Free Republic

Despite talk about easing burdens on businesses to encourage them to create jobs, companies in Virginia will be paying more in taxes come Jan. 1. The state unemployment tax that businesses pay on each employee will be going up, from an average of $95 per employee per year to an average of $171 a year in 2010, $234 in 2011 and $263 in 2012. The tax goes into the fund the state uses to pay unemployment benefits... When the unemployment fund gets low, it triggers an automatic increase in the tax. The increase is determined by a formula. Virginia Employment...

Virginia Gov. Timothy Kaine (D) proposed Friday replacing the local car tax by increasing income tax $1.9 billion a year. But Republicans in the General Assembly and Gov.-elect Robert F. McDonnell (R) have said they are opposed to any tax hikes. The outgoing governor also proposed about $2.3 billion in budget cuts to help make up for a nearly $4.2 billion shortfall by 2012. ... Kaine recommended eliminating 1,879 jobs as well as 664 layoffs, many of them in the departments of transportation, corrections, juvenile justice and at the University of Virginia. In public education, he would cap the number...

Glenn Beck argues for a federal Value Added Tax. O'Reilly wants a federal sales tax.

One of Europe's solutions to the perceived global warming threat is trying to regulate carbon emissions through Carbon Credits The way it works is the government sets a or cap on the total amount of a pollutant that can be emitted. Companies or other groups are issued emission permits and are required to hold an equivalent number of credits. Companies that need to increase their emission allowance must buy credits from those who pollute less. In effect, the buyer is paying a charge for polluting, while the seller is being rewarded for having reduced emissions by more than was needed....

Obama promised not to raise taxes. If he signed this bill into law, he would break his promise...

Not content with his humiliation at Copenhagen, Denmark this past September, President Obama will be traveling there again in December to attend the UN COP15 Climate Change Conference. This agreement would commit the United States to punitive and expensive greenhouse gas regulations dictated by the United Nations without recourse. COP stands for "Conference of the Parties" and the December Copenhagen conference will be the 15th under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), hence COP15. According to their website, it will be one of the largest conferences ever held outside the New York or Geneva headquarters, with an...

A proposal to increase the state beer tax drew support and criticism in Madison on Tuesday. Some think it will help crack down on drunken driving, while others aren't as sure. Advocates and opponents of the beer tax increase piled into the public hearing. After the bill's author, Representative Teresa Berceau (D-Madison) rattled off Wisconsin's notorious drinking statistics, she said the tax is affordable for the average drinker and would fund reform against drunken driving. "We're talking about drinking a six-pack a day, seven days a week to generate an additional dollar of taxes. If you're drinking more than that,...

The Center for Science in the Public Interest believes that many states might be able to close gaps in their budgets by placing a tax on soda and other sugary drinks. The health advocacy group released a study this week that estimates budget-strapped states -- including California -- could generate a combined $10 billion a year by levying a tax of 7 cents per 12-ounce can of Coke or other beverage. Currently, 25 states impose special taxes on sugary drinks. The group, which is lobbying for such taxes and has suggested a national excise tax on sugared drinks, said raising...

Washington Governor Chris Gregoire appears to be softening her stance on raising taxes. Gregoire said today that her “door is open” to lawmakers and advocates who want to make the case for a tax package this January. Olympia Correspondent Austin Jenkins reports. A year ago when Gregoire was running for re-election this was how she responded to questions about higher taxes to offset budget cuts. Gregoire: “Now is not the time and I mean now meaning period not the time to consider raising anything.” 4.5 billion dollars in cuts later – and with the state facing yet another billion dollar...

At the Oct. 7 presidential debate, Barack Obama said, "If you make less than a quarter of a million dollars a year, you will not see a single dime of your taxes go up. If you make $200,000 a year or less, your taxes will go down."I point this out so that you realize that Obama supports your (note: use any word but "taxes" here) going up by 85800 dimes if your family makes $66,000 a year. More on that later. And as part of my "I told you so" moment, allow me to cite my October 2008 article entitled...

State fiscal experts agree generally that California's revenue structure relies too heavily on the wealthy and the whims of the stock market while failing to capture taxes from the now-dominant service sector.

