Free Republic

The French are paying the most taxes out of all of Europe’s workers, an annual report shows, but are they getting value for money? […] An annual study by the liberal think tank the Molinari Institute has concluded that French workers are the most taxed in Europe — above even the Belgians who have previously held the unfortunate title. […] Based on figures from EY (formerly Ernst and Young), French workers hand over some 57.5 percent of their salaries to the state in various kinds of taxes compared to 56.9 percent in Belgium. …

From:info@crfb.org To: kaplanj@dnc.org Date: 2016-05-02 16:48 Subject: Adding Up Secretary Clinton’s Campaign Proposals So Far Adding Up Secretary Clinton’s Campaign Proposals So Far May 2, 2016 Read the analysis. Democratic presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has proposed numerous new policies that would increase spending and expand tax breaks along with other policies that would increase taxes and reduce certain spending. Using independent estimates from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the non-partisan Tax Policy Center (TPC), and others, we estimate that Secretary Clinton’s proposals would cost $1.8 trillion over a decade with interest, and they would be...

Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent annually in Georgia on uncompensated care for the uninsured. The uninsured may not have coverage but they do get sick; one way or another, we all pay for their care in a way that is terribly inefficient. • Money should follow people. It is important to support the institutions and providers that make up Georgia’s safety net, but solutions should be people-centered, not institutioncentered. • Innovation requires flexibility and choices. Micromanaging every last detail is a recipe for the status quo. The accompanying table shows the most recent data on the average enrollment...

TOP Governor Cuomo Signs Legislation to Exempt... SHARE Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today signed legislation that eliminates sales tax on feminine hygiene products. The bill (A.7555-A/S.7838) exempts these products from local and State sales tax. “This is a regressive tax on essential products that women have had to pay for far too long and lifting it is a matter of social and economic justice,” Governor Cuomo said. “I commend Assemblywoman Rosenthal and Senator Serino on their strong advocacy and for hard work in passing this important legislation.” Feminine hygiene products have been taxable since the state sales tax was first...

1. Reduce Bureaucratic Red Tape Republican leaders made it easier to do business in Indiana. They reduced bureaucratic red tape and eliminated many unnecessary regulations. Rather than burdening employers and trying to micromanage how businesses operate, Republicans put in place policies that have allowed our state to grow. 2. Balance the Budget The state put its fiscal house in order. Statehouse leaders cut government spending, balanced the budget, created a surplus, and built a near record reserve fund. Indiana earned a triple-A credit rating in 2010 and has maintained it ever since. These strategies help put the state in a...

In 2015, Lansing’s city government used $555,000 from its general fund to pay for its money-losing municipal golf course. That was not an unusual year; Groesbeck Golf Course has received money from the city’s general fund every year since at least 2005. In those 11 years, Lansing’s general fund has transferred $5.9 million to the golf course. These transfers compensate for the municipal course’s losses, which annually total of at least $400,000. Cities get into the golf business believing that they will make money. But a review of public courses in Michigan shows that, in practice, they are big losers...

Can anyone explain what happens when a company whose stock is subject to C.O.D.I. goes bankrupt? Should one dump the stock prior to a Pre-pack Chapter 11 bankruptcy...or ride it out? On what time frame is the stock subject to the C.O.D.I.? If someone bought the stock recently, are the still subject to the C.O.D.I. tax?

[The REAL headline:] Schools left out on construction funding, dollars FAR LESS less than many expected In some circles, it's the windfall that wasn't. it has not been the cash cow thousands of Coloradans had expected.

The federal government collected approximately $2,468,827,000,000 in tax receipts in the first nine months of fiscal 2016 (October through June), according to the Monthly Treasury Statement released today. Unlike May, when the federal government set a record for inflation-adjusted tax revenues collected in the first eight months of a fiscal year, the federal taxes collected through June did not set a record for inflation-adjusted tax revenues in the first nine months of a fiscal year. While bringing in $2,468,827,000,000 in tax revenues during the first nine months of fiscal 2016, the federal government spent approximately $2,869,674,000,000—running a deficit of $400,847,000,000....

Presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton pledged that she’ll continue to request presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump release his tax returns. “We’re going to keep asking to see Donald Trump’s tax returns,” Clinton stated while campaigning with President Obama in North Carolina on Tuesday. Clinton has previously knocked Trump over his tax returns while on the campaign trail. “What about his taxes? We will get around to that too. Because when you run for president, especially when you become the nominee that is kind of expected,” Clinton stated in May. “My husband and I have released 33 years of tax returns,...

