Taxation
Steven Colucci, a public school psychologist (I’m pretty sure), had a letter in the August 12 Providence Journal raising a point that comes up from time to time: [In a previously published letter, Keith Garrison] notes that the top 1 percent pay 37 percent of the total income taxes. Mr. Garrison makes a couple of…
Reading this article, I thought it worth reminding everybody once again that, given the way local budgeting is done, property tax rates don’t really matter: After voting to take court action against Mayor Charles A. Lombardi’s vetoes, the Town Council changed its tune Wednesday night and voted unanimously to set the tax rate for residential…
Kevin Hassett pointed out an interesting finding (not online) in the June 20 National Review: At issue is the “Beckham law” that was enacted on June 10, 2005. Spain, in an effort to lure high-priced athletes, artists, and executives, passed a law that allowed these individuals to reside in Spain and pay a low flat…
The other day, I made reference to the possibility that having an economy calibrated to two-income households, rather than the one-income households that were once the norm, is a hindrance on entrepreneurial ventures. Yes, if one spouse’s attempt to create a business fails, the other spouse’s income remains, but in the current marketplace, both incomes…
…United States Senator Jack Reed, for his comments to John E. Mulligan of the Projo on the subject of the “Amazon Tax”…U.S. Sen. Jack Reed has signed on in support of legislation to require online retailers to collect state sales taxes on their merchandise… Reed said the Amazon bill could get caught up in the…
This is very likely going to be a memorable week in the history of self-government and public finance. In addition to the Federal debt-ceiling issue which needs to be resolved by Tuesday in order for the Federal government to be able to keep paying everything it owes without resorting to various less-than-scrupulous financial gimmicks, the…
It would appear that the U.S. Senate is in need of some major upsets, the next election cycle: The plan, released this week by the bipartisan “Gang of Six” senators, punts on many of the most difficult issues, leaving it to congressional committees to fill in the details later. But supporters say it provides a…
There are about a half-a-dozen things I could comment on, in reaction to the announcement by Borders Books today that it is going all-the-way out of business. For now, following on from Justin’s post earlier today, I will simply note this passage from the Wall Street Journal story on the subject…Borders filed for bankruptcy-court protection…
Just throwing it out there. From Steven Hayward: one problem with our current tax policy is that at the moment the American people as a whole are receiving a dollar of government for the price of only 60 cents. (I don’t say a “dollar’s worth of government,” but let’s leave that snark for another time.)…
So they’ve gone and passed the budget. Rhode Islanders should not find it encouraging, though, that the architects of public finances apparently think in this way, speaking about the new 7% tax on insurance awards: Dion says the burden falls on the insurance company, not the consumer: “When you total your car or have your…