Free Republic

LOS ANGELES - Los Angeles County's mass transit agency this month will likely ask county supervisors to put a half-cent sales tax increase measure on November's ballot, a move aimed at raising tens of billions of dollars to build a Los Angeles subway extension and other projects. While a recent poll shows general voter support for the transportation tax hike, the five county supervisors, who are members of the 13-member Metro board, are not advocating the increase. And the whole thing could go up in smoke if a related bill by Assemblyman Mark Feuer doesn't make it past state lawmakers....

Official testifies in TABOR lawsuit that more money collected as a result of mill levy freeze. State treasurer Cary Kennedy conceded today on the witness stand that a bill passed last year by the legislature alters the way taxes are calculated with the net result that many property owners pay more. But Kennedy continued to insist the 2007 law, SB 199, does not violate Colorado's Taxpayer's Bill of Rights. Kennedy's testimony came on the second day of a lawsuit brought by opponents of the 2007 law. They say SB 199 should have been referred to voters under TABOR provisions. The...

Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) recently sent out an email which highlights one area where the difference between Republicans and Democrats still remains stark: raising taxes. As Congressman Cantor relates: Before adjourning for recess, House Democrats passed the largest tax-hike in American history; a rate hike that will soak an average of $3,120 from every family. In an economy reeling from a slowing housing and job market, this is a burden that American families and small business owners simply cannot afford. Let’s be clear – this Democrat tax hike raises the tax burden of every American, particularly the middle-class. Cantor then...

OAKLAND (BCN) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Friday that "everything is on the table," including tax hikes, to help the state deal with its budget crisis and try to minimize or eliminate reductions in spending on education. Speaking to reporters in Oakland, where he announced $394 million in funding for transit projects statewide, Schwarzenegger said that when he announced his proposed budget in January, "I was the first one who said the worst idea is to cut any money from education and we must do everything we can to learn from mistakes that were made in the past." Schwarzenegger said...

Senate Democrats say California should raise taxes instead of adopting Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to cut billions from education spending next year. Senate leader Don Perata suggests a temporary sales tax boost and ending some tax breaks for businesses. The Democrats say they will not approve classroom cuts even if it stalls efforts to trim the state's multibillion-dollar budget deficit. Education is facing an estimated $4.3 billion cut for the budget year that begins in July. Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear says the Republican governor does not like cutting schools but thinks taxes already are high enough. Perata and other Democratic...

"It was not Groundhog Day at Gov. Jon S. Corzine's latest town hall meeting in Ocean County - it was Flying Pig Day. While not forced to endlessly repeat the events of last month's town-hall meeting in Cape May County - no protesters were arrested this time - the governor received plenty of heckles and catcalls at Saturday's event at the Toms River North High School in Toms River Township, including one protest by a group calling itself the Ocean County Flying Pigs Club. Just like in his other stops, Corzine tried to ramp up support for his Financial Restructuring...

A Democratic lawmaker in New Mexico wants to tax televisions and video games to raise funds to fight childhood obesity and improve education in the state, officials said Friday. "I have asked our legislative council service to prepare the "Leave No Child Inside" bill and am hopeful that it will be ready for me to introduce on Monday," educator-turned-lawmaker Gail Chasey told AFP. "Leave No Child Inside" -- a play on the federal education initiative "No Child Left Behind" -- is backed by grassroots environmental group, the Sierra Club. "The bill proposes levying a one-percent excise tax on the purchase...

Hillary Clinton said that if she became president, the federal government would take a more active role in the economy, in an effort to address what she said were the excesses of the market and the Bush administration. She told the New York Times she would put her emphasis on issues like inequality and the role of institutions like government, rather than market forces, in addressing them. She said that economic excesses -- including executive-pay packages she characterized as often "offensive" and "wrong" and a tax code that had become "so far out of whack" in favoring the wealthy --...