Hawaii businesses will have to pay an average of about $1,000 more per employee in annual taxes come April to help keep unemployment payments flowing to laid-off workers. The rising number of unemployed is sapping the state's savings fund at a rate of $32 million a month, triggering the drastic tax increase called for by law. Businesses currently pay an average of $90 per employee each year into the unemployment fund, but that figure is expected to rise to an average of $1,040 by next spring. "It means less money businesses have to pay wages or create new jobs," said...

(09-17) 20:36 PDT -- Calling soda the new tobacco, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom will introduce legislation this fall that would charge a fee to retailers that sell sugary beverages. Newsom would need voter approval to tax individual cans of soda and sugary juice, but only needs approval from the Board of Supervisors to levy a fee on retailers.

Unemployment insurance payment of $90 surging to at least $1,040 per worker

Illinois' ongoing budget crisis and proposed income tax increases are taking a back seat as the "old" political habits of Illinois politicians re-emerge. According to statements made following a meeting with legislative leaders, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn said that a proposed Illinois tax increase will not be taken up until after the February 2nd primaries. As a result, the State's budget will remain unconstitutionally unbalanced and the budgets of social services organizations relying upon state funds will remain in limbo. The Governor's decision to delay debate over a proposed income tax hike stems from two likely, yet purely political motives:...

Reform: The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee wants levies on insurers to pay for ObamaCare and fines for families who don't sign up. We can cut costs and expand coverage without sacrificing freedom.To keep ObamaCare alive, Montana Democrat Max Baucus has proposed a Rube Goldberg scheme of fees and fines on insurers and the uninsured designed to forcibly bring everyone into the loving and protective arms of the nanny state. To help finance his Plan B, Baucus would impose annual fees of $6 billion on health insurers, $4 billion on medical-device makers, $2.3 billion on drug manufacturers and $750...

Californians must have thought they’d sent a loud and clear message to Sacramento in May when they rejected a series of referendums that would have approved tax hikes to solve their budget crisis. The only ballot initiative approved cut off legislators’ pay when they failed to produce a budget, in what should have been a sign that the Golden State electorate had had enough. The political class in the state capital apparently has their fingers stuck firmly in their ears:

As the American public scrutinizes the various bills passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, the first to create a thunderous backlash was against Obama's Health Care Reform, especially the Public Option.

(CNSNews.com) - Appearing on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” yesterday, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner floated President Obama’s next big move: a tax increase on middle-class Americans. Geithner made it clear during the interview that the administration believes that new federal revenues are needed and he declined to rule out raising taxes on Americans earning less than $250,000 per year to get those revenues. During the interview, host George Stephanopoulos pointed out to Geithner that the “Congressional Budget Office estimates that your budget will add $9 trillion to the national debt over the next decade.” Stephanopoulos also noted that former...

PROVIDENCE — State tax officials have put more than 1,200 businesses across the state on notice this week that they are out of business unless they pay their overdue sales taxes immediately. For most, that action came in the form of a personal visit from the state Division of Taxation, ordering business owners to lock their doors at once. By Wednesday, a line of people had queued up inside the Department of Administration building on Smith Hill, waiting their turn to plead their case to a state revenue agent. Some were angry. Others frustrated. “I understand the state needs money,...

DON'T GO THERE: DEMS EYE 10% TAX ON BOTOX, COSMETIC SURGERY Mon Jul 27 2009 17:18:00 ET Face-lifts, tummy tucks and hair transplants could be hit with a new tax to help finance the trillion-dollar healthcare overhaul plan, CONGRESS DAILY reports. The Senate Finance Committee has discussed imposing a 10% excise tax on cosmetic surgery deemed unnecessary for medical purposes. DAILY's Peter Cohn reveals: The idea was broached in a meeting with OMB Director Orszag in mid-July, after which Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus told reporters he had heard some "interesting," "creative," and "kind of fun" ideas. MORE Developing...

RALEIGH -- Many taxpayers may not notice a 1-cent increase in the sales tax. But it will be hard for them to miss another tax increase that may be headed their way: a 2 percent surcharge on everyone's income tax.

