Free Republic

If you believe as I do that the tax hikes proposed by Barack Obama and Democrats are bad for the country, then we are in good company. No less an authority than Nobel Prize winner and Columbia University economist Robert Mundell, a principal contributor to the creation of the euro, says that ending the Bush tax cuts — as proposed by presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama — would cause "a big recession, a nosedive." In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Mundell said, "the most important thing that could be done with respect to tax rates is to...

(Second part of a three-part series) Here are more reasons to vote against Barack Obama. This part and the first part of the series, which ran on Thursday, can be found on The Bulletin's Web site at www.thebulletin.us. * This different kind of politician is different in still another way besides changing his mind on issues faster than any other politician in history. He doesn't want to be criticized, and doesn't respond to it. When criticized for associating with an anti-American, racist pastor or an unrepentant terrorist, he tries to fob that all off by saying that's the old politics....

The U.S. Senate soon could be debating whether you, your spouse and each of your children – as well as your in-laws, parents, grandparents, neighbors and everyone else in America – each will be spending $2,500 or more to reduce poverty around the world. The plan sponsored by Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee for the office of president, is estimated to cost the United States some $845 billion over the coming few years in an effort to raise the standard of living around the globe. S.2433 already has been approved in one form by the U.S. House of...

Just curious what people think the best way to collect taxes is. I have my own opinions, but I'd like to know what you all think. Consumption vs. Income; Flat vs. Progressive (or even Regressive); Many small taxes or few large taxes? Weigh in.

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Supporters of an effort to repeal new taxes on beer, wine, soda and other beverages raised 15 times as much money as repeal opponents in the latest financial reporting period. The Fed Up With Taxes coalition raised nearly $375,000 for its repeal campaign between May 28 and July 15, according to reports filed with the Maine ethics commission. A tax repeal opposition group, Health Coverage for Maine, raised just over $25,000 for the same period.

Fascism, socialism and communism all offer varying degrees of control. Some believe that others require more government control. The new extreme in control appears to be environmentalism. From www.worldtribune.com: Vaclav Klaus, President of the Czech Republic, who survived the communist system and now leads a country that emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet empire, is warning of a new form of communism threatening human freedom and progress. “Environmentalism is the new communism, a system of elite command-and-control that kills prosperity and should similarly be condemned to the ash heap of history. I understand that global warming is a religion...

n 2005, I asked Angelenos to join me in re-imagining their city as a dynamic world capital defined by its flexibility and mobility, not by traffic and smog. I challenged them to imagine communities connected not by bigger, wider highways but by a real network of public transit options -- rapid buses, trains and subway lines -- connecting every neighborhood in our county's 88 cities. I asked them to imagine cleaner and greener neighborhoods where we each pitch in to combat global warming and create a more sustainable city. Today, when I take the helm as chairman of the Metropolitan...

Fox News did a segment this morning about the propsed gas tax increase. They asked both a Republican and Democrat. Demint appeared for the Republicans and since no Demorats wanted to appear Fox News used an empty chair instead of a reluctant, non appearing Democratic congress critter. Great stuff.

The State of Virginia, which does not have the money to build much needed roads is spending a cool million to get kids to walk and bike to school. It's one of the reasons there is never enough money for roads. GOVERNOR KAINE ANNOUNCES $1 MILLION TO PROMOTE WALKING AND BIKING TO SCHOOL ~ Program benefits students in grades K-8 ~

WASHINGTON -- The competing tax plans laid out by Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain would both add trillions of dollars to the national debt and could add to the tax system's complexity, a nonpartisan tax research group concluded Wednesday in a newly released report. Both campaigns have asserted that their plans to continue many Bush-era tax cuts and offer new reductions would aid the economy without requiring massive new spending. But the Washington-based Tax Policy Center warned that under either candidate, "the debt would likely continue to rise as it has over the past eight years." Obama's plan --...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. stock market would fare better in the first year after a victory by Republican presidential candidate John McCain than by his Democratic rival Barack Obama, according to a majority of economists at U.S. banks and research groups polled by Reuters. But the survey of 29 firms taken alongside a regular Reuters economic poll also found that economists had mixed views on the two candidates' economic plans. On a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being "very good," 12 economists gave McCain's proposals higher marks, while nine rated the two candidates equally and eight preferred...

