Taxation

CBO chart on income and taxes

Sheldon Whitehouse’s Twitter posturing on taxes and income is doubly annoying.

By Justin Katz | May 27, 2021 |

Toes tin-ear Sheldon err in not seeing how it appears when somebody of his wealth and tincture talks like this, or does he correctly assess that his base just wants to hear the sweet, sweet sound of agreement? Rising inequality is a threat to the American way of life. We shouldn’t have a structure that…

Map of lifetime taxes by state

What would you do with another $766,521 in retirement if Rhode Island didn’t confiscate it?

By Justin Katz | May 26, 2021 |

That is the amount that Brad Polumbo reports through the Foundation for Economic Education as the lifetime tax bite that makes Rhode Island sixth worst in the country.  Polumbo’s source is a report titled “Life of Tax: What Americans Will Pay in Taxes Over a Lifetime.”  The average for the country overall is $525,037, meaning…

Race-baiting cartoon by Revenue for RI

A Disjointed, Dishonest Pitch to Raise RI’s Income Tax

By Monique Chartier | May 23, 2021 |

A special interest coalition advocates for “Revenue for Rhode Island” via a slick mailer with quite the set up and pitch.

Per capita property taxes by state

Rhode Island’s per Capita Property Taxes are 7th Highest in the U.S.

By Justin Katz | May 21, 2021 |

According to the Tax Foundation’s relevant tax map, government entities in Rhode Island collect the equivalent of $2,431 from every man, woman, and child in the state in property taxes. Of course, many of those men, women, and children live on the same property (and some have more than one), so the per family amount is…

Providence students disembark for school

A play for more money in RI education distracts from the real problems.

By Justin Katz | May 17, 2021 |

As, essentially, the chief lobbyist for Rhode Island’s school committees, Timothy Duffy has an obvious angle he’ll take on behalf of his members.  In a recent op-ed in the Providence Journal, for example, he calls for Rhode Islanders to amend our state constitution to make “equal education” a constitutional right.  Readers can get a sense of…

A line to enter a store.

The brackets are only one part of the calculation of your tax increases.

By Justin Katz | May 7, 2021 |

Something conservative Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert, of Colorado, tweeted raises an important point people often forget when it comes to tax and spending policy: Biden isn’t just raising taxes on the rich. He is raising taxes on everyone. The $400,000 number has been proven to be a lie. Be prepared. The cost of living is…

Tax man spraypaint

Income tax policy is a good study to understand how politics works.

By Justin Katz | April 30, 2021 |

With the need to rebuild readership of Anchor Rising, the calculation of using Twitter unfortunately changed for me, and I’ve had to return to it to some extent.  The experience has been a useful reminder that the platform is not entirely without benefit. For instance, during Biden’s speech the other night, Biden-sympathetic Brown University PoliSci…

Income tax rate map

Clarity is the beauty of the income tax: you earned it, and they want to take it.

By Justin Katz | April 29, 2021 |

Yet another giant postcard arrived from Rhode Island’s special-interest labor unions promoting the government’s taking more money from the pockets of Rhode Islanders.  This one is to promote the results of a poll that the group Revenue for Rhode Island apparently paid Fleming and Associates to conduct (although naturally, that point isn’t clear on the…

Tax Foundation infrastructure user fees map

The problem with user fees (for RI) is that direct and comprehensible spending thwarts grift.

By Justin Katz | April 26, 2021 |

How about a fun, wonky post?  The featured image that you see is a Tax Foundation map ranking states by the percentage of their infrastructure spending that is funded by user fees.  In the Tax Foundation’s views, higher user fees are preferable: Both the federal government and the states raise revenue for infrastructure spending through…

A man fuels his car

Coalition Looks for TCI Sanity from McKee

By Justin Katz | April 20, 2021 |

During a time of hoped-for economic recovery after COVID lockdowns, a coalition of state, national, and local groups is asking Governor Daniel McKee to reverse his predecessor’s pledge for the Ocean State to join a handful of others in imposing a new gas tax.