Free Republic

Wealthy taxpayers are fleeing California, hurting the economy and the budgets of the governments that have raised the cost of living in the Golden State. That’s according to the Los Angeles Times, which reported Tuesday that while wealthy and talented people used to move into California, that trend has recently been reversed: The reversal, largely in response to the state’s high taxes and soaring cost of living, has begun to damage California’s overall economy. And, by cutting into tax revenues, has delivered punishing blows to state and local governments. State budget analysts recently projected a record $68-billion deficit in the...

In addition to the off-year elections to be decided this November in Virginia, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi, a number of ballot initiatives will be voted on in other states. Perhaps the most consequential measure appearing on the November 2023 ballot, at least when it comes to fiscal policy, is found in Colorado, where voters will be asked whether they want to weaken the nation’s strongest tax and expenditure limit in exchange for property tax relief. Proposition HH, which was referred to the November ballot by Colorado lawmakers with the support of Governor Jared Polis (D), would weaken the state’s Taxpayer’s...

A “60 Minutes” segment broadcast on Sunday caused an uproar after the show reported that American taxpayers are “subsidizing” Ukraine’s economy and paying for all of Ukraine’s first responders.The news comes as a recent Fox News poll found that 56% of Republicans say the U.S. should be sending less support to Ukraine. A recent CNN poll found that 55% of Americans say Congress should not authorize additional funding to support Ukraine.“American taxpayers are financing more than just weapons. We discovered the U.S. government’s buying seeds and fertilizer for Ukrainian farmers… and covering the salaries of Ukraine’s first responders – all...

While everyday American taxpayers are battling inflation and struggling to make ends meet, their money is subsidizing small businesses in Ukraine, according to a recent report on CBS News’s 60 Minutes. In addition to at least $43 billion in military aid, the U.S. has pumped nearly $25 billion of non-military aid into Ukraine’s economy since the Ukraine War began in February 2022, according to the report.

This week, 90 Democrats signed a letter urging President Biden to find a way to cancel student debt by early 2024. Thirteen of these Democrats--including Reps Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY), Rashida Tlaib (Mich), Ilhan Omar (Minn), Jamaal Bowman (NY), Grace Meng (NY), Jimmy Gomez (CA), Nanette Barragán (CA), Brendan Boyle (PA), Veronica Escobar (TX), Nikema Williams (GA), Salud Carbajal (CA), Jasmine Crockett (DX), and Greg Casar (TX)--have a personal financial interest in having this debt canceled. Rep. Meng denied that there is any conflict of interest in her supporting the cancellation of her husband's $250,000 debt, saying "he's one of my...

Legislative Democrats have been scheming to kill Colorado’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR, since before it was added to the state Constitution in 1992. Hardly a year goes by without a bill, proposal, “listening tour,” or lawsuit hatched to enable state legislators to spend money TABOR denies them. Now, they’re at it again. This time, they’ve proposed a Rube-Goldberg ballot initiative called Proposition HH. Some of its superficial details might seem novel — like lipstick on the proverbial pig — but it’s only the latest gambit in a political long-con that has gotten very, very old. That’s why the...

Katie Ross and Sarah Fraser, a brace of medical academics from Canada’s Dalhousie University, recently opined that taxpayers should pay for “minimally invasive” gender-affirming surgeries such as “voice feminization” and hair removal. The demented duo penned an editorial that found its way into the Canadian Medical Association Journal.The CMA bemoans the fact that such publicly funded procedures are currently only available in two Canadian jurisdictions, and also that “gender-affirming care” suffers from “substantial wait times and care gaps.” Every form of health care in Canada suffers from substantial wait times and care gaps. It is fervently to be hoped that...

The Department of Homeland Security this week announced an additional $77 million in funding for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and communities at the border and elsewhere that are dealing with the ramifications of the migrant crisis now in its third year. DHS announced that the funding, which comes through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), will be made available to 53 recipients for "temporary shelter and other eligible costs associated with migrants awaiting the outcome of their immigration proceedings." It brings the total amount handed out this fiscal year to more than $770 million. That funding originates from the omnibus bill...

New York taxpayers will pay $20 million a month to hold migrants on Randall’s Island, or $10,000 per asylum seeker if the facility fills all 2,000 beds, according to a state source who disclosed documents and internal emails to the press.

New York City taxpayers may spend $12 billion on waves of border crossers and illegal aliens arriving in the city daily, triple the cost previously projected by Mayor Eric Adams (D). On Wednesday, Adams announced that nearly 100,000 border crossers and illegal aliens have arrived in New York City since the spring of last year — about 18 times the population of Saratoga, New York. Close to 60,000 of those migrants remain living off city taxpayers.