A new gasoline tax that ensured high prices would accelerate the move toward fuel-efficient vehicles and provide enough revenue to allow a cut in corporate taxes. On the surface, the market's behavior on certain days of June and July has been so illogical that my brain simply has refused to accept it. Double-digit intraday swings in prices of stocks without any material catalyst have become routine. But last week's trading has finally explained what should have been clear for a while: Though current economic troubles may have started with lax credit and underwriting standards and the ensuing subprime-mortgage fiasco, they...

The committee hosting the Democratic National Convention is using the city's gas pumps to fill up on fuel, avoiding state and federal highway taxes, officials said today. "There's something there that just doesn't seem right to me because, in a sense, you're saying then that the officials who pass the laws are not willing to live by them, and that concerns me," Councilwoman Jeanne Faatz said. The issue came up during the council's weekly meeting with Mayor John Hickenlooper when the Public Works Department requested authorization to be reimbursed by the Denver 2008 Convention Host Committee for use of "fueling...

Giving up the car in an eco-town costs £500 Developers plan to levy an annual charge on residents to pay for the subsidised bus travel they will need and management costs Jill Sherman, Whitehall Editor Householders wanting to live in Gordon Brown's pioneering eco-towns face service charges of more than £500 a year on top of their annual council tax bill, The Times has learnt. Developers in several of the 13 proposed sites are planning to levy annual charges for subsidised bus travel and management costs to be paid to a local community trust. The disclosure coincides with government proposals,...

His campaign already has by far the largest full-time paid staff in presidential campaign history, and unlike Republican rival John McCain's, continues to grow by the day. National polls show the race remains close between Obama and McCain, but the Obama campaign is paying closer attention to polls in more than a dozen states that show Obama has a chance of winning in November. The states were won four years ago by President Bush, in many cases by huge margins. In theory, at least, Obama's effort could nudge states such as Virginia, Indiana, and North Dakota into the Democratic column...

E-Gold, an Internet-based payment service, and three owners have pleaded guilty to criminal charges related to money laundering, the U.S. Department of Justice said Monday. E-Gold, based in Nevis, West Indies, and corporate affiliate Gold & Silver Reserve each pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to conspiracy to engage in money laundering and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business. Douglas Jackson, 51, of Melbourne, Florida, the principal director of E-Gold and CEO of Gold & Silver Reserve, pleaded guilty to the charges, the DOJ said in a statement. E-Gold's other two senior directors, Barry...

Sen. Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, takes over as state Senate leader after the current session ends. The Bee talked with him about the budget and taxes.Q: Why would the Democrats roll out a tax plan that they knew ahead of time the Republicans wouldn't vote for?A: There's actually some consensus that has developed over the past several years. It's clear from even the way the Republicans are acting in the budget negotiations, there is a common recognition that we cannot cut our way out of this problem. The Republicans aren't putting $15 billion of cuts on the table, for good reason....

As fuel prices rise, gas tax receipts drop, and money for roads and bridges dries up - Gas prices are soaring. That's the bad news.But as they soar, motorists drive less, and that produces some benefits: less air pollution and less congestion. That's the good news.And then there's the bad news about the good news. The federal gas tax is levied on a per-gallon basis. So the less people drive and the less gas they use, the less the federal government collects from gas taxes. So it is that recent record high gas prices have produced record low gas tax...

Gov. Deval Patrick filed a special appropriations bill for fiscal year 2008 that would drastically increase the fees for certain firearm licenses. The cost of the License to Carry Firearms would double under the proposal, jumping from $100 (for six years) to $200 (for six years). The non-resident License to Carry Firearms fee would jump from $100 for one year to $250 for one year. Licensed firearm dealers will also feel the bite as their license fees would be increased from $100 for three years to $250. The governor then adds a $100 inspection fee in the second and third...

In perhaps the most distasteful and contrarian effort yet, stories are surfacing through news agencies this morning of a private congressional talks that would actually raise the Federal Gas Tax by ...

