Free Republic

It all comes down to Senator Kyrsten Sinema with nearly half a trillion dollars in new spending and taxes on the line, now that West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin’s lips are firmly planted in the area of Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s buttocks. The Arizona Democrat has remained mum on whether she’ll support the so-called Inflation Reduction Act. Schumer needs support from all 50 members of his caucus, or the bill will fail when it comes up for a vote, probably later this week. When asked by Fox News, a spokesperson for Sinema said, “Sen. Sinema does not have comment as...

Last month, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) proposed the SWEET Act, an excise tax on sweetened beverages. The tax, which has been billed as a national soda tax, would lay a one-cent duty on every teaspoon of sugar in soft drinks and other beverages. The proposal is intended "to curb obesity, diabetes, and the resulting health care costs." Why is this a good idea? “When a two-liter cola is 99 cents and blueberries are over three dollars, something has gone very wrong,” DeLauro told attendees. For the record, a pint of blueberries contains more than 40g of sugar. That’s about as...

You can check this for yourself. Search "top tax rate 2013" read and think just a little. It is just numbers and that seems to make the eyes of most people glaze over. Heck, a huge number don't even pay taxes. Welcome to the USSA. This is hope and change obastard style. This is sharing the pie. This is more fat cat politicians controlling you, more government employees, more TSA, more homeland security, more navigators, more food stamps, section 8 housing, and LESS FREEDOM and LESS HOPE. The new top tax rate will be a whopping 47.2% 39.6% (top marginal...

Ex-IRS agent sentenced to prison in murder-for-hire plot A former IRS agent who opened a tax preparation business was sentenced Friday to nearly 24 years in prison for defrauding clients out of more than $11 million and then attempting to hire a hit man to kill four of them. Steven Martinez, 51, of Ramona was sentenced in San Diego federal court to 286 months in prison and five years of supervised release. He was also ordered by District Court Judge William Hayes to forfeit all the property, including a home in Mexico, and other possessions that he purchased with clients'...

IRS checking out your Facebook and Twitter to help keep you honest You have less than two weeks to file your taxes and your Facebook or Twitter accounts could end up getting you in big trouble with the IRS. They're looking for tax cheaters. The IRS has been known to check car records, employment documents and other public records. Now, your social media page is on that list too. “I think that’s a little bit ridiculous,” replied one person we talked to. Some of the people we talked to were surprised. “I think it’s still an invasion of privacy,” commented...

Mickelson expects to make 'drastic' changes LA QUINTA — San Diego professional golfer Phil Mickelson said after the final round of the PGA Tour’s Humana Challenge on Sunday that he will have to make “drastic changes” in his life because of the federal and state taxes he is paying, and he confirmed that his decision to not buy an interest in the Padres was directly related to his financial situation. "I'll probably talk more in depth next week (at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines). I'm not going to jump the gun,” Mickelson said. “There are going to be...

Every year average Americans pay dozens of different types of taxes, and yet many of our politicians are very open about the fact that they want to raise rates even higher and invent even more ways to bleed us all dry. Someday historians will look back and be absolutely amazed at how stupid we were. We have the most complicated tax code in all of human history and at this point the federal tax code is more than four times as long as the entire collected works of William Shakespeare. In many places it is so incomprehensible that nobody...

5 Unusual Sales Taxes You Need To Avoid With the economy still struggling, states are getting fairly crafty with how they charge consumers via sales taxes. It's no secret that dubious, yet all-too enforceable government laws have been with us since the dawn of the civilized world. In ancient Egypt, the pharaohs taxed cooking oil – of course, the main seller of cooking oil was the pharaoh. During the first century AD, the Roman empire taxed urine – a popular source of ammonia for common tasks like tanning hides and cleaning clothes. Then at the height of the Dark Ages...

All around, there are Democrats telling us their prospects for November are looking up. Things aren't as bad as Republicans say! Health care is becoming more popular! The country wants financial reform! People still like Barack Obama! Isn't Joe Barton awful! They're fooling themselves. The basic indicators of voters' intentions -- their general mood and attitude toward the policies of Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid -- are clear and solid. Unless those indicators change, and most experts believe that would take a huge, unforeseen event that fundamentally alters the political equation, Democrats are in for serious losses this November....