Gov. Tim Kaine yesterday announced a plan to expand health care coverage to thousands of uninsured, low-income Virginians as the state faces a projected $641 million budget shortfall. "One in seven Virginians still lack health insurance because their employers don"t provide it or because they cannot afford it," Mr. Kaine said. "As more citizens rely on our health care safety net for their most basic health needs, we must strengthen that system." Mr. Kaine, a Democrat, said the two-year budget that he plans to present to the General Assembly on Monday will include about $25.5 million in new health care...

Charles Rangel has offered up his prescription for tax reform. He refers to it as “The Mother of All Tax Bills.” He claims that his bill restores tax fairness and makes the wealthy pay “their fair share.” This congressional balloon juice is not only disingenuous, it is also wrong. What Charlie Rangel proposes is the Mother of all unjustified pay cuts. By repealing the tax cuts passed by George W. Bush, Charles Rangel takes thousands of dollars out of the pockets of the average American wage earner. In the State of Virginia, Rangle’s Bill will cost the average family $2,487....

WASHINGTON - Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani ruled out a tax increase Wednesday to help shore up Social Security, a slight shift in position designed to reassure anti-tax conservatives. The former New York mayor also said the best remedy for the current housing slump would be for Congress to make President Bush's tax cuts permanent, adding that would "do much much more for the economy than a tailored bailout." In an appearance before the Club for Growth, he said that as mayor of New York, he had cut spending by more than "any contemporary of mine in the 1990s" in...

When Republicans passed major tax relief packages in 2001 and 2003, we predicted that a booming economy, new jobs for millions of Americans, and an increase in investment and innovation would result. The past several years have proved our theory correct: When government gets out of the way, the American people will get to work. The 2001 and 2003 tax reductions have spurred more than five years of uninterrupted growth. The economy grew at a robust 3.4 percent in the second quarter of 2007. Productivity growth has averaged 2.8 percent since 2001, considerably above the average of each of the...

An unelected body, the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, (NVTA) is set to implement completely unprecedented and controversial taxing powers for road projects, two thirds of which will not be identified until late November or early December. The NVTA wants more taxing power from the General Assembly in 2008, eminent domain authority to take homes, businesses, and land, and power to relocate utilities. Proposed Taxes and Fee Increases: - Tax on home sales will increase an additional 40 cents per $100 bringing the total state and local grantor/recordation taxes to 86.66 cents per $100, up from 46.66 cents per $100 ($3,467...

The average American family will have to pay an extra $2,641 a year if President Bush's 2003 tax cuts are allowed to expire -- but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her fellow Democrats have given no indication they plan to extend the cuts. "The mugging will lift $3.3 trillion from purses and wallets because the 2003 cuts will begin expiring soon," Ernest Istook – a former Republican congressman from Oklahoma and a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation – writes in the Washington Post. "The budget resolution moving through Congress is the blueprint for what's coming. Higher spending – by...

Gov. Tim (Eyebrow) Kaine was protested by a group of Roanoke-area taxpayers today, as he attended Raleigh Court Elementary School on his "easy listening" tour. He was apparently listening to school kids, rather than taxpayers and voters. The group took issue with Kaine's campaign promise to not raise taxes, a promise he immediately broke during his first year in office. Also, one member of the group sat in the Tim Kaine Rocking Chair. The group objects to the fact that Kaine has done nothing while the General Assembly hammered out a Transportation Plan. Kaine now plans radical changes to it...

New taxes fuel Rendell's $27.3 billion budget By PETER JACKSON Associated Press Writer HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) -- Gov. Ed Rendell asked Pennsylvania lawmakers Tuesday to approve higher taxes for consumers, employers, tobacco users and waste haulers to help finance a $27.3 billion budget that includes initiatives in health care, energy and property-tax relief. Rendell also suggested the possibility of leasing the Pennsylvania Turnpike to a private operator and levying a new tax on oil-company profits to raise the necessary $1.7 billion for highway and bridge improvements and mass transportation. The budget, the first of Rendell's second term, also calls for...

HARRISBURG — Gov. Ed Rendell is expected to outline a state spending plan today that will boost an array of taxes to fund health care reforms, property-tax reductions and other programs. Though the governor has been tight-lipped on details, in recent days he has revealed plans to: # Increase the 6 percent sales tax, perhaps to 7 percent, to fund property tax cuts for homeowners. These cuts would be in addition to any property-tax relief expected to come from slot-machine revenues. # Boost the state’s $1.35-a-pack cigarette tax by 10 or 11 cents and put a new tax on cigars...

