Taxation
If your municipality has a policy that has Anchor Rising agreeing with UpriseRI, you might want to reconsider: While speed camera citations have declined in Providence and East Providence, Pawtucket stands as an outlier, expanding its network and generating over $4.1 million in revenue for the 2024-2025 school year alone. … However, an investigation into the mechanics…
Barrington is edging toward the offensive money-grab of auto-ticketing speed-trap cameras: The town has received bid packages from four companies interested in installing speed cameras in Barrington. Town officials have not yet decided whether they will move forward with the speed cameras; a review of the information included in the bid packages will play a…
Here’s a detail from The Newport Buzz that I didn’t know about speed-enforcement cameras that send drivers automatic tickets: City officials insist the vendor “received all necessary approvals,” but also confirmed they are only now reviewing whether the required warning signs are actually in place. Rhode Island law mandates four signs on each approach, each measuring…
A recent email to the mailing list of the East Greenwich Republican Town Committee (ERGTC) includes an excellent consideration of affordable housing in the town. Catherine Rodger’s essential point is that development of “affordable housing” is not a net benefit in every form or in every place. It can come with costs to budgets and…
Rhode Island and America’s current tax systems hide waste and greed behind an imaginary series of high-contrast examples in the name of “fairness.”
The paper picked up an article by Nancy Lavin that runs nearly 2,000 words describing a “not so beautiful mess” it blames on the Trump administration. (Ctrl-F for “Democrat” produces no results.) The article jumbles the effects of policy changes from the Big Beautiful Bill with those from the Democrats’ shutdown (again, not mentioning that…
Anchor Rising has been following the progress of a proposed homestead exemption in Little Compton. To temporarily hide its tax increases, the town government is proposing to redistribute wealth from part-year residents, who use fewer services, to full-year residents, who enjoy the privilege of voting for the local government that can take people’s money from…
Little Compton’s Town Council has moved forward with its plan for a homestead exemption. Now it goes to local voters, on one hand, and the General Assembly, on the other, for approval. The calculation is a flat $100,000 reduction of the home’s value for tax purposes. Based on Richard Dionne’s Sakonnet Times article, it appears…
This assessment, in a Providence Business News article by Katie Castelani is a good tangible example of the effect that government and taxes can have on the decisions of private economic actors, distorting the economy and shuffling our communal resources in directions they otherwise would not have gone: The association noted a strong stock market, higher home…
As burdensome as it is, tax policy offers many ways in which state and federal governments can boost incentive for business activity and economic growth by easing up. Cheryl Winokur Munk describes a federal example for CNBC: Small businesses that have been mulling the purchase of new computers, machinery or other equipment can deduct 100%…
