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U.S. State Tax Revenue Drops Most Since 1963 Oct 17, 2009 - 04:57 PM By: Mike_Shedlock Bloomberg is reporting State Revenue Falls Most Since 1963 on Incomes, Sales. U.S. state tax collections tumbled the most in almost half a century in the second quarter as the economic recession curbed levies on incomes and sales. The 16.6 percent plunge was the biggest since at least 1963, the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government said today. For the 12 months to June 30, the fiscal year for most states, revenue declined 8.2 percent, or $63 billion, about twice what states got from...

U.S. states suffer "unbelievable" revenue shortages By Lisa Lambert Fri Oct 9, 5:59 pm ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. economy may be creeping toward recovery after the worst slowdown since the Great Depression, but many states see no end in sight to their diving tax revenues. Tax revenues used to pay teachers and fuel police cars continue to trail even the most pessimistic expectations, despite the cash from the economic stimulus plan pouring into state coffers. "It's crazy. It's really just unbelievable," said Scott Pattison, executive director of the National Association of State Budget Officers, and called the states'...

State tax revenue in the second quarter plunged 17% from a year earlier, according to Census Bureau. It was the sharpest decline since at least the 1960s. The biggest drop was in state income taxes, which were down 28% in the second quarter from a year earlier. Some of the sharpest tax declines were in states that have been among the hardest-hit by the recession, in particular those with high concentrations of jobs in the battered housing sector. In Arizona, overall tax revenue fell 27% in the second quarter from a year ago. Tax revenue fell 12% in Florida and...

<p>This is pretty ugly; we were not supposed to have a negative income-to-outlay view on Social Security for another decade or so.</p> <p>Well, the recession fixed that. Tax receipts are in the toilet but outlays sure aren't.</p> <p>This, unfortunately, is terribly misleading. The Social Security "Trust Fund" contains nothing other than IOUs. That is, it does not contain money, it contains "special" Treasury Bonds that form part of the "public debt."</p>

4 weeks, 10,000 traffic tickets Heath officials say they didn't expect such a windfall Saturday, August 1, 2009 3:01 AM By Josh Jarman THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH HEATH, Ohio -- City officials say they were shocked by the number of violations recorded during the first month of traffic-camera enforcement and decided to make it cheaper to protest multiple tickets. More than 10,000 violations had been recorded by Heath traffic cameras through Tuesday. At $100 apiece, that would net the city a little more than $830,000 after paying the vendor, Redflex, its share. In four weeks, the cameras will have generated an...

They deliberately twist and use that class-envy reaction under the big lie of fairness, to gain even more control of the economy and then use that control for their ends and best interests, not the nation's. So this is why flat tax, Fair Tax, works. This arbitrary setting of rates based on what Obama thinks is rich, leads to even further diversions and divisions in the country among the population. Plus it doesn't raise any money! You know, the fascinating thing? If you were listening yesterday and you heard me say you didn't want to listen and you didn't want...

It is absolutely mind boggling how people continue to confuse higher tax rates with higher tax revenues. Numerous pundits continue to argue that we need to raise tax rates to fund the growing budget deficit. But raising tax rates is one sure way of making sure the budget deficit grows even larger.

Mark Schuster and Jeffrey Webb are immigrants of a different sort. So are Lynn Adler and Paige Warren. The gay American couples resettled in Massachusetts, where they are treated -- legally and socially -- like any other married folks. They moved in part because they wanted their children to grow up in a welcoming environment.... This month marks the fifth anniversary of Massachusetts' breakthrough -- opening marriage to gay couples: More than 12,000 have since tied the knot there. Three new studies document wonderful results: Gay matrimony has been a $111 million boost to the state's economy. The average gay...

Libya's executive and legislative bodies have voted to delay an oil distribution scheme of Muammar Gaddafi, the state news agency Jana has reported. The Libyan leader, who has advocated handing out oil revenues directly to the people to beat endemic corruption in the government, would have distributed about $32bn this year alone. The results of the vote were announced at a meeting of the General Public Congress (GPC) at Gaddafi's home town, Sirte, on Tuesday. Only 64 of the 468 Basic People Congresses (LBPCs), or municipalities, voted for Gaddafi's plan to hand out the money now, while 251 endorsed the...

