Free Republic

Gasoline prices are climbing toward $4 a gallon in Southern California, boosted in large part by a rise in worldwide crude oil prices. The average pump price for regular gas in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area stood at $3.736 a gallon Thursday, up nearly 60 cents, or 19%, from a year earlier, according to the American Automobile Assn.

In 2017, the American people spent more money on taxes than on clothing and food combined, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistic’s data on consumer expenditures released this month. “Consumer units” (which include families, financially independent individuals, and people living in a single household who share expenses) spent an average of $9,562 on food and clothing in 2017. At the same time, they were forced to pay $16,749 on federal, state and local taxes. *** With the United States federal budget deficit currently reaching comical levels ... it doesn’t seem to be a stretch to say that not before...

Planned Parenthood Votes is focusing its political campaign expenditures on two dozen House races in hopes of aiding Democrats to retake the majority and ensure future federal disbursements to the organization. Deirdre Schifeling, executive director, defended the heavily government-subsidized organization’s partisan political spending. “The survival of Planned Parenthood is at stake,” Schifeling contended. “Federal funding is the life’s blood we depend on to keep going in our mission to ensure that every woman who wants an abortion can get one whether she can afford it or not. But it’s not only the funding, we also need friends in Congress who...

This week the House of Representatives will vote on a package of bills making the temporary tax cuts contained in last year’s tax reform bill permanent and making additional tax law changes. The bills will likely pass in the House, but will almost certainly be filibustered in the Senate if the Senate leadership tries to bring them to the floor. The GOP tax plan does offset some of the damage caused by federal control of education by making it easier for parents to escape failing government schools or “edexit.” It accomplishes this by allowing money saved in a tax-free 529...

Taxpayers potentially owe almost $610 million to local government employees in Nevada’s two most populous counties for their unused paid time off, financial reports show. That liability grew 26 percent from 2007 to 2017, and it doesn’t represent compensation that will be paid exclusively for rest, relaxation, illness or personal time. Many of Nevada’s public employees can stockpile their sick and vacation hours and cash them out at retirement. Some of those payouts exceed $100,000.

Unless you have been living under a rock for the last five years, then you know that there are now 8 states that have legalized cannabis for adult use. Colorado and Washington State legalized cannabis in 2012, Oregon, Alaska (and Washington D.C.) legalized cannabis in 2014, and Massachusetts, Maine, Nevada, and California legalized cannabis in 2016. All of those states (and D.C.) legalized cannabis via the citizen initiative process. Going into 2017 it seemed like at least one state would legalize cannabis via legislative action, and Vermont was very close to doing so until its Governor vetoed a legalization bill...

In November 2018, voters will decide on Amendment 73, a state constitutional amendment which would increase income, property and corporate taxes in Colorado .... Amendment 73 effectively ends protections against continuous increases in residential property taxes. It increases the state residential property tax assessment rate for school districts. Commercial property will enjoy reduced rates. ... Amendment 73 reduces legislative oversight by locking increased spending into the state constitution. There is no guarantee that more spending will increase educational opportunities for existing students.

Democrats in Congress are calling for legislation to reinstate a pay increase that President Trump canceled by executive order. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md) labeled Trump’s pay freeze “an indefensible attack on the hard-working government employees who keep the country going.” The reasoning behind the federal pay freeze is that government workers already earn far more for comparable work than their private sector counterparts. According data from Bureau of Economic Analysis, annual wages for federal government employees is nearly $89,000 vs. $59,000 for similar jobs in the private sector. When fringe benefits are counted, the gap widens to $127,000 vs. $71,000....

At Evans Tool & Die, a family-owned toolmaking and stamping business in Conyers, Georgia, employees have always come first. “Generosity is one of our core values,” explained Dee Barnes, President and CEO of Evans Tool & Die. “We’ve always shared profit with our employees, and we have always given bonuses each year. With tax reform we will be able to increase those bonuses to our employees. Evans Tool & Die has always tried to reward hardworking employees. Despite much of the tool industry going elsewhere in recent decades due to an uncompetitive economic climate in the United States, Barnes has...

This week, House Republicans are poised to release what they are calling “Tax Reform 2.0," their update to last December’s massive rewrite of the tax code. GOP leaders promise a floor vote by the end of the month. As a matter of substance, and against the backdrop of December’s historic changes, the new proposals are more “0” than “2." But as a matter of politics, they put Democrats in a tough position heading into the midterm elections. Still Democrats may have some options. Based on what we know from brochure-like previews, the centerpiece of Tax Reform 2.0 will be to...