President George W. Bush's proposed health insurance tax deduction plan would cost the federal government $30 billion to $40 billion annually in the near term, but would turn revenue positive around 2013, U.S. Treasury officials said on Tuesday....

...Specifically, Bush proposed changing how spending on health insurance is taxed, and reallocating federal funds to help those states with affordable insurance subsidize low-income and hard-to-insure people. "When it comes to healthcare, government has an obligation to care for the elderly, the disabled, and poor children," the president said. "We will meet those responsibilities. For all other Americans, private health insurance is the best way to meet their needs. But many Americans cannot afford a health insurance policy."... Initially, only 20 percent of those who are covered through work will see a tax increase, according to White House estimates. But...

Last night, the House passed a tax hike for the first time in 13 years. It was a bill that specifically sticks it to oil companies. As noted in the previous post, the final tally was 264-163, with 36 Republicans siding with the Democrats to vote YES, and 4 Democrats siding with the Republicans to vote NO. Meanwhile, Dan Clifton at Americans for Tax Reform sent me the following list of congressmen who broke their pledge never to raise taxes by voting YES on the bill. Those in italics are Democrats.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 18 -- The House voted this evening to rescind $14 billion worth of tax breaks and subsidies for oil drillers and channel the money into a fund that would finance renewable energy projects and new technologies for conserving energy. Despite opposition from the oil industry and the Bush administration, which contended that the bill would unfairly single out oil companies for higher taxes and could increase the nation’s dependence on foreign oil, the measure passed, 264 to 163, with overwhelming support from Democrats and a considerable number of Republicans as well. But the measure may face a tougher...

Texas' gasoline tax has been stuck at 20 cents per gallon since 1991. Unfortunately, the cost of building new roads and expanding existing ones is no longer anywhere near the levels of 1991. Fifteen years of inflation have sharply increased the cost of building new highways, as well as expanding and maintaining existing ones. In terms of purchasing power, the 20-cent gas tax is now worth only about 14 cents when adjusted for inflation. Meanwhile, Texas' need for more roads is greatly expanding because of the population explosion that has occurred over the past 15 years and is expected to...

WASHINGTON – Just 56 days before crucial congressional elections, Republican Sen. George V. Voinovich yesterday repeated his call for a temporary tax increase, a position that places him at odds with Senate and House Republicans fighting for re-election. At a Senate hearing where Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff testified, Voinovich said Congress should approve "a temporary increase in our taxes" to pay for the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and to defend the nation against terrorist attacks. Christopher Paulitz, a Voinovich spokesman, said the senator has not introduced a bill to raise taxes and "doesn’t have anything specific in...

TRENTON, N.J. - Republican Tom Kean Jr. can thank New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine's unpopular budget proposals for his slight edge over Democrat Robert Menendez in the 2006 U.S. Senate race, according to a poll released Thursday. A Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind poll gives Kean Jr., a state senator, a 42-38 percent lead over Menendez, who was appointed by Corzine to serve out the remaining year of his U.S. Senate term. Last month, Menendez led Kean by five points in a PublicMind poll, 42-37 percent. Poll director Peter Woolley said that right now voters' preferences for the candidates are being...

(This announcement is from the liberal Senate Republicans) Senator Marty Williams ............ News Release ..... Virginia Senate Advances Transportation Finance Bill Part of a larger package of transportation initiatives including reform Richmond, VA - Feb. 17, 2006 Senator Marty Williams (R- Newport News), Chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, praised the Senate vote of 34 - 6 which advanced the financing of the Senate's plan to overhaul the state's ailing transportation system. Following Friday morning's vote, he issued the following statement: Statement by Senator Williams With the passage of SB708 the Senate of Virginia has advanced a common sense plan...