California collected just $7.34 billion in personal income tax payments in April, putting further stress on the state's budget. The state controller's office said the collections in April were down from $13 billion a year earlier. About a quarter of all income tax revenue is collected in April, the agency said. In addition, the dismal April means the state is falling behind the revenue forecasts incorporated into the budget deal adopted by the Legislature in February.

I am struck by the lack of coverage in the media of the obvious beneficiary of the rise in Somali piracy. Let's just ask the question; who stands to gain from this phenomenon? It's pretty simple really. The piracy in the northern Indian Ocean raises large sums of money for fundamentalist Mullahs and puts a big hurt on Suez Canal traffic. This piracy is a de facto extension of the strategy behind the assassination of Anwar Sadat and busloads of foreign tourists. This is an attack on world trade and the civilian government of a sovereign nation by a coordinated...

It's been all over the news - Rush Limbaugh packing up camp and abandoning his operations in New York City. It's been the subject of a Jon Stewart "The Daily Show" tirade [0] and even drew the attention of New York Gov. David Paterson [0]. Limbaugh appeared on Fox News Channel's April 8 "Your World with Neil Cavuto" [1] and explained why he was leaving and how he felt about those that were glad he was leaving. "Well, if they're glad I'm leaving, Neil, then I assume that the governor of New York, the unelected governor - has no interest...

Surprise. Surprise. The California deficit is climbing again. Despite the recent budget “deal,” the deficit is on the rise again. The Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) says that the deficit – even with the claimed “12.5 billion” in tax increases - will be another $8 billion dollars. Time and again, Republicans in and out of the legislature have rightfully claimed that the California has a spending problem. Our Politicalvanguard.com CA Spending Addition Chart also makes that same case. The obscene, March 16, 2009, Sacramento Bee story indicating that the State payroll has risen by 2000 employees over the last year -...

A Duncanville City Council member wants to re-evaluate how the city issues citations to red-light runners and make it easier for suspected violators to request a jury trial. Paul Ford questions the nearly 45,000 citations issued in 2008 at four intersections monitored by cameras. Compared with Duncanville's population of 38,500, he said, the number of citations seems excessive. Ford will ask fellow council members to vote on a proposal at tonight's council meeting that would allow suspected violators to ask for a jury trial in municipal court. But City Manager Kent Cagle said Duncanville already allows for jury trials. Ford...

AUGUSTA, Maine — Like many Mainers, Marion Dunham relishes the chance to enjoy the peace and beauty of the region’s lakes from her kayak. Dunham said she would even be willing to donate a few dollars more to help support the services provided by the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. But change that voluntary donation into a mandatory canoe or kayak license and lawmakers have lost the Readfield resident’s support. “I’m sorry, it’s a tax,” Dunham told state lawmakers on Tuesday. For years, policymakers have struggled to find a way to generate more revenues from the significant portion of...

Rent car in suburbs, pay Chicago? 8% TAX | Enterprise sues city over attempt to force collection February 24, 2009 BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter How would you like to rent a car in Waukegan or St. Charles, only to be slapped with the 8 percent "transaction tax" that applies to Chicago car rentals? Brace yourself. With a burgeoning $50.5 million budget gap, Chicago is reaching into suburban pockets. And Enterprise Rent-a-Car has filed a lawsuit challenging the Daley administration's effort to collect the tax from drivers who rent cars in the suburbs. » Click to enlarge image Enterprise...

California is going through a state budget crisis and has been going through chronic and persistent budget problems for over a decade. California chooses not to use its offshore oil or develop more nuclear power. Some environmentalists will say that the oil and nuclear power would not be enough to solve the energy problems of the United States. However, this will show that California could get $5-10 billion per year of tax revenue from the development of 10 billion barrels of oil and 16 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Also, the development of nuclear energy could offset electricity purchases...