HARTFORD — Most people in Connecticut don't want to pay more taxes, but they don't mind if the next guy does. A new Quinnipiac University poll suggests state voters are conflicted on the question of taxation as Gov. M. Jodi Rell and lawmakers try to reach agreement on a state budget. Only 48 percent of voters think a tax increase is necessary to balance the state budget, according to the poll. This is up from 32 percent in March. Poll director Douglas Schwartz said more telling is the finding that 60 percent of voters prefer cutting spending as opposed to...

It is the poor who will be bearing the burden of Obamacare. Sure, congress plans on paying for Obamacare by raising taxes. And while the press is reporting this tax surcharge will only burden the rich that is not exactly true. Those earning less than $250,000 will be hit with new taxes, too. If you don't sign up for health care, for instance, you will be taxed up to 2.5% of your income. Small businesses that don't have health plans will have to pay up to 8% of their payroll as a "fee." Small businesses that do not offer heath...

HARRISBURG — As powerful politicians clash over Pennsylvania’s lengthening state budget impasse, members of a small band of largely backbench conservative Democrats are exercising a little muscle of their own. The so-called “Blue Dog” Democrats in the House have openly defied a call by Gov. Ed Rendell and leaders of the House Democratic majority to support an increase in the personal income tax. And they did so in a building in which rank-and-file legislators generally fear the punishment that might result from thumbing their noses at their caucus leaders. Many of the 25 or so Blue Dogs are from western...

For five months of the year, Marj Rawls and Janice Pollack make New Hampshire their home. After selling their house in Harpersville, Ala., 12 years ago and using the money to buy an RV, the two have been traveling all across country – and stop at a little campground in Brookline each summer to enjoy the Granite State. But after making New Hampshire their home for so many summers, they may start rethinking their travel plans due to the state's newly revised rooms and meals tax. "We love this area and we love coming here," Rawls said. "But now we...

SPRINGFIELD -- State government limped into a new budget year Wednesday without a solid spending plan and rookie Gov. Pat Quinn threatened to drag the fight out all summer until he gets an income tax increase.For the third year in a row, Democrats who control Springfield failed to reach agreement on time, once again creating uncertainty for social service providers, public employees and others who count on the state paying its bills.Quinn scolded lawmakers in a rare joint session of the legislature and threatened to veto an admittedly underfunded spending plan passed by lawmakers in late May. But in a...

For the second time this year, a sales tax increase is going to cut into the profits of David Lynch, owner of Sacred Grounds coffeehouse in downtown San Pedro. "I have to absorb it unless I raise my prices," Lynch said of the half-percent increase that takes effect Wednesday everywhere in Los Angeles County. "And with things being the way they are, this is no time to raise prices. "We'll have to absorb it for now. But I'm not happy about it." The county sales tax is climbing a half-cent on the dollar to 9.75 percent because of voter-approved Measure...

Climate Change: A switch of four Republican votes would have defeated Waxman-Markey, the Democrats' global warming legislation. But like the Clinton Btu tax, the bill could die in the Senate and turn the House over to the GOP.What were these RINOs thinking? The GOP is supposed to be the party of low taxes and free markets. Rep. Mike Castle, one of the eight offered an explanation right off of President Obama's teleprompter. "Nations around the world are surging ahead with emission reductions and developing new energy technologies," Castle, Delaware's at-large congressman, posted on his House Web site. "The United States...

Climate Change: A switch of four Republican votes would have defeated Waxman-Markey, the Democrats' global warming legislation. But like the Clinton Btu tax, the bill could die in the Senate and turn the House over to the GOP. What were these RINOs thinking? The GOP is supposed to be the party of low taxes and free markets. Rep. Mike Castle, one of the eight offered an explanation right off of President Obama's teleprompter...Illinois Republican Mark Kirk, who has senatorial ambitions to replace the choice of impeached former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Sen. Roland Burris, demonstrates why GOP fortunes in the Land...