...The nearby chart shows that the top 1% of taxpayers, those who earn above $388,806, paid 40% of all income taxes in 2006, the highest share in at least 40 years. The top 10% in income, those earning more than $108,904, paid 71%. Barack Obama says he's going to cut taxes for those at the bottom, but that's also going to be a challenge because Americans with an income below the median paid a record low 2.9% of all income taxes, while the top 50% paid 97.1%. Perhaps he thinks half the country should pay all the taxes to support...

"They've done real well the past few years," Wilkins said of House Republicans. "I was disappointed when they let Mark Warner talk them into a tax increase" -- a reference to the $1.4 billion rise for cops, schools and welfare that led to the Warner presidential boomlet. That increase in 2004 might not have occurred had Howell not looked the other way. He allowed several Republican anti-taxers to duck a do-or-die vote in the Finance Committee on the Warner package, clearing the way for passage. During Wilkins' brief reign, one usually got the impression the trains were running on time....

With gas prices as high as they are, wouldn't it seem reasonable to cut gas taxes or maybe just temporarily suspend them with a "gas tax holiday"? Well the Democrat Congress says "no way!" Instead what we are hearing this weekend are ideas the Democrats are brainstorming on how to raise gas taxes! Seriously! The American Road & Transportation Builders Association wants the Democrats to raise gas taxes by 11¢ per gallon and raise it annually to keep up with the rate of inflation. (You know to make sure we get that tax increase automatically every single year!) The Democrats...

Almost anything can happen in an election year, but among conservatives, almost everyone seems to agree that no matter who captures the White House in November, the movement that has ruled the Republican Party since the 1960s and mostly dominated American politics since 1980 has lost its way. Across the spectrum of the right, writers and thinkers have turned their relentless analysis inward, a kind of political EST seminar aimed at self-transformation.

This is the first in a series of three articles on how your pockets are being shamelessly picked by government and big business. I bet you knew the IRS was robbing you. You just didn't know how much. Read on. Are you a middle-class retiree living here on our little sandbar with money in an IRA? The IRA is supposed to give you a break by allowing you to put money away tax-free, allow it to grow, and then tax you when you withdraw it. Sounds good, doesn't it? You're getting robbed. You're not the one benefitting by it as...

Whitehall sources confirmed that 5.6 million people with cars registered before March 2001 and with engines of 1549cc or more, will have to pay £15 more vehicle excise duty from April, taking the total annual cost to £200. The new figure comes on top of about nine million drivers of larger-engined vehicles built after April 2001 whom the Treasury said earlier this month would be liable from the same date for increases well above the rate of inflation. A Treasury spokesman said: "Under the new vehicle excise duty bands, by 2010, 55 per cent of motorists will either pay less...

Despite calls from the presidential campaign trail for a Memorial Day-to-Labor Day tax freeze, lawmakers quickly concluded — with a prod from the construction industry — that having $9 billion less to spend on highways could create a pre-election specter of thousands of lost jobs. Now, lawmakers quietly are talking about raising fuel taxes by a dime from the current 18.4 cents a gallon on gasoline and 24.3 cents on diesel fuel. Not so quiet any more, is it fellas? That's a 54% increase. That's not all. It seems they want to increase it by more than 100% by the...

As if paying $4-plus for gasoline isn't bad enough, some of Colorado's political leaders seem bound and determined to spread pain at the pump to the cost of heating our homes this winter - and for decades to come. Ours is a beautiful state with an abundance of natural resources: silver and gold lured early pioneers, mountain vistas and ski slopes keep visitors coming year after year, and abundant energy sources fuel our economy and our way of life. Not long ago, political leaders of both parties understood that the energy sector is vital to the economic health of our...

WASHINGTON — The political vision of a summer gas tax holiday died a quick death in Congress, losing to a view that federal excise taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel — far from dropping — will have to go up if they go anywhere

John McCain couldn’t convince Congress to adopt his gas-tax holiday, but Congress does plan on making some changes to the rate. Unfortunately, the change will go in the opposite direction, if Democrats get their wish. With Americans driving less, the highway fund faces even more severe shortfalls than expected from lost gas-tax revenue — and so the Democrats plan to hike it up by ten cents a gallon.