Monday afternoon. in lieu of a normal White House press briefing, we were greeted with the odd spectacle of Council of Economic Advisers Chair Kevin Hassett greeting the press corps with charts and graphs designed to make it clear that Donald Trump’s election is responsible for 2018’s rosy economic conditions. The lecture he prepared was fairly unpersuasive on a number of levels, starting with the extent to which Hassett found himself trying to back-date the inflection point to Election Day 2016, well before any actual Trump policies had taken effect. But in an administration whose messaging is normally nonstop risible...

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) on Monday unveiled a package of three bills touted as a sequel to the 2017 GOP tax law. "Last year we said goodbye to America’s old, broken tax code," said Brady. "Under our new system, we’re seeing incredible job growth, bigger paychecks, and a tax code that works on behalf of families and American businesses. Now it’s the time to ensure we never let our tax code become so outdated again. We look forward to bringing these bills to the Committee soon.” The bills would make permanent some temporary aspects of...

As we move closer to the mid-term election day, the stream of favorable economic news following the Republican tax cuts and President Trump's moves toward deregulation has spurred former President Obama to step forward to try to make the case that his policies were the real source of the current boom. In a speech at the University of Illinois, Obama attempted to persuade people that "the credit for the prosperity that is breaking out today truly belongs to me. The GOP tax cuts wouldn't have been as effective if taxes hadn't been so high during my term. Likewise for the...

**SNIP** What keeps the city afloat, and allows it to maintain a robust jobs-based economy, is the ability to borrow money and deliver services. Only cities that manage their finances responsibly can hope to woo the bond market, and that’s what Emanuel has done. In municipal bond circles, he’s seen as a trusted partner whose departure is unsettling. “I’ve been pretty impressed with the mayor,” Howard Cure of Evercore Wealth Management told The Bond Buyer, an industry publication. “He inherited a very structurally weak budget and I think he’s made a lot of improvements and is striving to achieve structural...

New Jersey's gas tax is going up this fall for the second time in two years. And all indications are that it is going to keep going up, an industry expert says. And up. And up. Gas tax collections have fallen behind for two years now, precipitating Gov. Phil Murphy's administration to announce Thursday that it is raising the motor fuel tax 4.3 cents, bringing state taxes on a gallon of gasoline sold in New Jersey to 41.4 cents -- the ninth-highest of any state. This follows a whopping 23-cent-per-gallon increase passed by the state Legislature and signed into law...

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s Tuesday announcement that he won’t seek a third term throws a big unknown into the city’s efforts to score Amazon’s second headquarters, which would be the crowning achievement in a line of corporate wins under his leadership. The city is one of 20 locations in the running for what Amazon has dubbed HQ2, which will bring up to 50,000 high-paying new jobs to the chosen North American location. Amazon has said it will pick a location by year’s end. Emanuel has been hands-on in trying to woo Amazon to Chicago, touting the city’s growing tech sector,...

Eight hundred fifty thousand signatures have been gathered in California in support of a voter initiative that would supposedly increase property taxes by 2020 for commercial and industrial properties to get around Proposition 13 property tax protections.  The initiative would leave small business and residential properties alone.  It is called the California Schools and Local Communities Funding Act.  But raising property taxes on leased commercial properties would result in lower tax revenues. What Is Split-Roll Property Tax? A split roll tax means applying a tax formula for commercial and industrial properties different from the formula applied for residential properties.  The tax roll is...

Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum (D) said Sunday that he would increase taxes on corporations in the state to help fund his plan to provide Medicare for all. Gillum was pressed on CNN's "State of the Union" about his pledge to provide medical care for everyone in his state, including how he would pay for it. "I don’t buy that," Gillum said when asked if higher taxes are a prerequisite of Medicare for all. "I will absolutely not raise taxes on everyday working Floridians."

Xcel again proved its preeminent power over every crack and crevasse of state government when the governor’s appointed Public Utilities Commission approved Xcel’s plan to close two state-of-the-art power plants a decade before they’re supposed to. At the same time the PUC acknowledges Xcel was lying when they said the move would save us money. ... The public relations spin on this corporate heist is glorious. Even though the coal-fired power plants, Comanche 1 and 2, are the most clean-burning that modern technology allows, making them the cleanest in the nation, they still use vilified coal, so this move looks...

The Economist has a fine cover story on the decline of the Silicon Valley, warning that its famed garage start-ups are fleeing to places such as Fort Lauderdale and Pittsburgh. Here's its title leader:  Why startups are leaving Silicon Valley, which sums the problem up as this: Its combination of engineering expertise, thriving business networks, deep pools of capital, strong universities and a risk-taking culture have made the Valley impossible to clone, despite many attempts to do so. There is no credible rival for its position as the world’s pre-eminent innovation hub. But there are signs that the Valley’s...