era rates expired for the rich --...

We expected a political speech tonight from the president and he delivered. It can now be said, the campaign is underway. House Speaker John Boehner has complained that the president ceased governing about a month ago and doesn’t know how to negotiate, so all that’s left for him is to campaign. As we recall, he knows how to do that. You get to keep this much of your money Lest you take our word for it, . . .

<p>“I think the downturn in the economy occurred in the year 2000,” Paul told CNN, adding that there have been no new jobs since then “and yet we’ve had a 30 million increase in population.”</p> <p>“Just go out and talk to the people – unemployment rate in the true numbers (is) over 20%, so there’s been a depression,” Paul said after an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”</p>

Chuck Woolery's take on taxing the rich.

During this contentious legislative session, we've seen rallies and protests against cutting from state government programs that help the disabled, elderly, and low income residents. But with Governor Mark Dayton insisting to raise taxes on the top 2% of the state's money makers, Republican lawmakers say those are small business owners who create jobs. We went out to see how a potential tax increase would effect them. "Don't worry, we won't tax jobs out of state," exclaims republican House Speaker Kurt Zellers. It's been the campaign and legislative slogan for State republicans: "No new taxes", citing small businesses as the...

The White House has reached a deal with health care negotiators, including labor unions, on taxing the high-level "Cadillac" plans that workers with high-risk jobs often purchase. The White House has reached a deal with health care negotiators, including labor unions, on taxing the high-level "Cadillac" plans that workers with high-risk jobs often purchase. The excise tax on high-cost insurance plans has been one of the biggest sticking points in the negotiations, as President Obama has favored the Senate plan, which calls for the tax, while House Democrats have preferred raising taxes on high-income earners.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Some states feast at the expense of others, according to the Tax Foundation's latest annual analysis of federal taxing and spending patterns.

The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to move ahead with plans to ask voters to approve a new property tax that would raise $50 million to fight an escalating torrent of gang violence. The plan would cost a city property owner $72 per parcel a year, and the money would be used to expand anti-gang and prevention programs that offer everything from gang-intervention workers to the Los Angeles Better Educated Students for Tomorrow after-school project, popularly called LA's BEST. But even as council members voted 13-0 to order that ballot language be drafted, they were divided over whether...

Despite rising voter fatigue and the growing political risks for ballot initiatives, California voters in November once again will be faced with sifting through more than a dozen measures that would add up to $43 billion in state borrowing and $3 billion in annual tax increases. Los Angeles voters also could face two extra measures as city officials weigh whether to tack on a $1 billion housing bond and a $1 billion street-paving bond. And even though the deadline for placing measures on the statewide ballot has passed, some state lawmakers are considering whether to go ahead and add measures...

Last week, the Governor’s “Climate Action Team” released a report on how to stop global warming. Next week, we expect a report on how to stop earthquakes, tidal waves, the changing of the seasons, and the tilt of the earth. Let’s start with the title of the government unit that issued the report: the “Climate Action Team.” That title suggests the arrogance of those participating. What climate action is the team going to take? I’ve got an idea, why don’t they get rid of the winter fog in the Central Valley, and those hot Palm Springs summers, that would be...

On February 25, 2004, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 19-0 to send the resolution of ratification of the Law of the Sea Treaty to the full Senate for advice and consent. The Bush Administration said on February 7, 2002, that there is an “urgent need for Senate approval” of the Law of the Sea Treaty. The basic tenets of the treaty have been U.S. policy since first enunciated by President Reagan in 1982. Over the next dozen years the U.S. won in negotiations on the questionable aspects of the treaty, and signed on in 1994. The details are in...

Spending bill includes $1 million for Norwegian foundation MINNEAPOLIS - The massive $388 billion spending bill that Congress passed last month includes $1 million for the Norwegian American Foundation, inserted by Rep. Martin Sabo, D-Minn.The foundation is based in Seattle, but the group has ties to Minnesotans of Norwegian descent such as former Vice President Walter Mondale.The money, which will be used to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Norway's peaceful independence from Sweden in 1905, was among several items singled out by Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona as pork last month."What is the charter of the Norwegian American Foundation...

"I won’t go to jail." Bob Schulz announces this in late January to a rapt crowd of 200 gathered in an auditorium in Crystal City, Virginia. It’s the first national conference of the We The People Foundation for Constitutional Education, a nonprofit advocacy group Schulz founded and runs. He delivers his declaration not with reckless bravado but with a dignified, quiet, middle-management-lifer assurance, in keeping with his general mien. Schulz is a serious white male in a nice conservative dark suit, a former environmental engineer for both General Electric and the Environmental Protection Agency. He’s been married for 38 years...

  January, 2004By Peter Bagge  

Financial Freedom is a Cornerstone to all other Freedoms Others say "it’s the economy stupid" Many citizens have been "Free Traded" out of a job, and the American public has been hoodwinked into swallowing "Free Trade" hook line and sinker. The "Cash Cow" of tax revenue is citizens working for business and making an ever higher Standard of Living. Ask yourself which party is the friend of working citizens. I give up I don't know. Ask the candidates and ask them if they support foreign workers taking your job and the economic rug being pulled from out from under your...