Free Republic

resident Biden vowed Friday that former President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts would lapse next year if he’s re-elected and “stay expired” — meaning higher taxes for middle class and low-income Americans — prompting a hasty walk-back by aides. Biden, 81, lambasted Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), which permanently lowered corporate taxes from 35% to 21% and temporarily lowered personal income tax rates through 2025, as a giveaway to the rich in a speech to electrical union members in Washington. “[Trump] was proud, very proud of his $2 trillion tax cut when he was president that overwhelmingly benefited...

Officials say a woman has died after she fell during a hike in Sedona, Arizona earlier this week. Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office said they got a call Monday morning about a woman who had fallen off a 140-foot cliff on Bear Mountain. The woman was hiking with her 1-year-old child and her husband. Other hikers in the area stopped after hearing yelling and found that the woman had been seriously injured, the sheriff’s office said. One of them called for help while another hiked down to the woman. The woman was still breathing when the hiker got to her, but...

They are ringing in the new year with a resolution for more revenue. A 63-cent hike on the current toll rate for The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey crossings takes effect on Sunday. The toll for E-ZPass users will increase by 4.3% to $15.38 from $14.75 during peak hours — 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends

The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, the first time in nearly two years that the central bank paused rates over the course of two consecutive meetings. Since March 2022, the Fed has hiked the federal funds rate from near-zero percent to a range of 5.25 to 5.5 percent in an effort to curb rampant inflation. Price growth upeneded the economy in the wake of the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which helped push volatile energy prices higher.

In addition to the off-year elections to be decided this November in Virginia, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi, a number of ballot initiatives will be voted on in other states. Perhaps the most consequential measure appearing on the November 2023 ballot, at least when it comes to fiscal policy, is found in Colorado, where voters will be asked whether they want to weaken the nation’s strongest tax and expenditure limit in exchange for property tax relief. Proposition HH, which was referred to the November ballot by Colorado lawmakers with the support of Governor Jared Polis (D), would weaken the state’s Taxpayer’s...

Former President Bill Clinton and former senator, Secretary of State and 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton were a little distant as they went on a hike in the Hamptons just after Bill's 77th birthday. The New York destination is about 115 miles east of the Clintons usual Empire State haven in Chappaqua. Hillary wore a kaftan style top, denim jeans and walking sneakers as they went on their walk on Sunday.

President Joe Biden on Thursday proposed raising the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent, a scheme that will likely burden both large and small businesses. While the term “corporation” is widely used to depict large companies such as Microsoft, Walmart, and McDonald’s, C-corporations are both small and large businesses, the most prevalent of corporations. Individual shareholders of C-corporations already have profits taxed both on a corporate and personal level (double taxation). In addition, small businesses account for 65.1 percent of net new jobs created from 2000 to 2019 and comprise 99.7 percent of firms with paid employees,...

Xcel Energy-Colorado has filed a request for a new electric rate increase, which follows a recently approved natural gas rate hike and a $182.2 million jump in revenue for electric service that took effect in April. The request submitted to regulators Wednesday proposed a $312.2 million revenue increase. ... Critics of Xcel’s recent rate cases have accused the utility of “a pancaking” of increases. The PUC approved a $64.2 million rise in the utility’s natural gas rates in October. Regulators slashed the utility’s original proposal by $138 million. ... If the increase is approved, the typical residential bill would rise...

Food stamp benefits are increasing by 12.5 percent as families grapple with grocery prices that have skyrocketed under President Joe Biden. Under the maximum benefit, a family of four on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will see their payments increase from $835 to $939 per month.

Connecticut’s Department of Revenue Services this week announced a coming tax hike on diesel fuel, resulting in a nine cent increase. The current tax in the state is 40.1 cents on diesel fuel, but it will increase to 49.2 cents per gallon in about two weeks, beginning July 1.