The proposed budget Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger unveiled Tuesday is an election-year document that seeks to appease his enemies while doing as little as possible to offend his allies. The problem is that Schwarzenegger is out of political capital. He has little clout to impose his will on anyone, even if he cared to do so. And clearly, at least when it comes to the budget, he does not even want to try. Although the governor likes to talk about how so much of the budget is out of his control because of state laws and constitutional provisions, he did have...

Meet Edward G. Rendell, former Democratic National Committee chairman and a tax-and-spend liberal clone of Hillary Clinton. Is the governor of Pennsylvania subject to random drug testing? I'm beginning to worry about Ed Rendell. I think he's on something. How else do you explain his recent end-of-the-year news conference where he proclaimed a successful 2005 for his administration? I'm not sure Rendell is living on the same planet as 12 million other Pennsylvanians. Rendell appears to be the governor of the state of dementia. Rendell, the former Philadelphia mayor, Democratic National Committee chairman and supporter of Hillary Clinton, has completed...

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's top education advisor said the administration is prepared to consider raising taxes as part of a long-term solution to the problems plaguing California schools. The statement by California Education Secretary Alan Bersin came in a Dec. 1 speech to the California School Boards Assn. It was posted on the group's website Friday. His comments mark the first time any top administration official has acknowledged that new taxes could be needed to restore the quality of state services. "No one can look at the history of California education over the last generation and not notice we...

Opponents of Referendum C counted on voters rejecting a bigger tax bite, $3,100 for the average family in the next five years, under the pressure of high prices for gasoline, home heating, health care and housing. We appealed to people's skepticism that the Democrat-led legislature would use the new money responsibly. Polling even last weekend suggested proponents hadn't made the sale. But they surged to victory with the help of respected Republicans like Gov. Bill Owens, former party chairman Bruce Benson and University of Colorado president Hank Brown. Those heavy hitters outweighed the more numerous antitax Republican voices, including the...

WALNUT CREEK – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last night insisted his spending-control initiative on the Nov. 8 ballot is not a gubernatorial power grab that would produce draconian budget cuts, as opponents contend, and that it could actually lead to a tax increase. Struggling to gain traction for his four-part ballot agenda with two weeks to go until the special election, Schwarzenegger fielded questions for the first time during the campaign from voters not selected by his campaign. He and two of the most persistent critics of his agenda made separate appearances during a 90-minute forum. His opponents – state Senate...

President Bush on Friday ruled out raising taxes to pay for Gulf Coast reconstruction, saying other government spending must be cut. "You bet it will cost money, but I'm confident we can handle it," he said. "It's going to cost whatever it's going to cost, and we're going to be wise about the money we spend," Bush said a day after laying out an expensive plan for rebuilding New Orleans and the Gulf Coast without spelling out how he would pay for it. Bush spoke at a news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin hours after attending a prayer service...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - The state's largest teachers union has dropped an initiative that would have poured billions of dollars into schools by raising property taxes on businesses, union officials said Thursday. Instead, the California Teachers Association will work with the opponents of the "Tax Fairness Act" to craft long-term solutions to school funding in the state, CTA president Barbara Kerr said. The CTA had gathered enough signatures - more than 900,000 - to qualify the initiative for the June 2006 ballot, Kerr said. It would have exempted California commercial and business properties from Proposition 13's rule that property value, upon...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - A poll released Friday says that more Ohioans disapproved of the job Gov. Bob Taft is doing than any governor in the poll's 24-year history. The Ohio Poll, sponsored and conducted by the University of Cincinnati, found that 55 percent of those surveyed disapproved of the way Taft, a Cincinnati Republican, was handling his job. Thirty-four percent approved of Taft's job performance and 11 percent neither approved or disapproved. Taft's previous disapproval rating in the poll was 43 percent in February 2004. The telephone poll was taken March 21-April 10 among 846 adults statewide. It had a...

Some of those watching Gov. Mitch Daniels’ State of the State address Tuesday night seem to agree that Daniels did a fine job expressing himself, but they expect some of his proposals to be met with debate and controversy. Daniels’ focal points were the modernization of the government and improving the state’s financial situation, but he remained vague in his plans, said Dr. Doug Nelson, a professor of political science at Anderson University. “His first priority is deal with the budget deficit. It mostly was that and economic recovery in Indiana, which are pretty closely related,” Nelson said. “His plans...