Property-tax relief? Hardly. Proposition HH on this fall’s statewide ballot is really about growing government. And it attempts to do that by piggybacking on public outrage over skyrocketing property tax bills. The proposal’s purported property-tax “relief” — served up by Gov. Jared Polis and his legislative allies as one part of their dizzyingly complicated scheme — is a ruse. As with every attempt to play politics with a crisis, there’s a hidden agenda. And that agenda is to snooker Colorado voters into letting the state keep and spend billions of dollars in surplus tax revenue that otherwise would have to...

The state of Illinois reached a new contract agreement with members of the AFSCME union that will cost taxpayers an additional $620 million over four years. Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Tuesday announced the agreement with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. The state's previous contract with the union expired at the end of June. The $620 million in additional costs amounts to a raise of nearly 18% during that time. About $200 million of that would be during the current fiscal year. “Illinois is a pro-worker state, and when it comes to workers’ rights, my administration is...

On Friday’s broadcast of the Fox Business Network’s “Cavuto: Coast to Coast,” New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli (D) discussed the state’s projected $36 billion budget shortfall over three years and stated that taxpayers leaving the state is part of the issue along with the fact that the economy is slowing down. DiNapoli stated, “I think there are a couple of factors happening: There’s no doubt the economy certainly is slowing and we are feeling the effects in the current year collections of the slowdown, as far as financial services, Wall Street’s a very important part of the economy in...

The largest public school district in Washington State is referring students in the district to free "gender-affirming care." The Nova Wellness Center and the Meany Health Center offer "gender reaffirming care," including hormone-blocking medications and referrals for sex change surgeries, which are available to middle and high school students in Seattle Public Schools (SPS). According to documents obtained by Parents Defending Education (PDE), the health centers are operated by Country Doctor Community Health Centers (CDCHC) which offers “no cost comprehensive, trauma-informed, and gender-affirming care, conveniently at the school.” As stated on its website, CDCHC provides services to "transgender, non-binary, and...

A group of congressional Democrats reported Wednesday that three large tax preparation firms — H&R Block, TaxAct and Tax Slayer — sent “extraordinarily sensitive” information on tens of millions of taxpayers to Facebook parent company Meta over the course of at least two years. Their report urges federal agencies to investigate and potentially go to court over the wealth of information that the three company shared with the social media giant. In a letter to the heads of the IRS, the Justice Department, the Federal Trade Commission and the IRS watchdog, seven lawmakers say their findings “reveal a shocking breach...

Danny, a Venezuelan migrant who recently arrived in the “Big Apple,” is beyond surprised with the accommodations and benefits provided to him. He crossed the Rio Grande in May near Brownsville, Texas, after a grueling trek through Panama, Central America, and Mexico. Now, Danny told Breitbart Texas he has a clean hotel room, a New York City identification card, free health care and prescription benefits, and recently found a job at a cleaning company. All at the expense of New York City taxpayers.

Republicans in the U.S. Senate and House have filed legislation to ban federal employee retirement money from being invested in funds requiring compliance with ESG and DEI policies. The Stop TSP ESG Act was filed in the Senate by U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Eric Schmitt, R-Missouri. A coalition of Republicans in the House led by Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colorado, filed a companion bill on May 17. If the bills were to pass, it’s unlikely the president would sign them as his administration is advancing ESG and DEI policies, including a Department of Labor rule change over which 25...

American taxpayers will foot a more than $135 million bill to cover care, food, and housing costs for border crossers and illegal aliens living in the sanctuary city of New York City, Democrats announced this week. Since the spring of last year, more than 74,000 border crossers and illegal aliens have arrived in New York City — an inflow that Mayor Eric Adams (D) has said “is not sustainable,” though he has not urged President Joe Biden’s administration to reduce overall illegal immigration.

Minnesota will soon begin offering state taxpayer-funded college and university tuition to illegal aliens from families earning less than $80,000 annually, at no cost to them. The provision, slipped into an annual education funding measure, was approved by Gov. Tim Walz (D) late last month and will soon have the state’s taxpayers footing the bill for free college tuition for eligible illegal aliens.

Chicago, Illinois, Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) is celebrating the City Council’s approval to spend $51 million on newly arrived border crossers and illegal aliens — against objections from local taxpayers who said their needs are being put last in favor of foreign nationals. On Wednesday evening, the Democrat-controlled Chicago City Council voted 34-13 to spend $51 million on more than 10,000 border crossers and illegal aliens that have arrived in the city since August of last year.