Seniors and other people who rely on Social Security benefits could next year see their biggest cost-of-living adjustment since 1981, with an advocacy group for older Americans forecasting an 8.6% hike. The typical monthly Social Security check is about $1,658, which means beneficiaries could see an increase of $142.60 per month in early 2023, bringing the average check to about $1,800, according to a new forecast from the Senior Citizens League.

The Federal Reserve is racing to get inflation under control and pull back stimulus for an overheated economy with a double dose of rate hikes expected on Wednesday. The Fed’s monetary policy panel is expected to announce a 0.5 percentage point rate hike Wednesday, twice the size of a typical interest rate increase, as the bank rushes to get in front of rising prices.

Workers in Los Angeles will earn about a dollar more per hour after Mayor Eric Garcetti announced on Thursday that the minimum wage will be bumped up to $16.04 beginning in July. The hourly increase from the $15 per hour rate follows the city’s municipal code that states wages will be increased annually.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said on Wednesday that he opposes a short-term debt hike being hashed out by Senate leadership and that Republicans shouldn't be "held hostage" due to concerns that Democrats could change the filibuster. Graham, the top Republican on the Budget Committee, is the first Senate Republican to speak out against the tentative deal that is still being worked out by Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). "I do not support the Democrats’ reconciliation package and I do not support raising the debt limit to make that level of spending possible....

In fact, if Democrats so desired, they could have easily raised the debt limit back in March, when they passed their first $1.9 trillion spending spree. But they didn’t, and now they are begging for Republicans to bail them out politically for their own borrow-and-spend ways. Republicans should refuse.

In this May 17, 2019, file photo, Michael Drake answers questions during an interview in Columbus, Ohio. University of California regents on Thursday, July 22, will take up a multi-year tuition increase proposal that officials say is needed to keep campuses competitive, increase aid for low-income students and give families some financial predictability. The office of UC President Michael Drake said that an accompanying increase in financial aid would more than offset increases in tuition. Only students whose families earn $150,000 a year or more would benefit from keeping tuition flat, it said, whereas everyone else would benefit from...

If approved, it would have imposed a levy of 16 cents per square foot of building improvements on properties within the district. On a 1,700-square-foot home, that would have amounted to another $272 of tax per year. A parcel tax is not based on the assessed value of a property, but is generally a flat fee based on square footage. It requires a two-thirds margin for approval. LAUSD desperately needed the tax to pass in order to cover the increase in costs associated with the latest teachers’ union contract. In January, LAUSD’s 34,000 teachers went on a 9-day strike, the...

PG&E asked California regulators for a $1.1 billion rate hike Thursday, saying more than half the money would be spent on improving wildfire safety. The embattled utility, under investigation for its possible role in the Camp Fire last month, told the Public Utilities Commission that the rate hike would increase household electric bills an average of $8.73 a month. Natural gas customers would pay an additional $1.84 a month if the PUC approves the increase. PG&E has already been sued multiple times over the Camp Fire, and the company’s losses could be in the billions — adding to the potential...

It was a magnificent fall day on the Northern California Coast this afternoon. I decided to return to the Pescadero Marsh, 30 years after my first visit and the worst case of poison oak of my life. It took cortisone shots to stop it from spreading through my circulatory system. Back then, I didn't know how to identify the poison oak plant, but I sure do now. Today, a couple of the trails at the marsh were overgrown with poison oak, so turned around and didn't even try to get through or bypass. It was a short hike today, less...

A San Jose man is in serious condition following a rattlesnake bite Monday afternoon east of Fremont on Mission Peak, a California Highway Patrol flight officer and paramedic said. The snake bit the man at about 1 p.m. on the top of Mission Peak during a hike with his wife. A CHP helicopter crew heard a call to emergency personnel, responded and landed on the peak. The victim was given anti-venom after being transported to Washington Hospital, CHP Flight Officer and Paramedic Shaun Bouyea said. Bouyea was the one who administered the anti-venom. The victim, 47, sat on a rock...