The pretense of safety and the pursuit of revenue. As budgets are still stretched states are always looking for new ways to raise additional revenue. Red Light cameras are popping up all across the country and new photo radar cameras are spreading to capture your every move on the roads. While all deployed as additional safety ... MORE
The state against the poor. The New York Times recently noted a new trend in Los
Angeles:
strict enforcement of jaywalking laws downtown, including the
little-known regulation that makes it a crime to enter a crosswalk
after the red crosswalk light is flashing—even if that red light,
as it often does in L.A., is counting down the seconds ... MORE
Rocky Mountain high gets a new meaning. America's first retail stores selling marijuana open for business in
Colorado on Wednesday, putting the western state in the vanguard of the
country's evolving attitudes on legalizing the drug. Officials in the state famous for its ski resorts and breathtaking
mountain vistas have issued 348 retail ... MORE
Rebecca Fudek on credibility forfeiture. “I’ve always paid my taxes and have never been arrested or charged
with any crime in my life. I am a successful small-business man. But in
January of this year, I woke up to find that my business’ entire bank
account — more than $35,000 — had been wrongly seized.” These are the words of Terry Dehko, who ... MORE
by John R. Quain. Banished by voters in Houston, facing legal challenges in Missouri and working undercover in New York City, traffic-monitoring cameras, promoted as accident-reducing tools by safety advocates and decried as intrusive revenue-generators by opponents, are nothing if not controversial. The battlefront of photographic ... MORE
Strike back against intrusive revenue generators. Banished by voters in Houston, facing legal challenges in Missouri and working undercover in New York City, traffic-monitoring cameras, promoted as accident-reducing tools by safety advocates and decried as intrusive revenue-generators by opponents, are nothing if not ... MORE
by Josh Peterson. Agents from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) are using Google Maps
as part of their tool kit to audit taxpayers and organizations, The
Daily Caller has learned. A redacted
IRS letter dated Sept. 8, 2011 reveals that at least in one case the
IRS’s examiners used photos of a property, obtained through Google Maps,
as ... MORE
Government continues to make life more expensive. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) is introducing legislation that would nearly double the 18.4-cents-per-gallon federal gas tax that is traditionally used to pay for federal transportation projects. Blumenauer's bill would increase the gas tax by 15 cents, matching a proposal that was ... MORE
One government arm serves the other. Amazon.com Inc and other online retailers with no physical presence in New York State must go on collecting sales tax after the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a legal challenge to the law that requires it. The court order means the New York law remains intact and the high court ... MORE
by Baylen Linnekin. Last month the San Francisco city council introduced a proposal
to tax soda at a rate of two cents per ounce. The tax, which would
have to be approved by voters, would add a whopping $1.44 to the
cost of a six-pack of soda. The council liked the idea so much that
they soon
introduced a competing proposal to tax soda ... MORE
Gimmicky traps are about money, not safety. Officials in the District of Columbia waited until Friday to bury the announcement that 130 new revenue-enhancement cameras are being deployed on the streets of the nation’s capital. Locals have learned a speed camera lurks hidden behind the “Welcome to Washington” sign, and they’re jamming ... MORE
by Beverly Eakman. Surveillance monitors and bracelets; key cards; Smart Cards; Radio Frequency Identification tags, labels, and toll collectors; followed by the newest wave of subdermal implants (ostensibly to keep the kids and Grandma safe). Hidden GPS satellite tracking; concealed webcams; and long-distance audio-visual ... MORE
To separate taxpayers from their money, of course. When California police dressed one of their officers in a chicken suit they thought the sight would be enough to make drivers stop at crossings - but they were wrong. As a campaign to make Lake Elsinore crosswalks safer got underway on Thursday, 31 drivers were ticketed after failing ... MORE