Taxes
April 22, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Most rich people who take part in politics are on the Left, which is a major reason why the Democratic Party and its candidates consistently have so much more money than the Republican Party and its candidates. I have long been bemused by rich liberals like Warren Buffett, who tell us their tax rates are too low. Really? Guess what: the IRS will cash your check! If you seriously think
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April 11, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Here in the U.S., we sometimes hear calls for a new tax on wealth, rather than income. What better way to make rich people pay more? But of course, this is not a new idea. Wealth taxes have been abandoned by most developed countries. Charlotte Gifford writes, in the Telegraph: In 1990, 12 OECD countries, all in Europe, levied wealth taxes. However, most of them repealed these in the 1990s
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March 20, 2023 — Scott Johnson
The state of Minnesota overtaxed us by $17 billion in the last biennium and is sitting on the surplus. The funds should be returned on a pro rata basis to those of us who were compelled to fork over the dough, but that’s not what state Democrats have in mind, even when they couch their proposals in the language of “rebates.” That much I can tell you. The Star Tribune
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March 20, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Nicholas Meyer had Sherlock Holmes overcoming The Seven-Per-Cent Solution. Last week President Biden fabricated the billionaires’ three percent solution to the federal income tax burden. Citing an incredibly misleading release from the Biden administration, I found Biden’s three percent solution to be “Biden’s lie of the day.” Elon Musk has now responded to Biden’s lie of the day on Twitter and readers “have added context they thought people might want
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March 16, 2023 — Scott Johnson
President Biden is a pathological liar. His account of the epiphany that led him to support gay marriage is only the most recent example, though it was classic and blatant. Indeed, it was so blatant as to be laughable. I have a high level of confidence that Biden lies every time he speaks in public. Take yesterday’s Remarks on Lowering Prescription Drugs Costs in Las Vegas — please. It is
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January 28, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Now that Democrats control Minnesota’s political branches, they are in let’s go crazy mode. I’ve lived here all my life. I don’t want to let them drive me out, but they are doing their best. I want to take my stand and go down fighting. Besides, I’m afraid Florida is so overpopulated that it will detach and capsize. The state overcharged taxpayers in the last biennium by some $18 billion.
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January 10, 2023 — John Hinderaker
The Fair Tax has been a staple in conservative circles for quite a few years. It is a national sales tax that is intended to replace the income tax. There is much to be said for the Fair Tax: as a tax on consumption, it would encourage saving and investment. It is relatively easy to administer; nearly all states already have a sales tax. And it would allow us to
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December 23, 2022 — John Hinderaker
Everyone knows that people are abandoning blue states like California and New York and moving to red states like Florida and Texas. The same phenomenon is at work in smaller states–on a reduced scale, but the pattern is consistent. Take my home state, Minnesota. For the last seven years, my organization has been documenting the net outflow of residents, and especially taxpayers, from the state. This year, that net outmigration
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December 12, 2022 — John Hinderaker
The fact that people are steadily moving away from blue states and into red states is well known. Still, I thought these figures from New York were shocking: A new city analysis shows that a huge chunk of high-income earners fled in 2020. … The study by the city’s Independent Budget Office shows a 10% plunge in taxpayers who made over $750,000, and 6% of those with incomes between $150,000
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September 24, 2022 — John Hinderaker
British Prime Minister Liz Truss is going big. Her Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, has unveiled an aggressive program of permanent tax cuts. The Wall Street Journal likes the plan: Mr. Kwarteng axed the 2.5-percentage-point increase in the payroll tax imposed by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and canceled a planned increase in the corporate income tax rate to 26% from 19%. … Kwarteng also surprised by eliminating the 45% tax rate
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April 22, 2022 — John Hinderaker
If you live within driving distance of the Twin Cities, tomorrow is the day to descend on the state Capitol in St. Paul to demand that the legislature return Minnesota’s projected $9.3 billion surplus to the taxpayers, in the form of permanent tax cuts. The rally will start at 11 a.m.; because of the threat of thunderstorms, we will be inside, in the Capitol rotunda. I will emcee the event,
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April 6, 2022 — Steven Hayward
Everyone is familiar with the two great lies of modern times: the check is in the mail, and “Of course I’ll still respect you in the morning.” To which should be added a third: “wealth taxes” will only affect the very rich—the middle class has nothing to fear. When you hear Democrats say this, reach for your wallet. This needs to be kept in mind with thinking about President Biden’s
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March 29, 2022 — John Hinderaker
I know, it’s a stiff competition. But the “billionaire tax” that is part of the Biden administration’s proposed budget is astonishingly dumb. This is how the Wall Street Journal describes it: Under the proposal, households worth more than $100 million that don’t pay at least 20% in tax on a combination of their standard reported income and their gains on unsold assets such as stocks would owe additional tax until
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March 5, 2022 — John Hinderaker
How many industries have been damaged or destroyed by high taxes and excessive regulation? A lot. But I have mixed feelings about this one: California cannabis industry on brink as buyers return to dealers. The cannabis industry in California is on the brink of collapse because of high taxes and onerous regulations that have burdened legal operators and allowed illegal growers to flourish, campaigners have warned. *** About 75 per
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December 14, 2021 — Steven Hayward
So Elon Musk is Time‘s “Person of the Year.” I’ve actually been warming up to Musk for a long time now. If you take away the lavish subsidies he got for his cars, what would be your complaint with him? That electric cars won’t save the world? True, but slow down for a moment and note that unlike nearly everyone else in Silicon Valley, he’s actually trying to build a
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November 4, 2021 — John Hinderaker
That is what the Democrats are pushing, and anyone who is surprised hasn’t been paying attention. Current polling shows that most people think Republicans, not Democrats, are the party of the working class, and they are right. Democrats represent, more than anyone else, wealthy urbanites in blue states who wrongly believe themselves to be “elite.” But these lefty urbanites have a serious problem: by virtue of living in blue states,
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October 15, 2021 — Scott Johnson
Readers have undoubtedly heard something of the Biden administration/Treasury Department proposal to expand the scope of bank reporting requirements on customer accounts. The proposal has elicited reactions ranging from indignation to rebellion, but what is it exactly? The New York Times had a good story earlier this week, but the story is a little short on the substance of the proposal (“the administration wants banks to give the Internal Revenue
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