Free Republic

More than 60 years ago, the interstate highway system was envisioned to connect the country from coast to coast. Initially, a modest 3-cents-per-gallon tax on gasoline and diesel fuel was established and wholly dedicated to the construction and maintenance of roads and bridges. The vision became reality and exceeded expectations, connecting communities, making travel easier, and improving the flow of commerce. A short time later, the gasoline and diesel tax was increased to 4 cents per gallon—where it stayed until 1983, when it was doubled. Unfortunately, this also marked the point in which highway taxes began to be diverted to...

Before Officer Michael Griffin was indicted on federal charges for using excessive force and lying under oath, he cost the city of Minneapolis $411,864.78. The city paid $140,000 in 2014 to settle a lawsuit filed by Ibrahim Regai, who Griffin allegedly knocked unconscious at a Minneapolis night club in 2010, while he was off duty. That same year, a federal jury in a civil trial ruled the city must pay Jeremy Axel, Michael Mitchell and their attorneys $271,864.78. Griffin allegedly kicked Mitchell in the chest and punched Axel in the back of the head, knocking him unconscious outside a club...

When Solyndra went bankrupt and cost taxpayers up to $530 million, the Obama administration's green energy loan program was subjected to congressional hearings and became an election-year issue. Now, another solar panel company may be headed for a similar fate. SoloPower, which makes thin-film solar panels at a new plant in Portland, Ore., opened Sept. 27 with an upbeat ribbon-cutting ceremony. Local and state politicians gushed about the company eventually operating four production lines and creating 450 well-paid green jobs. Just a few months later, those predictions, and SoloPower's future, are on shaky ground. The first production line was never...

A Republican senator is calling on President Obama to cancel the $12.8 million in bonuses that were approved for 10 executives at the government-seized mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that received a $170 billion taxpayer-funded bailout. “I am calling on the president of the United States to cancel those bonuses and explain to the American people, the taxpayers who bailed out Freddie and Fannie, why he continues to reward failure,” Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said at a news conference Tuesday. The two housing giants have received about $141 billion in taxpayer funds since the government took them over...

The Bloomberg Businessweek cover story on the U.S. Postal Service a couple weeks ago was a real stunner - filled with so many juicy tidbits that it took a while to digest.  It is just phenomenal that a handful of ingnoramuses (ignorami?) are doing this to a once proud example of American ingenuity. We've heard the story over the past several years - the rise of email has demolished traditional first class mail.  Free markets created the likes of UPS and FedEx, and thanks to better and more reliable service customers willingly paid substantially more for those products.  So what...

Zero Hedge is rarely speechless, but after receiving this email from a correlation desk trader, we simply had to hold a moment of silence for the phenomenal scam that continues unabated in the financial markets, and now has the full oversight and blessing of the U.S. government, which in turn keeps on duping U.S. taxpayers into believing everything is good. I present the insider perspective of trader Lou (who wishes to remain anonymous) in its entirety: AIG-FP accumulated thousands of trades over the years, all essentially consisted of selling default protection. This was done via a number of structures with...

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Annapolis lawmakers are introducing a bill that would allow for the collection of money from unspent gift cards to put into the state treasury. Nationally, gift cards are a $59 billion industry. Experts estimate that 6 percent of gift cards go unspent in Maryland. The bill would allow the state to claim 70 percent of that unused money and use the cash to fund education. "To me, this is a no-brainer. If you haven't used your gift card for four years, you are not going to use it, and why can't we share? The bill states we...

Gov. Martin O'Malley, trying to burnish his fiscal credentials amid new budget troubles, claims he has made $1.8 billion in budget cuts since taking office in January last year. But figures provided by his administration to The Washington Times show the governor was responsible for less than two-thirds of the cuts, and that sizable increases in spending and a $1 billion withdrawal from the state's rainy-day fund are not reflected in Mr. O'Malley's accounts. "That $1.8 billion is nonsense," said Delegate Steven R. Schuh, Anne Arundel Republican. Mr. Schuh, a personal financial adviser and budget expert, said that while Mr....

Jenifer Simpson has lived in Northwest for more than two decades and never thought that her house off Adams Street — with its lace curtains and wreath on the door — looked empty and abandoned. But Mrs. Simpson learned this month that city officials had classified the home as vacant. The result? A $13,000 property tax bill — roughly $11,000 more than the amount she normally pays. "It's kind of insulting to receive a bill for a vacant property in a house you've lived in for 22 years and paid the tax diligently and assiduously," Mrs. Simpson said. "Did they...

A program intended to catch D.C. residents who have not registered their cars also is netting motorists coming to the city to see friends or patronize clubs or restaurants. "I thought this was an April Fools' joke," said Thomas Kollins, a 64-year-old Springfield resident who left a lounge in the city last month to find a warning notice on the windshield of his 2003 Toyota Camry. "I really did — because it's so absurd." The Registration of Out of State Automobiles (ROSA) program looks for those who have not registered their cars with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) within...