Our late colleague Jim Boulet last year unearthed the facts here and here and here on how the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) ‘localism' schemes could shut down or inhibit talk radio. Last Thursday, Ishmael Jones, nom de plume of a former officer in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) clandestine service, gave his take on the danger radio ‘localism' poses to free political speech in his American Thinker article "What the CIA's Censors Can Teach Us about Plans to Muzzle Talk Radio" here. Here is Ishmael Jones on this Administration and their possible ‘localism' approach to shutting down political speech on...

California could pay the price for the foreclosure crisis for years to come, thanks to Proposition 13, the 1978 voter initiative that caps property taxes. As banks feverishly dump foreclosed homes at cut-rate prices, and as neighboring homes change hands at similar bargain-basement rates, those amounts are enshrined as the new basis for determining property tax until the homes are sold again. Under Prop. 13, that basis can rise a maximum of just 2 percent a year, even if the home is worth significantly more. The consequence is likely to be a revenue crunch for the public services funded by...

Governor Warns of Mass Firing 20 January 2009 Penza's governor on Monday proposed firing bureaucrats to help the region get its economy back on track, telling his Cabinet that as many as 40 percent of them could be without work in the coming months. The region is facing "difficult times" because businesses' incomes are falling, which is taking a toll on the amount of taxes the region is collecting, Penza Governor Vasily Bochkaryov told the regional government, Interfax reported. To survive the crisis, he said, the region must seek to develop small businesses, and government officials are well-equipped to help...

Speeding? You'll pay higher 'taxes' Watch out, leadfoots: Many strapped cities and towns are trying to fix their budgets by stepping up traffic enforcement. By Christopher Solomon MSN Money Here's a tip for the next time you're barreling down U.S. 425 through northeastern Louisiana: If you see a sign that reads "Baskin Town Limits," slow down. Way down. Baskin has been expecting you. Between 2004 and 2006, little Baskin (population about 200) got 87% of its town budget from speeding tickets, the highest percentage of 304 Louisiana municipalities surveyed. "It is primarily a tool in many communities to raise revenue,"...

Nothing but trouble comes out of Serbia? Don't you believe it. The country that gave us Gavrilo Princip -- the assassin who started the ball rolling for World War I -- has now redeemed itself by giving us Rod Blagojevich, a governor whose conduct may offer a whole new paradigm in state government financing. Gov. Blagojevich's snuffling around in the muck for the juiciest truffle he could get in exchange for Obama's former Senate seat -- an appointment that he found himself happily holding in the palm of his trotter -- may seem distasteful to the brahmins and puritans among...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – California's general fund revenues in November were $1.3 billion, or 18.5 percent below expectations, suggesting the government of the most populous U.S. state could run out of money as early as February, State Controller John Chiang said on Tuesday. "November blew away even the most pessimistic estimates, with general fund revenue down $1.3 billion," Chiang said in a statement. "These receipts could expand our immediate cash problem by another half a billion dollars, with no recovery in sight." "According to projections from last month, all general and special funds will be exhausted by March 2009 when...

California's financial free fall is likely to get much worse before it gets better, spreading from the statehouse to every other level of government, including schools, cities, counties and the special districts that fight fires, maintain parks and levees and run libraries. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers are already grappling with an expected drop in revenue from taxes on personal income, sales and corporate profits. Since they adopted the budget in September, the state's revenue estimate for the current year has dropped by $11 billion, or about 10 percent, with no prospect for a recovery in sight. But that...

Total advertising revenue for the newspaper industry is expected to decline 11.5% to $40.1 billion this year, according to the Newspaper Association of America. The organization forecast that by 2009, ad revenue declines would not be as steep -- total ad revenue is expected to drop 5.5% to $37.9 billion that year. The loss of dollars in 2008, which if the NAA proves to be correct will be the largest decline the industry has seen since the association started tracking results 58 years ago, is due to plunges in print advertising. The forecast is in the September issue of Press...