In the terminal collapse of the Roman Empire, there was perhaps no greater burden to the average citizen than the extreme taxes they were forced to pay. The tax ‘reforms’ of Emperor Diocletian in the 3rd century were so rigid and unwavering that many people were driven to starvation and bankruptcy. The state went so far as to chase around widows and children to collect taxes owed. By the 4th century, the Roman economy and tax structure were so dismal that many farmers abandoned their lands in order to receive public entitlements. At this point, the imperial government was spending...

Ever since its creation in 1935 by Franklin Roosevelt as the key achievement of his New Deal, liberals have staked a proprietary claim to Social Security, which is amusing given the left's innate aversion to property rights. And with that sense of entitlement to the quintessential federal entitlement program comes the default liberal tendency to dissemble. A recent example comes by way of leading left-wing radio host Thom Hartmann on his program last week while reeling off the planks in the Democrat party platform. In the process, Hartmann made a claim about Social Security that was misleading if not outright...

In our last 11 episodes we chronicled the homeless crisis in Seattle Washington created by liberals and a particular nasty group of homeless who have started their own mafia of sorts. Share Wheel. In this episde we'll look at a devastating rape that took place at a tent city under Morrow's protection. rape at share Imagine you're a single mother of four, pregnant, and looking for work. Your husband dumps you and You lose your apartment and end up living in a tent encampment. The camp is far from social services. Going to job interviews means leaving your teenage children...

Giving Millennials discounts on Lyft rides is the newest attempt to bait them into subsidizing a substandard healthcare system. Last Tuesday, federal health officials pronounced a sneaky plan to scrutinize the tax records of young people ages 18-34 and compile a list of those who paid the penalty rather than signing up for Obamacare. Federal officials admitted they plan to use this list to target Millennials with emails and enticements to pressure them into joining Obamacare. Sweeteners to be dangled like bait in front of Millennials include reduced fares with the hipster rideshare service known as Lyft. * * *...

Hillary Clinton is proposing a child care income tax credit – mainly to pay for daycare for working moms. There already is a credit in the tax code. Clinton would expand that subsidy by tenfold or more, leading to a massive, new entitlement. It would remove any incentive parents have to find more economical ways of meeting their children’s needs and it would subject working women to high marginal tax rates – penalizing them harshly for working more and earning more. The conservative case against child tax credits. Before looking at the Clinton proposal, let’s consider the case against all...

When he descended the Trump Tower escalator on June 15 last year to announce his run for the presidency, Donald Trump polled near the bottom of the Republican field. An NBC-Wall Street Journal poll taken from June 14 to 18 reported Trump was the first choice of 1 percent of Republican voters, behind Rick Perry, Carly Fiorina, and eight others. A RealClearPolitics graphic tracking an average of several polls illustrates the stunning speed of Trump’s rise. For most of June, Trump’s line slithered along the bottom of the 17-person field, then headed by Jeb Bush. Two weeks after his announcement,...

Phoenix Proposes Property Tax Increase Ignores money in the bank On Friday, the Phoenix City Council is poised to increase its property tax rate by 19% for Fiscal Year 2017 from the longstanding combined tax rate of $1.82 to $2.17. Phoenix argues the rate increase is necessary to fund the debt service on voter approved general obligation bonds. Those bonds are financed through annual property tax levies. In recent years the city has paid the annual debt service from a combination of property taxes and cash from excess property tax levies from the real estate boom in 2007 through 2009....

May marked the 10th anniversary of the Pure Michigan advertising campaign, which is designed to lure tourists to the Great Lake State. It is sold as a program that leads to economic development and yields more in tax revenues than it spends. But our research shows that state-funded efforts to promote tourism are a net negative. Lawmakers should defund the Pure Michigan program. The state operates a travel bureau within the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, which has overseen the $261 million appropriated by the Legislature for Pure Michigan since fiscal year 2006. The campaign features advertisements about Michigan and is...

A vacant lot owned by a Jackson woman was foreclosed by Hillsdale County because she failed to pay a $7 late fee on her property taxes. A Freedom of Information Act request found that Pam Baker, a Jackson resident, owed Hillsdale County $7.70 in interest and late fees for delinquent taxes from 2013 on land she owned near Lake LeAnn in Somerset Township. The 2013 taxes on the property, which she owned since 2000, were due on Feb. 14, 2014. Baker says she paid her taxes two weeks late because she was in a car crash seven days before the...

Someone earning $10,000 could be subject to maximum federal taxes under this limit of $1,500 per year. But someone earning 100 times as much at a million dollars would still be subject to maximum federal taxes of 100 times more, at $150,000 a year. The tax burden could still be skewed proportionally more to the upper income earners, but only by reducing the burden on the lower income earners. In other words, lower rates than 15% could still be imposed on those at the lower income levels, while the highest could still be subject to a top rate of 15%.