President rules out increase in payroll taxes to pay for reforming 64-year-old retirement program. WASHINGTON (CNN) - Following a meeting with key advisers, President Bush promised Thursday he would not raise payroll taxes to help pay for overhauling Social Security."We will not raise payroll taxes to solve this problem," Bush told reporters during an Oval Office meeting with Social Security experts."The problem is America is getting older and that there are fewer people to pay into the system to support a baby boomer generation which is about to retire," the president said.He again reassured retired Americans and those about...

Group has $1 million to help re-elections of tax-increase backers BY JEFF E. SCHAPIRO TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Nov 17, 2004 Pro-tax business leaders have raised $1 million to help friends and afflict enemies in the 2005 legislative elections. Leadership for Virginia will be among the richest political action committees in the state, pumping money to centrist candidates for the House of Delegates in both parties - incumbents as well as challengers... ...Rhodes also dismissed suggestions by anti-tax Republicans that the growing surplus - perhaps $1 billion or more, according to the Warner administration - is evidence new taxes were unnecessary....

San Francisco voters rejected local sales and business tax increases, while two bond measures that would have raised property taxes to finance homeless and affordable housing development and preserve historic buildings failed to garner the two-thirds of the vote needed to pass, according to late election returns. Mayor Gavin Newsom had campaigned vigorously for the sales and business tax increases, calling them necessary to keep local government services intact.

This election season, Washington State voters are being told Initiative 884 and its many provisions will help teachers like me by reducing class sizes and giving promised raises. Believe it or not, I want to talk you out of increasing my salary (at least right now!) by voting “no” on this well-intentioned but harmfully expensive initiative. I know of no profession in which people think they are overpaid, especially teachers. However, people in other industries are not dependent on larger paychecks by robbing their neighbors’ hard-earned wages by increasing an already exorbitant sales tax. I-884 promises to solve many educational...

THE NEW YORK TIMES SHADES THE TRUTHClaims Kerry Voted For Only One Tax Increase?  That's A Stat Only The Kerry Campaign Would Use___________________________________________________________________"In truth, Mr. Kerry essentially voted for one large tax increase, the Clinton tax bill of 1993, which mostly imposed additional income taxes on the wealthy but did include an increase in taxes on Social Security benefits for middle-income retirees." (Elisabeth Bumiller, "In A New Offensive, Bush Rearms His Stump Arsenal," The New York Times, 10/11/04)KERRY HAS VOTED 98 TIMES FOR AT LEAST$2.3 TRILLION IN TAX INCREASES 2003 Vote To Raise Income Taxes By $90 Billion. (S. 1689,...

ARLINGTON, VA -- Today, Bush-Cheney '04 announced the release of the campaign's newest television advertisement, "Common Sense Vs. Higher Taxes." The television advertisement highlights President Bush and Congressional leaders' plans to grow our economy through a fairer, simpler tax code, lower health care costs, increased investments in education, more help for communities and less dependence on foreign oil.  The agenda of the President and Congressional leaders for a more hopeful America stands in contrast to John Kerry and the liberals' plans for tax increases that would hurt small businesses, kill jobs and derail our economy.  "Common Sense Vs. Higher Taxes"...

Tuesday, July 27, 2004 Dukakis Watch – Day 2 DUKAKIS WATCH – DAY 2 Have You Seen This Man?________________________________________ JOHN KERRY: MICHAEL DUKAKIS' LT. GOVERNOR (1983-1984) Kerry Wrong On Taxes & Spending As Lt. Governor In 1983 Letter, Kerry Said Federal Government Didn't Need To Cut Taxes. "We don't need enormous tax breaks for the wealthy …" (Lt. Gov. John F. Kerry, Letter To Paul Mann, 4/83) Kerry Called 1981 Tax Cut, Which Reduced Top Rate To 50 Percent, "Misguided." "Our offices of Federal/State Relations has been studying [President Reagan's FY 1985 budget] … Based on these preliminary findings, we...

