Free Republic

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that tariffs the Trump administration imposed on China “serves no strategic purpose and raise costs to consumers.” Anchor George Stephanopoulos said, “Several in Congress are calling for gas tax holidays. Is that on the table?”

This is a huge hit to the wallet. Most Americans pay close attention to how much of their money is taken in taxes each year. But there’s another, less obvious way the federal government imposes financial costs on citizens—and according to a new report, it amounts to trillions annually. The fiscally-conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) just released its annual “Ten Thousand Commandments” report, which documents the “size, scope, and cost of federal regulations, and how they affect American consumers, businesses, and the U.S. economy at large.” Report author Clyde Wayne Crews explains how we face a “hidden tax” from the...

There are few things I dislike more than paying taxes. As Americans, a third of all your hard earned dollars is confiscated by the U.S. government. Most of us get to determine what we do with our money – but not when it comes to taxes. However, there is the argument that taxes are a function of our democratic system. Those taxes are the result of laws implemented by freely elected representatives. If anything, we — the voters — are as much to blame for the muddied tax codes as are the nitwit politicians we elect.

“I can make a firm pledge. Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes,” President Obama, September 12, 2008 Beginning January 1, 2013, ObamaCare imposes a 3.8% Medicare tax on unearned income, including the sale of single family homes, townhouses, co-ops, condominiums, and even rental income. In February 2010, 5.02 million homes were sold, according to the National Association of Realtors. On any given day, the sale of a house, townhome, condominium,...

In my last post I told people to keep their eye on this financial reform bill. That the recently passed immigration law in Arizona is being used by Democrats as a distraction to avert the public’s attention from what the left hand is doing in Washington DC. Of course I am talking about the financial reform bill that up until today Republicans were engaging in a filibuster to block opening up debate on the Senate floor. They have now decided to end their filibuster and allow debate on the bill to take place. There are many reasons why this bill...

Congressional plans for financing the proposed health care legislation include provisions to tax health insurance of non-union citizens and medical devices vital to the delivery of medicines. We never hear that health care is already heavily taxed, but that these taxes are hidden from the consumer and have the greatest impact on the sick. What we do hear is that costs are skyrocketing and insurance companies are gouging the public, in spite of actual data that indicate the profit for health insurance companies has lingered under 3.5% year after year. It should be obvious that those profits are not the...

While this may be a vanity, I believe it is another chapter in a growing trend of government to prey on its citizen subjects to add to their coffers.Yesterday, while returning home from a Christmas visit to relatives, my daughter was picked up on I-77 just north of the Big Walker Mountain Tunnel.She is 24, a cautious driver and never had a speeding ticket before. I'm 54 and have had only one, when I was slightly younger than she is now.The circumstances of the ticket are suspect. She was passing a semi-trailer going in the 50's on a steep downhill...

On a vote that was so close that Farmington Mayor William Standley had to cast the tie breaker, officials of the Four Corners community rejected installing red-light cameras ... There are three municipalities in the state that use or are planning to use red-light cameras to enforce traffic laws: Albuquerque, Las Cruces and Santa Fe.

Farmington attorney who opposes red-light cameras in Farmington is fighting two tickets he received after his cars were caught on camera zipping through Albuquerque intersections. He contends Albuquerque’s ordinance violates state law and the federal constitution. He says he wasn’t driving but purposely hasn’t asked family members who was.

Denver's red-light cameras were anything but picture perfect in their first month of operation. More than 60 percent of the 2,545 suspected red-light violations caught on camera ...have been tossed out. The reasons vary, but police said that most of the citations were rejected because the "threshold speed" that helps trigger the cameras was set too low, generating hundreds of false readings. "The cameras fired, but the picture clearly showed all of the vehicles in compliance," ... Since then, the threshold speed was reset ... In Denver, police officials expect the city's $838,800 red-light camera system to perform more smoothly...

CLIVE, Iowa - Minutes after Neel Manglik illegally turned right on a red light in the Des Moines suburb of Clive, a video popped up on a computer at an office park outside Scottsdale, Ariz. The $75 citation arrived in the mail weeks later, making Manglik one of the millions of Americans ticketed as part of a growing industry that is making handsome profits for companies that operate video cameras at busy intersections throughout the nation. As more cities sign up and others invest their profits into more cameras, those companies expect increased revenue for years to come. What's less...

Denver has failed to enforce its red-light camera contract, collecting the $75 fines but not collecting the data necessary to determine whether the program actually is reducing red-light running. More than 11,200 tickets were mailed out through November. Denver police officials in charge of the program refused to be interviewed by the Rocky about the problems; Redflex failed to respond to several interview requests and written questions. After stories in the Rocky last spring disclosed that Denver uses the legal minimum three seconds of yellow, despite an engineering formula calling for more, the city agreed to add time at all...

drivers are celebrating after they fought their automated tickets for running red lights and won. This week, a Prince George's County judge threw out more than a dozen red-light tickets taken by a camera on Annapolis Road because the drivers never actually drove through the intersection. Now, transportation officials are demanding the cameras be removed. mobile red light cameras do not comply with federal and state standards. "This program is illegal, it is illicit and it is illegitimate because it's charging people for running red lights they have not run," Townsend said. Last June when the controversial cameras first went...

June 20, 2007 Reid, Kerry, Bayh Join Leaders In New Energy Technologies To Discuss How Democratic Energy Bill Will Sharpen America's Competitive Edge Washington, DC—Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senators John Kerry and Evan Bayh joined leaders in new energy technologies today to discuss how energy-efficiency can sharpen America’s competitive edge. Democrats are moving ahead this week with The Renewable Fuels, Consumer Protection, and Energy Efficiency Act of 2007, which will help lower energy costs, create jobs, protect consumers from price-gouging, strengthen national security and reduce global-warming emissions. Four leaders in new energy technologies joined the Senators to discuss...

Scottsdale made a deal with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and the Arizona Department of Public Safety in January to ignore their own speed violations snapped by the city’s pilot Loop 101 photo enforcement system. The arrangement meant sheriff’s office and DPS vehicles exceeding the posted 65 mph speed limit on Loop 101 received a free pass, even though in some cases police officials admitted the speeding might not have been justified. Some of the speeds recorded were significant, up to 117 mph. Since the high-profile camera system was turned on Jan. 22, city records show that 16 emergency vehicles...

It's a fee. No wait, it's a tax. Actually ... Attempt to define $3 water charge comes up dry SACRAMENTO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's waterworks plan, which could send millions of flood-control dollars to San Joaquin County, hinges in part on a $3 charge that would appear on a homeowner's water bill every month. Schwarzenegger calls this charge a fee. Others say it's a tax. While this debate might mean little to a Stockton homeowner faced with forking over $36 a year, it is so politically charged that few at the Capitol will discuss it openly. The flood-control legislation begins...

EPA Proposes Drinking Water Rules to Reduce Illness, Cancer Risks; Estimated Benefits Top $2 Billion Annually 7/11/03 4:10:00 PM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: National Desk Contact: John Millett, 202-564-7842 WASHINGTON, July 11 /U.S. Newswire/ -- To further reduce the risk of illness from microbes and decrease cancer risks from chemicals that form during drinking water treatment, EPA is proposing rules that would require drinking water systems to monitor for and increase protection against Cryptosporidium while expanding the monitoring and control of disinfection byproducts. Building upon rules now in effect, the Long Term 2 Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule (LT2) and the...