Shopping for her brother's birthday gift had always been a snap for New Hartford Town Clerk Donna LaPlante. Because they had long agreed on a $25 limit, she would simply fork over $20 and renew his fishing license. This year, to her brother's surprise, she gave him a book. "I told him the license was now $40," she said. "He said, '$40!'" Across streams and rivers, lakes and ponds, the impact of the state's budget problems is being felt keenly by the state's anglers as they prepare for opening day of trout season next Saturday. Last August, the state legislature...

In California, a petition is circulating that would hike taxes to 74% and claim 55% of your assets if you move out of the state. Once the feds get a notion to do this... watch out!

The prospect of recovering the government's assistance to GM and Chrysler is heavily dependent on shares of the two companies rising to unprecedented levels, the report said. The government owns 10 percent of Chrysler and 61 percent of GM. The shares "will have to appreciate sharply" for taxpayers to get their money back, the report said. Treasury Department officials have acknowledged that most of the $23 billion provided by the Bush administration is likely to be lost. But Meg Reilly, a department spokeswoman, said there is a "reasonably high probability of the return of most or all of the government...

Brethren, Patriots, Gentlewomen & Fellow Citizens TAX PROTEST - TEA PARTY - PATRIOTS' RALLY - PROUD TO BE A CAPITALIST PIG TOUR Come all ye fellow patriots and burdened taxpayers! Join us in a patriotic rally in observance of the birth of our Great Nation at ye olde Temecula Duck Pond. We shall gather at the corner of Ynez Road and Rancho California in Temecula, California on Saturday, July 4, 2009 commencing at 11:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. Please bring appropriate signs, banners, flags and attire to dispaly your love of country and to voice your keen displeasure towards those...

2009 Taxpayer Tea Party proudly brought to you by the FreedomWorks Foundation... Taxed to death and living in Southwest Riverside County, CA? Join us on Wednseday, April 15, 2009 at 11:00 am at the Temecula Duck Pond on the corner of Rancho California and Ynez Road in Temecula. We will be ridding ourselves of some crates of Obama Messianic Tea and fighting off the evil ravenous Zombama, the tax eating zombie. This Temecula Tea Party is valiantly supported by the local Republican clubs TMVRWF and MTRA. See you all there patriots!

Secret green tax blitz planned for cars, air travel and consumer goods By SIMON WALTERS, Mail on Sunday Secret plans for a multi-billion-pound package of stealth taxes on fuel, cars, air travel and consumer goods have been drawn up by the government to combat global warming. The proposals, leaked to The Mail on Sunday, show that the Government is considering introducing a raft of hard-hitting 'eco-taxes' that will have a devastating effect on the cost of living. Families with big cars could end up paying more than £1,000 a year extra in tax. And nearly every household in Britain will...

More than 80 Mexico Beach homeowners met with Rick Barnett Friday morning. They all had one thing in common.Their assessed home values have skyrocketed and their property tax is through the roof, and the tone seemed to be the same throughout the room.One woman said her mobile home and small piece of property she purchased for $25,000 several years ago was appraised this year for $200,000.Another man says his home went up in assessed value by 400 percent. His property taxes jumped from $2,000 last year to $10,000 this year.The owner of Mexico Beachs Driftwood Inn says the increased property...

Already reeling from high petrol prices and road taxes, Britain's drivers are now threatened with a new financial burden. The Government hopes to facilitate a nationwide pay-as-you-go system for vehicles, fitting black boxes into cars to monitor how much, and where, motorists drive. It is typically New Labour in its nosiness, and would enable the extension across the country on a consistent basis of congestion-charging schemes. There are only two of these at present, in Durham and in London. In both, the result has been a slow strangulation of small businesses. In Durham, admittedly, congestion has been reduced, but the...

<p>New Yorkers can earn cash rewards for ratting out bodegas, groceries and individuals selling bootlegged cigarettes if a bill supported by Mayor Bloomberg wins approval.</p> <p>Under the bill, the city would give a "suitable" reward to anyone who provides information that leads to the detection of violations of the cigarette tax.</p>

Only The Rich Pay Taxes Top 50% of Wage Earners Pay 96.09% of Income Taxes October 23, 2002 The IRS has released the FY 2000 data for individual income tax returns. The numbers illustrate a truth that will startle you: that half of Americans with the highest incomes pays 96.09% of all income tax. This nukes the liberal lie that the rich don't pay taxes. The top 1%, who earn 20.81% of all income covered under the income tax, are paying 37.42% of the federal tax bite. Think of it this way: less than four dollars out of every...