Nov 11
The All-Seeing Eye of the State French tax authorities now are using a powerful new tool to identify “tax cheats”: Facebook and other social media. Government agents scour through people’s social posts to see if people are using cars, meals, or housing which appear to be ‘outside their means.’ See here.
Nov 11
The Omnipotent State Strikes Again New York City’s government imposes so many taxes and regulations on short-term lodging entrepreneurs that the City recently sent dozens of armed agents to raid a condo complex. The accusation? That several of the condo owners were making a few bucks by lending out their condos to NYC tourists. See …
Oct 19
A dominant narrative among socialists, progressives and sociology departments everywhere is that capitalists and the rich are controlling American ‘policy.’ Yet tax receipts tell the opposite story. The poorest 50 percent of Americans barely pay any income tax, while the richest few are forced to pay a majority of all federal income taxes. See here.
Jul 06
When you tax something you get less of it. In 2008 Maryland’s government passed a millionaire tax, taking more than 6 percent of everything earned by the state’s millionaires (in addition to all other taxes they already pay). One-third of all millionaires in the state either moved away or quit earning so much money the …
Jun 14
Every socialist state will eventually reach a day of reckoning. For years the government of Harvey, Illinois (an impoverished, high-tax, high-regulation socialist suburb of Chicago) has overpaid cops and firefighters and lavished retired cops and firefighters with extravagant pensions. (Many such retirees take their padded pensions and move to lower-tax, less socialist places.) But the …
May 23
Illinois was once an international flagship of capitalism, freedom, commerce and manufacturing. Today the bloated government of Illinois has raised taxes so high that tens of thousands have fled for freer pastures in each of the past several years. See here. One couple is quoted saying that by moving to Tennessee, they managed to take …
Apr 30
Government-provided drinking water is often contaminated and toxic despite its exorbitant cost. Here is a story about lead contamination in Chicago’s drinking water.
Apr 27
California has remarkable features. Victor Davis Hanson notes that California is the 5th or 6th largest economy in the world. California’s tech industry is responsible for at least half all internet traffic in the world. But the people of California are saddled with an increasingly socialist government. Fifty percent of Californians pay no state income …
Apr 16
Kentucky’s school teachers are on strike, and the governor of Kentucky recently revealed what he thinks of their true purpose and value. Governor Matt Blevin said that without the government teachers, children may be drawn into drug use, assaulted, or raped. Nothing about children missing out on education. See here.
Apr 02
The Seattle Times reports that hundreds of home owners are preparing to sell their homes and leave the city. Property taxes have risen more than 40 percent during the past 4 years. The city has become known for pro-government politics, and its voters seem to vote for every proposed mill levy. In some areas, mill-levy …
