Free Republic

Rep. Ronny Jackson (R) is introducing legislation Friday, April 1, 2022, to ” ban any state or unit of local government from imposing any insurance requirement, or any tax, user fee” on gun owners. The immediate impact of Jackson’s bill would be to upend San Jose, California’s recently passed gun owners’ fee and liability insurance requirement, both of which were approved by the San Jose city council on Tuesday, January 25, 2022. On February 6, 2022, Breitbart News reported San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo (D) talked to Slate about seizing firearms from people who refuse to pay the city’s new...

On Sunday, the Senate released the final text of the so-called bipartisan (but really liberal) infrastructure bill — all 2,702 pages. According to Breitbart, the huge bill was written in secret for months outside the normal legislative process. Buried in the measure is a pilot program for a national motor vehicle per-mile user fee (MBUF) which is basically a long-term plan to make it too expensive to drive a car. One of the “fun” parts of the supposed bipartisan bill (fun for believers of the climate change hypothesis) can be found on page 511 of the measure, which you can...

Gov. Mike DeWine said Tuesday that he will propose an increase in the gasoline tax — and it could be a sizable one — to fix and improve Ohio’s crumbling roads and bridges. The first-year Republican would not reveal the size of the proposed hike. DeWine told reporters the recommended increase would maintain the status quo of highway maintenance and some major projects. That would require another $600 million per year, or an additional 14 cents a gallon — a 50 percent increase in the 28-cent tax — based on figures from the Department of Transportation. The elevation will be...

The White House on April 10 released a budget proposal that includes a $100-per-flight user fee—a charge AOPA warns could be disastrous for general aviation. “We are disappointed to see this misguided idea resurfacing after it has been repeatedly and overwhelmingly rejected in the past. This is the wrong way to fund our aviation system,” said AOPA President Craig Fuller. “Congress has said it will not tolerate user fees, and neither will the general aviation community.” Two previous budgets from the Obama administration have included similar user fee proposals, but in each case Congress has rejected the idea. And opposition...

The nature of government is that there will always be more demands on the public purse than there are resources. This explains why politicians spend their days plotting new ways to raise revenue because the more they raise, the more votes they can buy. The consequence of this is that over time, once rational folks who win elective office gradually convert from a taxpayers’ frame of reference to a tax raiser’s mindset. This capitol city version of the Stockholm syndrome is infuriating for taxpayers because politicians get paid to spend their days dreaming up new ways to raise their share...