ANNAPOLIS — A Senate committee voted yesterday to increase the income tax on Maryland's highest wage earners. Members of the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee voted 10-5 to increase the personal income tax on residents who earn $1 million or more, as part of a plan to repeal the tax on computer services they passed in November. "If you repeal the computer-services tax, you're going to have to backfill it with something," said Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., Southern Maryland Democrat. "It's political. It's a very political vote." Committee members rejected a proposal from Sen. Richard S. Madaleno...

How much would you be willing to pay to cut 30 minutes off your commute? A study released this week suggests adding variably-priced toll lanes to highways in the Washington region could reduce traffic tie-ups while generating funds for road improvements. The report from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments evaluates several scenarios -- from adding new lanes and placing tolls on major and secondary highways to a more conservative plan to place tolls on existing lanes of the region's parkways. Although costs vary depending on the plan, for I-270 in Frederick County, the study suggests tolls between 30 cents...

ANNAPOLIS — Key supporters of Gov. Martin O'Malley — including the state's largest labor union — have split with him on his support of a banking bill they are calling anti-consumer. The Maryland State and D.C. AFL-CIO, the state's largest labor union and a strong O'Malley supporter, has come out against the bill, which would allow state banks to charge fees if a borrower pays off a mortgage loan early. Progressive Maryland, a liberal advocacy group, is expected to announce its opposition next week. "This 'Emergency Bill' would be retroactive and strip the citizens of Maryland of any right to...

(CNSNews.com) - As part of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's "Green the Capitol" initiative, the House of Representatives bought $89,000 worth of carbon credits in November. House Republicans, however, want more oversight for what they see as a program subject to "deception, waste and fraud." In announcing the initiative in June 2007, Pelosi said buying carbon offsets would balance out about 24,000 tons of carbon emissions from House operations. "Offsets are credits that are purchased -- in this case, from the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) -- to offset carbon emissions through investment in other U.S.-based environmentally friendly projects," the California Democrat...

ANNAPOLIS — A package of taxes and fees passed during the recent General Assembly special session took effect yesterday after a Carroll County judge declined to impose a stay while a lawsuit challenging the validity of the session makes its way through the courts. Smokers yesterday started paying $1 more per pack of cigarettes, while taxes increased for car buyers, corporations and high-wage earners. A penny increase in the state sales tax is to take effect tomorrow. Republican legislative leaders are still awaiting the outcome of a long-shot legal case that could overturn the tax increases. Irwin Kramer, the lawyer...

ANNAPOLIS — Gov. Martin O'Malley's plan to close the state's five-year, $6.9 billion budget shortfall would raise $3.6 billion more than necessary, according to an analysis of figures released by the governor's office. About $2.5 billion of the additional money would go to new spending and tax cuts, although it is unclear how the additional $1.1 billion would be used. Mr. O'Malley and his office have not discussed the net effect of their budget plan, but numbers used in The Washington Times analysis are those he has presented in public over the past two weeks. The administration responded by saying...

ANNAPOLIS — Gov. Martin O'Malley's plan to close the state budget shortfall would raise at least $7.6 billion in taxes over the next five years, according to an analysis of figures released by the governor's office. The plan, which Mr. O'Malley, a Democrat, made public last week, also would include about $1.9 billion in new spending beyond what is needed to close Maryland's estimated five-year, $6.9 billion budget shortfall, according to an analysis by The Washington Times. The O'Malley administration has responded by saying the governor has "put forward a comprehensive, long-term plan to address the structural deficit that reduces...

ANNAPOLIS — Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley ended his statewide tax tour yesterday with a more definitive outline of how he plans to close the state's $1.7 billion budget shortfall, including plans to cut education funding. Mr. O'Malley, a Democrat, said he would cut $207 million in mandated education spending while phasing in an optional $38 million for teachers based on where they work. "Some of these things are going to be painful," Mr. O'Malley said as he detailed the long-awaited arithmetic behind his proposed fiscal 2009 budget before about 150 people, mostly lobbyists and government staffers inside a school gymnasium....

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — The largess of Rep. John P. Murtha — hundreds of millions of dollars in pork projects over the years — is on display in and around his district in southwestern Pennsylvania. From the John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport to the stretch of U.S. 219 named Jack P. Murtha Highway, the Pennsylvania Democrat leaves his mark with federal taxpayer dollars. The money helped build the stunted economy in and around Mr. Murtha's hometown of Johnstown, a Rust Belt community about 65 miles east of Pittsburgh, by cultivating a defense-contracting industry, transplanting federal jobs there and subsidizing public-works projects....

An Arlington judge yesterday ruled that starting in January an unelected regional body can levy on Northern Virginia residents a slew of new taxes and fees to pay for local transportation upgrades. The ruling by Circuit Court Judge Benjamin N.A. Kendrick would allow the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, composed of 14 voting members, to raise about $300 million a year through higher taxes on home sales, car safety inspections and auto repairs to fund regional road and rail projects. "Northern Virginia Transportation Authority is an independent political subdivision similar to other entities such as water and sewer authorities, sanitary districts,...