Link only. Gas tax holiday talk dies; Congress eyes increase instead

Price of gas got you crying at the pump? Is it eating into your household budget? Well, get used to it. That's the word on the streets as the price of a gallon of gasoline soars to record highs. With regional differentials pushing the price much higher in some places, drivers and small-business owners are finding it hard to cope. But which states' motorists get the best deal, and in which states do drivers pay the most to fill-up? Here come the numbers Alaska has the highest gas prices in the nation, with a gallon of regular gasoline at $4.623,...

WASHINGTON — Mayor Bloomberg is siding strongly with the Paterson administration and against three New York lawmakers in the debate over whether Albany can tax out-of-state companies who do business in New York. Seeking millions in added tax revenues, the administration this spring enacted a pair of provisions to assess business taxes against out-of-state banks that issue credit cards in New York and to force online retailers such as Amazon.com to collect state and local sales taxes on goods shipped to the state. Those changes could be undercut by a federal bill backed by Senator Schumer and Reps. Anthony Weiner...

New York tax filers reporting more than $375,000 a year in earned income may end up paying nearly 60% of their wages in taxes to the government under a Barack Obama presidency, economists who have analyzed his plan said. The Democratic presidential candidate is proposing not only raising the federal income tax, but also adding a Social Security tax for those Americans earning more than $250,000 a year. For New Yorkers, that could mean that if the current Social Security rate is applied, the marginal tax rate, or rate on every extra dollar earned, could rise to 58%. "This is...

California Proposes Sales Tax Hike To Fund Transport, Government Services July 18, 2008 11:32 a.m. ESTVittorio Hernandez - AHN News WriterSacramento, CA (AHN) - To close California's $17.2 billion budget deficit, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger considered on Thursday hiking the state sales tax and using funds intended for transportation and government services.State legislators proposed the two measures, which the governor initially described as bad ideas, but he did not rule out adopting the measures to avoid a cash crisis in California.The lawmakers plan to close the budget gap by collecting $5.6 billion income tax increase on the rich and borrowing $1.1...

For years I have heard from many sources that the Clinton Administration was able to create a budget surplus and then the Bush Administration came in and squandered this surplus. This is repeatedly reported so someone tell me how my perception of this issue is in error. Here's what seems to be apparent to me: By dramatically defunding the military and intelligence agencies the Clinton Administration was able to show on paper a projected 10 year federal budget surplus. The terrorists attacks of September 11th occured. The Bush Administration needed to dramatically refund the defunded military and intelligence agencies. This...

WARREN, Mich., July 18 (Reuters) - Republican White House hopeful John McCain told embattled GM employees on Friday he backs their development of an electric car and said Americans should be able to receive $5,000 tax credits to buy them. Battered by a deepening slump in sales and concerns about whether it can ride out an economic downturn, General Motors Corp. (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) is counting on the Volt to break its reliance on gas-guzzling vehicles at a time when truck sales are tumbling and fuel prices are near record levels. McCain celebrated the electric plug-in Volt during a...

When George Michael placed a cross on the side of his lakefront mansion, neighbors assumed the decoration was simply a display of the man's religious faith. What his neighbors didn't know is that Michael had decided to convert his $3 million residence into the Armenian Church of Lake Bluff, qualifying him for a nearly $80,000 break on his annual property tax bill. Now, locals are questioning whether the property is a church at all. Village officials wonder how they'll be able to make up the lost revenue, and residents worry that their share of the tax burden will grow as...

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she will push for another economic stimulus package of approximately $50 billion. The California Democrat told CNN she favors that amount as a compromise between spurring the stagnating U.S. economy without forcing the nation deeply into more debt. I would hope we could have about a $50 billion -- there are others who want more, she said in a partial transcript released by the Speaker's office. But I think in the stimulus packages, you have to look at what helps stimulate the economy without spending more money than you should because you weight the...

..........The 30-by-45-foot screen, which was turned on in September, is part of the station's new $85 million headquarters. Visible for a mile to eastbound travelers, it is allowed to display only photos, no words.