Coloradans whose license plates expire in July will have to pay new fees to get their plates renewed starting Wednesday. The size of the fees varies by the weight of the vehicle... Late fines are going up, too, and there will be a $2 daily fee on rental cars. The fees come from Senate Bill 108, the first new funding source for Colorado highways since the last time the gas tax increased nearly two decades ago. Democrats led by Gov. Bill Ritter pushed for the law, which should raise $200 million to $250 million a year to repair roads and...

HR2454 Passes House: Kirk, 7 other Republicans, Vote for Greatest Tax Increase in U.S. History "Cap and Trade". The official name for the bill is the "American Clean Energy and Security Act". HR2454 passed in the U.S. House of Representatives late Friday evening, June 26th. The bill--which will be the greatest tax increase in American history--received 219 "aye" votes and 212 "nay" votes. 211 Democrats and eight Republicans voted "yes", 44 Democrats and 168 Republicans voted "no". Therefore, it can safely be said, the votes of eight Republicans...

Climate Change: A suppressed EPA study says old U.N. data ignore the decline in global temperatures and other inconvenient truths. Was the report kept under wraps to influence the vote on the cap-and-trade bill? This was supposed to be the most transparent administration ever. Yet as the House of Representatives prepared to vote on the Waxman-Markey bill, the largest tax increase in U.S. history on 100% of Americans, an attempt was made to suppress a study shredding supporters' arguments.

Fiscal Policy: The House of Representatives is preparing to vote on an anti-stimulus package that in the name of saving the earth will destroy the American economy. Smoot-Hawley will seem like a speed bump.Not since a misguided piece of legislation imposed tariffs that turned a recession into a depression has there been a piece of legislation as bad as Waxman-Markey.The 1,000-plus-page American Clean Energy and Security Act (H.R. 2454) is being rushed to a vote by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi before anyone can seriously object to this economic suicide pact.

Fiscal Policy: The House of Representatives is preparing to vote on an anti-stimulus package that in the name of saving the earth will destroy the American economy. Smoot-Hawley will seem like a speed bump...As we've said before, capping emissions is capping economic growth. An analysis of Waxman-Markey by the Heritage Foundation projects that by 2035 it would reduce aggregate gross domestic product by $7.4 trillion. In an average year, 844,000 jobs would be destroyed, with peak years seeing unemployment rise by almost 2 million. Consumers would pay through the nose as electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket, as President Obama once...

RALEIGH, N.C. — Gov. Bev Perdue will hold "Save Education" rallies in Wilmington and Greenville Monday to press lawmakers to find additional revenue for education as they struggle to fill a projected $4.6 budget gap. "I've been so troubled by the proposed cuts to public education," Perdue said at a rally in Raleigh last Wednesday. "We cannot increase class size. We cannot lay off teachers. We will not sacrifice North Carolina's economic future." The rally at Minnie Evans Art Center in Wilmington was sponsored by the North Carolina Association of Educators. The governor has asked lawmakers negotiating the state's two-year...

On Friday June 19,2009 I called my state representative and my state senator to ask them to OPPOSE the proposed 1.5 % increase in the state income tax. One of the aids told me that I was only one of three calls that had asked them to OPPOSE the tax increase. I was advised that their offices had recieved HUNDREDS of calls asking that the state income tax be INCREASED. When I asked if that seemed suspicious or like an organized effort, the aid responded probably but the fact remained that hundreds had called in Favor of the increase in...

Potholes? Faded road stripes? Downed signs or faulty traffic lights? Too bad; take a number, and drive carefully. Among Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposals for closing the state's $24 billion budget deficit is to redirect gas-tax away from cities and counties to pay debt service on state highway bonds — draining $744 million from local government coffers in the next fiscal year and $745 million in the year after that. "It'll have a devastating effect here," said Alameda County's Public Works Director Daniel Woldesenbet. "This isn't just a public works issue, but a public safety issue." Woldesenbet said his agency stands...

It has been a bad week for gun owners in Tennessee, but the taxpayers lucked out when a proposal to tax online purchases when the retailer advertised through an instate company, website or blogger, stalled. Check to see if your state is considering an eTax.

