Taxation
Before the news cycle moves on, I’d like to highlight the following, from Philip Marcelo’s story on the tax-increase dispute: One floor up from where business leaders gathered, in a room adjacent to his office, the governor repeated his challenge to detractors: provide an alternative solution, and be specific. … Chafee rejected business leaders’ arguments…
I’m not the first or only one to note it, but it’s worth mentioning around here that President Obama attempted to redefine a tax increase in his speech yesterday as a “spending reduction in the tax code“. The president also called for undoing the Bush tax cuts for upper-income taxpayers, and for canceling other tax…
The Pawtucket Times’ Jim Baron reports. Gov. Lincoln Chafee’s plan to radically overhaul the state’s sales tax structure is effectively dead. After more than six hours of nearly unanimous testimony denouncing Chafee’s proposal to lower the state sales tax from 7 to 6 percent and broaden it to a vast array of goods and services…
One of Megan Mcardle’s readers did the math on “taxing the rich” and how it would “help” with the budget: [T]otal taxable income in 2008 was $5,488 billion. Taxable income over $100,000 was $1,582 billion, over $200,000 was $1,185 billion, over $500,000 was $820 billion, over $1 million was $616 billion, over $2 million was…
Maybe the Governor knows it’s a done deal? Governor Chafee’s proposed sales-tax changes have yet to be approved by the General Assembly, but plans are already under way to roll out the program, according to state officials. State Department of Revenue officials testifying before the House Finance Committee this week said that the department has…
Rhode Island’s aristocracy chose to believe in their own power to impose taxes rather than the power of economic incentives, and some don’t like the result: State Rep. Raymond Gallison, D-Bristol, says local businesses are losing revenue that could help the state’s financial situation, while the state itself has not generated any new revenue from…
Marc and Matt discussed the trend of government’s tendency, over time, to do less with more on last night’s Matt Allen Show. Stream by clicking here, or download it.
On Monday night, the Tiverton Town Council finally let the ax swing on a new trash collection system that will at least double the cost of curb-side pickup for residents. (The metaphor is meant to indicate an executioner, not a lumberjack.) The Tiverton Town Council approved a contract on Monday night to begin a trash…
The Providence Journal editorial board is right, of course, to speak out against Governor Chafee’s proposed expansion of sales taxes: This is not a matter of greed; for many businesses, it is a question of survival. Small businesses are the job engines of any economy, and when they are wiped out, jobs disappear. Rhode Island’s…
While waiting to go on the air on this evening’s Matt Allen show on WPRO (630AM), I heard Matt play Governor Lincoln Chafee’s Director of Administration Richard Licht tell Dan Yorke something to the effect that tax increases were necessary to maintain a reasonable level of government services in Rhode Island. Governor Carcieri had begun…