Free Republic

One of the architects of Mayor Bill de Blasio's housing plan is living well at the taxpayer's expense... Anita Laremont, the executive director of the Department of City Planning, as one of four civil servants raking in more than $300,000 this fiscal year thanks to special permission to receive both a public paycheck and public-pension payments. Waivers granted under Section 211 of New York's Retirement and Social Security Law are supposed to allow the state and local governments to attract and retain employees younger than 65 ... the real number of high-earning double-dippers may be considerably greater because waivers are...

State and local government budgets are by all accounts in dire straits. Last year, collectively, they faced a $100 billion budget shortfall. After 12 months of belt tightening, emergency aid, layoffs and tax hikes, things are even worse. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said in a report this year that the gap could be $140 billion. And last week, respected analyst Meredith Whitney suggested that state governments will collapse unless the federal government offers a trillion-dollar bailout that will rival the bank bailout of 2008. And yet, across America, many government workers are getting rich off taxpayer-funded salaries....

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- The secretary to Mayor John DeStefano Jr. and her City Hall telephone should not have been used to receive calls for a gubernatorial campaign event earlier this week, the mayor's spokesman said Thursday. An invitation was recently sent for a campaign event at DeStefano's home following his inauguration for a sixth term on New Year's Day. The invitations were paid for by "DeStefano for Connecticut" but did not indicate whether the event was tied to the inaugural ceremony or a gubernatorial campaign effort. DeStefano is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor. The invitations directed those who...

A simple question... So, under the FairTaxI get to keep my whole paycheck, prices for everything I will buy will stay the same even with the taxes included, and I get a prebate check from the govt every month. And businesses pay no taxes. Where is the extra money coming from... What is wrong with this reasoning below? 1. Right now the government collects $X in the form of all taxes. 2. All taxes are really paid for by consumers in the end result, either directly, or in the cost of their purchases which allow businesses to collect money in...

A broadly written Kentucky law is allowing government employees and elected leaders to retire, only to return a month later to their same jobs, often at the same pay, and collect retirement benefits on top of their salaries. ''It's happening, and it's happening quite often,'' said Bill Hanes, executive director of the Kentucky Retirement Systems. The state doesn't track how many people are ''double dipping,'' but the number likely is in the hundreds, Hanes said. The practice has had no impact thus far on the $11 billion in pension investments, Hanes said. But he warned that if many more workers...