Despite the Massachusetts Senate's passage of a tax package last week, it's clear that funds allocated for transportation - principally from the sales tax - are simply not enough. Moreover, with the rejection of 19- and 11-cent gas tax increase options, what seems to be absent from the debate is the compelling environmental argument for a hike in the gas tax. Looking at the evidence for climate change - and its dire consequences - it's clear that we need to get serious about weaning ourselves from our CO2-emitting, petroleum-based economy. Already in evidence is faster-than-expected melting of the polar ice...

Had enough yet? Rick Reiss Friday, May 22nd, 2009. Big government proponents frequently remind us that taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society. This line is actually attributed to the former Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. While true in some respects, our current tax system is anything but civilized. America now has a government riding roughshod over people and businesses with even higher taxes and more rules and regulations. It is only fitting to remember a quotation by another famous American jurist. “That the power to tax…” wrote US Supreme Court Justice John Marshall “involves the...

And don't take my word for it. Speaker Barbara Buckley admits that raising the Modified Business Tax will kill jobs. Feel free to pass this photo on or use it on your blog.

Saying it is time for new leadership, Assemblyman Mike Villines announced his resignation Thursday as head of the house's GOP caucus, effective June 1. Villines' replacement, expected to be Sam Blakeslee of San Luis Obispo Asked about Blakeslee, Villines called him "one of my best friends" and described him as "thoughtful, pragmatic but also very focused on conservative economic issues."

Many states are looking for ways to increase their tax revenue by taxing purchases made online. This extends to third party solicitors located in another state. Our Constitution infers that states are restricted from enacting laws that burden or restrict interstate commerce. Let’s stop this tax now.

Narcissist Obama rants and rationalizes big spending. Obaha inherited deficit (Bush did it),..blah, blah, blah,...so it wasn't me, it wasn't me, that wasn't me. Says a lot of Republican economists agree with him on the stimulus and banks (huh), Medicare and Medicaid are the problem. Unless we fix Health Care, we won't be able to solve Green Energy...We need to revise health care this year to drive down costs (huh)..."Folks waving Tea Bag around"...Tax Cuts didn't work (what)...Blah, Blah,...

A tax hike should be Ottawa's last alternative for getting its "fiscal house in order," Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff says, despite persistent Conservative party attacks painting him as a tax-and-spend advocate. "I don't want to raise taxes," Mr. Ignatieff told Policy Options editor L. Ian MacDonald in an interview to be published today, noting government must explore "every other possible alternative" to balance the books as the economy continues to contract. "No responsible politician trying to be truthful to the public can take anything off the table in a situation where we may be looking at a deficit of more...

The opinion polls have uttered. The country loves the new 50 per cent top rate of income tax. Soak the rich. Smash the bankers. So Government spin doctors are in second heaven. The Conservatives' silence redefines a tomb. And I suppose there'd be quite a turnout for the public flogging of Sir Fred the Shred. But before you book your tickets, hold hard. And before you lynch me as a rich b*****d flying a kite for my own cause, let me beg you to believe that I am not. I believe that this new top rate of tax could be...

"Nobody in this country realizes that cap-and-trade is a tax -- and it's a great big one," Rep. John Dingell (D-Michigan) said Friday.

Leave it to a Massachusetts politician to get taxes completely wrong. U.S. Rep. Bill Delahunt is soon expected to reintroduce the Streamlined Sales Tax (SST) bill, a federal mandate for collecting local sales taxes on interstate purchases. You buy organic Oreos from Oregon or moose meat from Montana, and Massachusetts sales taxes would track you across the Internet. Supporters argue it’s unfair to make traditional “brick-and-mortar” businesses collect our state’s 5 percent (for the moment) sales tax while a shop next door can sell the same item online tax-free. They’re right. Every business should be treated the same. What’s wrong...

Monday, April 6, 2009 New York To Become Ghost Town After Largest Tax Hike In History? Posted by Tyler Durden at 11:19 AM And two months ago one would have been almost tempted to believe David Paterson that he "will never increase taxes." Too bad that like every other politician, a little time and a ridiculous budget deficit is all it took for the governor to flip on his promise.   The New York State budget is a not a good omen for its public sector finances or the business community. Yes, the starting point was a tough one: the...