NY WILL TAKE $1B HIT: GOV By SALLY GOLDENBERG in NY and FREDRIC U. DICKER in Albany Click to learn more... September 16, 2008 -- Gov. Paterson warned yesterday that the crisis on Wall Street could cost the state $1 billion in revenue over the next six months and wipe out as many as 30,000 jobs, while Mayor Bloomberg insisted the city would weather the storm. "While the full impact of these events may not be known for months or even years, the fact that financial-services firms that were able to survive the Great Depression, world wars and the Sept....

Kudrin Uneasy Over Oil Price Downturn 22 August 2008 By Anatoly Medetsky / Staff Writer Falling oil prices might mean that Russia will begin to spend its financial cushion, the Reserve Fund, in 2015, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said Thursday. The draft federal budget for the next three years, which the Cabinet approved Thursday, is based on the assumption that Russia's main oil blend, Urals, will sell at $95 per barrel next year. That would represent a sizeable drop from the average of $112 that Urals was trading at this week, according to figures from the Economic Development Ministry. As...

To make good on his offer to help Chicago combat violence, Gov. Blagojevich envisions putting speed cameras on interstates across Illinois -- and using the revenue to form an "elite tactical team" that would operate in Chicago and other cities. The idea is in its infancy, with no budget and no timetable. About 50 Illinois State Police employees have been assigned to work with Chicago Police on everything from tracking down illegal gun buyers to hunting for criminals on Chicago's expressways, Guerrero said. "I want to be judged not by the number of people we provide, but by the results...

Just a few months ago, images of smiling children, police officers and firefighters filled TV screens and mailboxes across the state, urging voters to support major casino expansions for four Southern California tribes. Gov. Schwarzenegger and other government officials promised that the tribes would help balance the state's troubled budget with an influx of gambling dollars. The casino riches would help protect state funding for schools, police and fire departments, health care and roads, the tribes and their supporters said. Voters approved the deals, but recent signs suggest the promises may not pan out. Deals touted as a sure-fire way...

Obama Effectively F-Bombed His Own Church with Improper Campaign Speech The Internal Revenue Service has cleared the United Church of Christ of accusations that it violated its tax exempt status by hosting Barack Obama’s “A Politics of Conscience.” The IRS’s letter to the United Church of Christ cites the same points that we did: even though Barack Obama’s “A Politics of Conscience” contained campaign-related content, the UCC did everything possible to prevent the Obama campaign from misusing its resources for electioneering. It would therefore be hardly fair to hold the United Church of Christ accountable for Barack Obama’s decision to...

[Placed in the public domain, copying and widespread circulation are encouraged] Obama’s Sword of Damocles: October Surprise Won’t Surprise UsLooming Scandal Will “Toricelli” Barack Obama After Democratic National ConventionThe Democratic Party’s superdelegates, even those who have endorsed Barack Obama, need to do some serious reconsideration between now and the convention. Should Obama become the nominee, the Democrats are likely to find themselves in the same situation as they did with Robert Toricelli (D-NJ) in 2002. As described by Wikipedia (more information at the Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A20602-2001May12), In the middle of an increasingly competitive race against Republican Doug Forrester, Torricelli decided...

Dear Senator Obama: Our common denomination, the United Church of Christ, has a suddenly serious legal and financial problem with the Internal Revenue Service. You, personally, are the cause of this problem. Candidly? I think you owe it to those of us who are your fellow congregants to help repair the damage that you have done. ...UNSURPRISINGLY, ALL OF THIS resulted in a complaint being filed with the IRS following your presentation. In addition to your speech and the stories featured by the UCC's own website, the complaint cites numerous media accounts describing your appearance as a campaign event. This...

In addition to widening revelations about racist and/or anti-Semitic hate speech not only from his pastor, his associates like Al Sharpton, and even bloggers at his official campaign Web site, there are very credible allegations that he misused the tax exempt resources of the United Church of Christ to promote his candidacy: a malicious and self-serving action that may put his own church’s tax-exempt status in jeopardy. The story centers on "Obama’s General Synod speech prompts IRS to investigate UCC’s tax-exempt status," which is posted at the UCC’s own Web site. [http://www.ucc.org/news/obama-speech-in-2007-prompts-1.html] The Internal Revenue Service has notified the United...