SACRAMENTO -- Despite criticism from the left, right and center over his first state budget, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger dramatically changed California's political debate as he delivered a $4 billion tax cut, with tax increases never even considered despite a massive ongoing deficit, analysts said Tuesday. Conservative Thousand Oaks Republican Sen. Tom McClintock called the $105.3 billion budget "dangerously out of balance." Liberal Los Angeles Democrat Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg said higher income taxes on the wealthy and a new sales tax on services should have been included in the 2004-05 spending plan. But Schwarzenegger, dismissing his failure to accomplish his goal...

The battle over the New Jersey state budget is heating up and Democratic legislators are working hard to raise your taxes yet again! Your help is urgently needed to fight the more than $600 million in tax increases they have proposed

Promise Us You Won't Be Paid-Off After cushy appointments in Oregon for GOP lawmakers who voted to hike taxes,ATR wants assurances that key Virginia Republicans aren't expecting rewards WASHINGTON—Today in a stern letter to 27 Virginia Delegates and Senators, Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) President Grover Norquist asked for a public promise that no future paycheck is sweetening the appeal of hiking taxes on Virginians. ATR is concerned by surprising support coming from a group of Republicans in the statehouse, and is encouraging them to vow against profiting personally from any tax increase. "We have seen what's happened elsewhere in...

<p>John Kerry has a fiscal surprise in store for voters -- a massive tax increase or a ballooning federal deficit. The latest calculations show that the total of Sen. Kerry's spending and "investment" pledges runs to about $1.7 trillion over ten years. That's $1.7 trillion on top of what the government already plans to spend over the same time period.</p>

Fellow Freepers, below is a note from the Family Foundation with budget hearings scheduled around the state in the next 2 weeks. The teachers unions have already sent an email to members, encouraging them to attend and argue for HIGHER TAXES. These unions and other liberal groups routinely "stack the deck" at all public hearings in VA. Please try to attend one and make the case for LOWER TAXES and SPENDING CUTS.

From the dimocRAT party of VA website: Speaking of tax fairness (I can't believe they can still say this with a straight face), Governor Warner will host an electronic town hall meeting on tax reform this Tuesday, February 17th. The meeting will take place at 8 p.m. and will be broadcast live from the WCVE public television studios in Southside Richmond. Barbara Berlin of WCVE will host the show and the Governor will take questions from viewers and a studio audience. The televised town hall meeting will explore the governor's tax reform plan as presented to the current session of...

In a move that embattled domestic manufacturers greeted with glee and gloomy retailers had predicted for weeks, the Bush administration announced Wednesday new quotas on textile and apparel imports from China. Specifically, the move will impose federal limits on the number of Chinese-made bras, dressing gowns, and knit fabrics that Americans can purchase over the coming year. The nature of the announcement revealed that the overriding motivation here was electoral politics. Unfortunately, President Bush's new boudoir tax will, in the long run, wreak both political and economic destruction. Basically, the president — and more likely his political director, Karl Rove...

Mirando residents vote for tax increase BY TRICIA CORTEZ Times staff writer MIRANDO CITY- Mirando City residents voted overwhelmingly Tuesday in support of a tax increase that should help the beleaguered 45-student school district deal with a $300,000 deficit. "I'm so excited. What an overwhelming vote of confidence," Mirando City ISD Interim Superintendent Claudia Rodriguez said by phone immediately after the final results were announced. "I'm just delighted that the community is supporting the school district and is showing confidence that the district is continuing in a right direction," she said. According to Oscar Villarreal of the Webb County Elections...

OAKLAND -- The city is considering a measure for the March 2004 ballot that would increase taxes for some cellular phone users. Currently, the city imposes its 7.5 percent utility tax only on calls by cell phone users with an Oakland address that begin or end in the city. If the call is made from Oakland to San Francisco, the city tax would not apply. That method, which conforms to a Supreme Court ruling, is cumbersome for cellular companies, which must separate the calls subject to taxation, according to city staff. If a call is made on the border...