The Oregonian's front page story that Gov. Ted Kulongoski is proposing a range of activities to keep the state's economy moving and green was welcome news ("Kulongoski sees jobs in 'green,' " July 8). Government has a responsibility to respond to social and economic needs, and we're all hoping for a convergence of the two with "green jobs." But the term "green jobs" is being bandied about without any clear definition of what a good green job is, how long it will last and how much taxpayers should kick in to bring such jobs to Oregon. Tax credits without performance...

Yesterday was finally the end of the days this year when you were working to pay the government its exorbitant fees. That's right, July 16 was Cost of Government Day for the average American. Grover Norquist , author of the recent book "Leave Us Alone," has once again crunched the numbers and determined how long it takes most of us to finally pay off our own personal bloated government debt and begin, at last, to make money for ourselves. This year Americans have worked until today, July 16, to pay for the total costs of federal, state and local government....

THE HAGUE (AFP) - A Dutch court upheld a new environmental tax on air travellers Thursday as airline KLM warned the levy could cause it to lose up to a million passengers this financial year.

Time magazine Managing Editor Richard Stengel told the hosts of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on July 17 that “there’s incredible despair out there and there’s a sense that, that something needs to be done and people have kind of an appetite for big government in a way” in America. Stengel was citing a new poll, but the interview did not discuss the fact that the poll also found 80 percent of respondents said they should be responsible for carrying their own financial burdens.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Wealthy Americans are hiding about 1.5 trillion dollars in overseas tax havens in a "deceptive" partnership with top foreign banks such as UBS, resulting in 100 billion dollars in lost US tax revenue, a congressional probe was told Thursday. The hearing centered on a 115-page report following investigations into alleged abuses by UBS in Switzerland and the smaller LGT Bank in Liechtenstein amid a widening international investigation into tax scandals involving the two banks. "The evidence we have been able to obtain breaks through some of the wall of secrecy to show that these two banks have...

Federal regulators should consider revoking the US banking license of the giant Swiss Bank UBS because of its role in helping wealthy Americans evade billions of dollars in taxes, Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) told ABC News today. "I don't think that any bank that goes to the extent that UBS has gone through to avoid doing what their agreements with the United States require them to do, should be allowed to continue to do business unless they clean up their act," Levin said. UBS's role in arranging "undeclared" accounts for an estimated 19,000 US citizens was one focus of a...

Addicted to Nicotine Taxes by: Daniel Smith, July 17, 2008 The main claims that politicians make when they raise taxes on cigarettes have been found to be wanting, and very expensively so, by the National Taxpayers Union. The NTU’s Kristina Rasmussen provides “five reasons why non-smokers should oppose high tobacco taxes.” Rasmussen worked from the primary source of actual state budgets. First, argued Rasmussen, “states with low cigarette taxes tend to have lower overall tax burdens.” Analyzing the 16 states with the highest per-pack cigarette tax, Rasmussen discovered that these same states had a higher “per capita state and local...

New York City has long been the highest tax jurisdiction in the United States, but California politicians are proposing to steal that brass tiara. California faces a $15 billion budget deficit and Democrats who rule the state Legislature have proposed closing the gap with a $9.7 billion tax hike on business and "the rich." ... The plan would raise the top marginal income tax rate to 12% from 10.3%; that would be the highest in the nation and twice the national average. This plan would also repeal indexing for inflation, which is a sneaky way for politicians to push middle-income...

Let’s get real with each other for a few minutes. Only one thing really divides America down the center line of politics known as “left” vs. “right,” the almighty dollar, now worth approximately .35 cents, thanks to more than seventy years of deficit spending. Every national election is about the same thing really. Half of Americans use every national election cycle as nothing more than an opportunity to pick the pockets of the other half. The other half is running for cover. I have often written about the lefts endless effort to shove their way to the public feeding trough...

This is only one State...............If this doesn't open your eyes nothing will ! From the L. A. Times 1. 40% of all workers in L. A. County ( L. A. County has 10.2 million people)are working for cash and not paying taxes. This is because they are predominantly illegal immigrants working without a green card. 2. 95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens. 3. 75% of people on the most wanted list in Los Angeles are illegal aliens. 4. Over 2/3 of all births in Los Angeles County are to illegal alien Mexicans on Medi-Cal...