The Maryland House of Delegates voted 90 to 45 yesterday to pass the governor's speed cameras legislation, allowing police departments to install roadside cameras to ticket speeding motorists in work areas, school zones and residential neighborhoods across the state. The Senate has passed a similar bill. If the two chambers agree on a final version, Maryland would join the District in using cameras to enforce speed limits. In Maryland, speed cameras are legal only in Montgomery County. The legislation would allow the state's 23 other jurisdictions to use the technology.(snip) The speed camera bill, which was proposed by Gov. Martin...

Last week, Dallas officials reviewed the numbers and decided that a quarter of the cameras they had installed to catch motorists running red lights were too effective. So they shut them down. They are not alone. Faced with data showing that drivers pay attention to cameras at intersections — resulting in fewer ticketable violations and ever-shrinking revenue from fines — municipalities across the country are reconsidering red light cameras, which often work too well.

REFUGIO, Texas - With an abandoned Wild West-vintage town of storefronts slumbering just a block from old US 77, tiny Refugio is a place where myth and reality coexist in a ghostly silence. more stories like this Obama faces heat over aide's NAFTA remarks to Canadians Texas, Ohio could decide Dem nomination Canada says didn't misrepresent Obama over NAFTA McCain tags Dems on trade treaty NAFTA seen differently in Ohio, Texas And now this South Texas outpost is swept up in one of the more intriguing tests of myth vs. reality in today's political life: the battle over the so-called...

New York Times under fire for slow switch to online A battle is brewing over the future of America’s most influential paper Dominic Rushe in New York LAST MONTH, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr, publisher of The New York Times, was spotted lunching with top lawyer Martin Lipton at the 21 Club, a former speakeasy that is now a favoured dining spot for Manhattan fatcats. If you are a chief executive under siege, Lipton is the man to call. The co-founder of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz is credited with the invention of the poison pill, a defence used by companies...

n what may have been the first hint of victory for opponents of the Trans Texas Corridor, a high-ranking Texas Department of Transportation official said Thursday he regretted his agency's communication failures and said one proposed version of the corridor, a 10-lane super highway with rail and utility pathways, will "probably not" be built in East Texas, based on the overwhelming resistance to the idea expressed at public hearings on the project this month. Phillip Russell, assistant executive director for innovative project development at TxDOT, was the keynote speaker at the Lone Star Legislative Summit at SFA Thursday, where he...

President George W. Bush's administration is considering an individual tax rebate of up to 800 dollars as a short term measure to help boost the sagging US economy, a media report said Friday. The Republican leader was to unveil a fiscal stimulus plan later Friday, amid grim economic news that has united lawmakers and the Federal Reserve chief on the need to revive flagging US growth. The White House has said Bush would propose policies, not dollar amounts, because details of the plan must be hammered out with the Democratic-controlled Congress. "Privately, the White House has discussed its support for...

Nobel Peace laureate Al Gore believes global warming is "an inconvenient truth." Here are some economic truths that America's liberal leadership finds too inconvenient to support. Tax rate reductions increase tax revenues. This truth has been proved at both state and federal levels, including by President Bush's 2003 tax cuts on income, capital gains and dividends. Those reductions have raised federal tax receipts by $785 billion, the largest four-year revenue increase in U.S. history.

About 100,000 Texas drivers with a knack for getting pulled over will soon get bad news in the mail. Beginning in October, Texans with multiple traffic tickets, a drunken-driving conviction or other offenses in the past 12 months will receive letters from the Texas Department of Public Safety explaining that they owe surcharges of $100 to $2,500. That's in addition to what they may have already paid in court. Those who don't make payment arrangements within 30 days will lose their driver's licenses. "If you don't pay it, your license is suspended until you can," DPS spokeswoman Tela Mange said....

