Taxation

Union Rules and “Unique System” Drive Up Overtime for State Government Community Living Aides

By Justin Katz | April 17, 2013 |

Suzanne bates has another state-payroll-related investigative report on the Ocean State Current, this one covering a job titled “community living assistant.” These are high-school-educated employees with average regular pay below $36,000, who’ve been able to triple their pay with overtime and other salary enhancements, topping out near $130,000. Their job entails helping the residents of…

Redistributive Property Taxes: Who’s in the Providence Crosshairs?

By Justin Katz | April 13, 2013 |

The way property taxes work, in Rhode Island, revaluations are little more than a way of redistributing the tax burden, and in Providence, a shift from taxing buildings to taxing land has repercussions for a number of recent issues, from the Superman Building to legislation affecting the entire state. Continue reading on the Ocean State…

Property Tax Assessments

By Patrick Laverty | April 12, 2013 |

Based on some Twitter chatter this morning, I learned that the property tax assessment letters are going out today in Providence. The citizens of our capital city are learning what value their homes and land will be taxed at. There is always some confusion as to what this means. First, the city should be using…

UPDATED – Providence: 8th Highest Residential Tax Burden in the Country (Commercial Taxes Even Worse)

By Monique Chartier | February 16, 2013 |

Funny that this should pop up now. (Major H/T Michael Graham. By the way, welcome back to the air, Michael. We missed you.) It’s the reason that I haven’t shared the enthusiasm [link added] for the … um, fiscal “achievements” of Mayor Taveras’ tenure, genuinely nice guy though he is. His pension reform, as tepid…

02/13/13 – Senate Finance Committee, Sakonnet River Bridge Tolls

By Justin Katz | February 13, 2013 |

Justin writes live from the Senate Finance hearing on repealing the Sakonnet River Bridge toll. Continue reading on the Ocean State Current…

When the Insiders’ Cut Comes First

By Justin Katz | January 30, 2013 |

Even if you’ve disagreed with everything I’ve ever written, take a moment to ponder the thinking on display in this Kathy Gregg article. It’s about a study from the left-wing Institute on Taxation & Economic Policy finding that Rhode Island places a high tax burden on lower-income families. Continue reading on the Ocean State Current…

Hm. Maybe the Status Quo Option Will Work for RI

By Marc Comtois | January 16, 2013 |

Offered entirely tongue in cheek…I think…….Anyway, it looks like Governor Patrick is going to propose a series of tax hikes that could end up making Rhode Island look good in comparison (shhhhh, don’t tell anyone!): According to Boston.com, Patrick listed possible revenue sources including: Raising the gas tax from 21 cents to 51 cents per…

Legislation Under the Radar – Mo’ Money for the General Fund

By Justin Katz | January 16, 2013 |

I’m going through all legislation as it’s introduced to the Rhode Island General Assembly, and the Center for Freedom & Prosperity will be putting out a real-time Freedom Index — essentially a watch list — in a couple of weeks. That’ll have the collection of good and bad within the think tank’s scope. Card check?…

Burying the Legislative Lead

By Justin Katz | January 15, 2013 |

Most legislation introduced into the General Assembly comes with a brief summary that appears with references to the bill — most visibly on the various pages of the legislature’s Web site. Sometimes the descriptions are misleading; sometimes they’re just confusing. (Usually, they’re pretty good, assuming one understands the lingo of policy.) Today, Representatives Thomas Winfield…

GOP and Sales Taxes

By Patrick Laverty | December 27, 2012 |

It seems the RI Republicans in the State House might be finally stumbling on to an idea they can hang their hats on. Eliminating the state sales tax. Granted, it’s one that they may be simply saying “me too” on as the RI Center for Freedom and Prosperity suggested this back in June. However, that’s…