Taxation
William Dimitri, of Johnston, makes an interesting suggestion regarding in-state tuition for illegal immigrants, in a Providence Journal letter that does not appear to be online: On the one hand, those fortunate enough to earn in excess of $250,000 already pay a substantial amount of taxes, but that fact seems to escape the grasp of…
On last night’s Matt Allen Show, Matt and I talked about expectations for the forthcoming budget, speeding tickets, and things on the blog. Stream by clicking here, or download it.
For years, I’ve been arguing against transportation bonds on the grounds that such basic matters of infrastructure are the first expenses that our government ought to make. Instead, the political strategy becomes one in which elected officials and unelected bureaucrats spend as much money as they can on non-basic services and then return to taxpayers…
Following on this Projo summary of this disappointing report from the Rhode Island Public Expenditures Council (RIPEC) isn’t quite as pro-Chafee-tax as the headlines and the Chafeedom would have us believe, but there’s far too much hedging in it. With the exception of the new sales taxes proposed for business back-end purchases, RIPEC never quite…
Governor Donald Carcieri was limited in what he could accomplish, given the degree to which the Rhode Island Constitution favors the legislature, but at least he offered a different view. This tidbit, from the end of the article to which I linked earlier, is apt to give a taxpayer the hopeless sense that there’s nobody…
Some last-minute budget amendments that Governor Lincoln Chafee has submitted to the General Assembly are telling with regard to his attitude and priorities: In another budget amendment, [Budget Officer Thomas] Mullaney announced a “medical-benefit holiday” for state workers, that will spare them, for one pay period, of having to contribute to their health insurance benefits.…
Michael Barone looked at employment and population numbers and came to a simple conclusion: The lesson of the previous decade seems clear: if you take a previously prosperous and creative state and subject it to high taxes and intrusive regulations, it loses 5% of its private sector jobs; if you take a previously somewhat less…
The bill being heard today by the House Finance Committee that would give municipal bondholders a “first lien” on local government treasuries (H5376), introduced on behalf of the Rhode Island Department of Revenue and already passed by the Senate Finance committee (S0614), should not be passed into law. Peder Schaefer of the Rhode Island League…
Barrie Shore, of Providence, is right to call the Providence Journal out on its inaccurate reference to Rhode Island taxes: The Journal has perpetuated the myth that Rhode Island higher-income taxpayers are enjoying a reduction in the top rate, to 5.99 percent from 9.90 percent. The truth is that as the top rate has shrunk…
Here is the first of several charts I will present regarding local taxation in Rhode Island. The data on the charts is based on information submitted to the Rhode Island Division of Municipal Finance for taxes payable in the 2009-2010 fiscal year; the Division of Municipal Finance provided me with the “Assessor’s Statement of Assessed…