A reader's guide to Congressional revenue grasping. With a new Democratic majority, the agenda on Capitol Hill has shifted abruptly this year, and no more so than on taxes. For a decade the focus in Congress was which taxes to cut. Now everywhere you look someone running the Congress, or running for President, is proposing to raise taxes on some industry or group of Americans. The proposals are coming so frequently that it's hard to keep track without a scorecard. So as a reader service, and with a tip of the hat to Ed Hyman's ISI Group for some of...

The longer state legislators wait, the worse the state's budget picture seems to get. With lawmakers nearing a stalemate on the state's overdue budget, revenue estimates released Friday show California has collected $800 million less in tax money than expected in recent months. Analysts say the size of the drop raises questions about whether the budget that lawmakers are already having trouble balancing is based on overly rosy revenue projections. Republicans - already holding out on the $140 billion spending plan supported by Democrats - seized on the data, saying it proves the Legislature must do more to cut spending...

PHOENIX — The state of Arizona is the new owner of a clubhouse that belonged to the Hells Angels. The state will pay a member of the biker group $102,500 for the Phoenix clubhouse, money that comes from anti-racketeering funds forfeited to the state. "We've eliminated the home base of a criminal enterprise," said Chuck Johnson, an assistant attorney general. "This was a very useful and even laudatory use of $102,500." The state outbid the Hells Angels for ownership of the clubhouse that's been used for twice-weekly meetings of the biker gang since 1999. Some of the options for the...

But compromise doesn't affect six projects slated for Harris County AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry on Monday signed legislation that slows down his ambitious plans for building toll roads but does not halt them completely. Perry and the Legislature got into a stare-down last month when lawmakers sent him a bill that put serious restrictions on building toll roads in Texas and constrained policy set by the Texas Transportation Commission, which is run by the governor's appointees. Perry said he would veto the bill and threatened to call a special legislative session if lawmakers did not send him compromise legislation....

Manitoba First Nations are seeking compensation from Manitoba Telecom Services for every cellphone signal that passes through First Nations land, saying the airspace should be considered a resource like land and water. At a recent economic development summit, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs resolved to negotiate revenue sharing with MTS for transmissions signals that cross the land, water and air space of their reserves and traditional territories. "[The request is] based on the understanding that we do have some fundamental rights as indigenous people to land, water and airspace," said Chief Ovide Mercredi of the Grand Rapids First Nation. "When...

Federal revenue collections hit an all-time high in April, contributing to a further improvement in the budget deficit for the year. Releasing its monthly budget report, the Treasury Department said Thursday that through the first seven months of this budget year, the deficit totals $80.8 billion, significantly below the $184.1 billion imbalance run up during the first seven months of the 2006 budget year. So far this year, tax revenues total $1.505 trillion, an increase of 11.2 percent over the same period last year. That figure includes $383.6 billion collected in April, the largest monthly tax collection on record. Tax...

"2:00 U.S. Treasury posts record $383.6 bln receipts in April" This bulletin, on the rolling bulletin board of the BigCharts.com site a few minutes ago... NOTHING FOLLOWS!!! (except endless diversions from a growing flood of "revenue streams" to an engourged GovernMental milking machine of gargantuan proportions! Suffer babies!!!

China's tax revenue has now accounts for 95 percent of its financial revenue, according to a senior official of the State Administration of Taxation (SAT) recently. China's tax revenue reached 1.1 trillion yuan (147 billion U.S. dollars) in the first quarter of 2007, up a hefty 230 billion yuan, or 25.5 percent, from the same period last year. The year 2006 saw China's tax revenue from all sources hit a new high, jumping 21.9 percent year on year to 3.7636 trillion yuan (488.78 billion U.S. dollars). The central government allocated 339.7 billion yuan (44.12 billion U.S. dollars) to support the...

TACOMA, Wash. — Ambulances, police cars and fire trucks might have to pay tolls when crossing the new Tacoma Narrows bridge. Some Pierce County officials, including Sheriff Paul Pastor and Executive John Ladenburg, are lobbying against the idea. "It is silly to have us pay an admission fee to save lives," Pastor told The Tacoma News Tribune. "I understand they want to pay the bridge debt, but they are, by this policy, creating a far more urgent problem and creating a potentially dangerous situation."