Showing posts with label revenue. Show all posts
Showing posts with label revenue. Show all posts

Jeffrey Tucker: Another Reason Uber Gets Banned

Depressing drunk drivers costs government revenue.  I live in a college town where drunk driving is a way of life. I once asked a policeman what his main job was in my town and he said very plainly: “stopping and arresting drunk drivers.” I asked how he knows whom to stop. His answer is that he has developed a nose for this.    ... MORE

Stephen Moore: Why Wages Aren't Rising

Obama is scooping up job creation money. President Obama has wisely abandoned his lead-filled trial balloon of taxing college savings plans. Congressional offices were deluged over the last week with indignant calls from voters on this middle-class bait-and-switch scheme and finally Democrats caved. Good riddance. But the worst    ... MORE

Amy Radil: Seattle Will Fine You For Tossing Food In Trash

Government's newest innovation in revenue collection.     In Seattle, wasting food will now earn you a scarlet letter — well, a scarlet tag, to be more accurate. The bright red tag, posted on a garbage bin, tells everyone who sees it that you've violated a new city law that makes it illegal to put food into trash cans. "I'm sure neighbors are going  ... MORE

The IRS Customer Service Will Be Extra Bad This Year

by Lori Mongomery.   Taxpayers will face the worst levels of service in more than a decade from the Internal Revenue Service this filing season, with as few as 43 percent of callers getting through to an agent and then only after waits of 30 minutes or more, according to a report released Wednesday. In her annual report to Congress, National    ... MORE

Robert W. Wood: Who Shares In Marijuana Taxes?

Will gov't tax drive pot back to the black market?   Taxes on marijuana are big, and it’s easy to see why. A discussion about legalizing marijuana often segues into one about tax revenues. Marijuana for medical use is legal in 23 states and the District of Columbia. Recreational marijuana is legal in DC and in four states, Colorado,      ... MORE

Richard D. Emery: Who's Policing The Prosecutors?

Prosecution is becoming a lucrative business.    In the last fiscal year, the Justice Department collected $24.7 billion from civil and criminal actions (including $20 billion from JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup over their handling of mortgage-backed securities before the financial crisis). Recently, the Manhattan district attorney’s office     ... MORE

Texas To Set Precedent For Another Shakedown By Cops?

by Wendy McElroy. To “serve and protect" = to “ticket and collect." A bill before the Texas legislature is being widely misreported by the alternative media. That's a shame because H.B. 121 could set a dangerous precedent by giving law enforcement a procedure that invites corruption and could quickly expand in scope. H.B. 121 dramatically     ... MORE

Ed Adamczyk: Cost Of Renouncing U.S. Citizenship Goes Up

Govt's shrewed scheme to reduce the debt.        The cost of renouncing U.S. citizenship will increase Sept. 12, from $450 to $2,350 per person, the U.S. State Department said. The new fee reflects what a U.S. Federal Register notice calls the "full cost" of the paperwork involved. "Documenting a U.S. citizen's renunciation of citizenship is       ... MORE

Another Rude ObamaCare Surprise: The Bite Of Penalties

by Rick Newman.      Taxes are bad enough when you know they’re coming—and much worse when they arrive unexpectedly. As the Affordable Care Act enters its second year of operability, a key and controversial element of the plan will begin to affect several million Americans for the first time. People who didn’t have health    ... MORE

Jim Hightower: Rabid Florida Police SWAT At Barbers

Barney Fifes on steroids.     When it comes to policing an area, the good people of Orange Country, Florida are lucky, because they’ve got the astonishing law-enforcement team of DBPR and OCSO on the beat, eager to stop any possible criminal activity. Consider just one example of the truly-incredible vigilance of this dynamic policing duo.     ... MORE

IRS Rules Make Federal Government Primary Pot Profiteers

by Katie Kuntz. A 70% Tax? Voters in Oregon, Alaska, and Washington, D.C., will decide Tuesday whether to legalize the sale of recreational marijuana. But any new pot shops that voters approve may not be able to survive a drug war-era tax code that already threatens many businesses in Colorado and Washington state. Under this tax code the federal  ... MORE

Drugs And Prostitutes Help Bring Italy Out Of Recession

by Shane Ferro.   Italy is no longer in a recession, thanks to its black market. Because the European Union changed the way it calculates GDP to include illegal revenue from things like underground alcohol sales, drugs, and prostitution, Italy found out Wednesday that its 0.1% GDP decline in the first quarter of 2014 was actually flat— or 0.0%    ... MORE

Law Lets I.R.S. Seize Accounts; No Crime Required

by Shaila Dewan. For almost 40 years, Carole Hinders has dished out Mexican specialties at her modest cash-only restaurant. For just as long, she deposited the earnings at a small bank branch a block away — until last year, when two tax agents knocked on her door and informed her that they had seized her checking account, almost $33,000.       ... MORE

New Cop-Detection Device Warns When They Are Lurking

by John Vibes.     The Blu Eye system works by monitoring frequencies that are used by emergency vehicles and then alerts the driver when those frequencies are nearby. It does not allow the driver to listen in on the encrypted communications, but will simply give a signal when those frequencies are nearby. This is far more advanced and accurate  ... MORE

Judge Gives County Green Light To Sell Woman’s Home After One Property Tax Payment Was Missed By Mistake

by Matt Erspamer.   A Kalamazoo County judge has sided with county officials in a dispute where a Richland woman says her home is being seized over a property tax mistake. FOX 17 first talked with Deborah Calley in mid-September, when she told us she lost her home after she accidentally missed a property tax payment of roughly $2,000    ... MORE

How Marijuana Tax Revenue Could Top $3 Billion A Year

by Matt Ferner.   Money may not grow on trees, but it apparently does grow on marijuana plants. If all 50 states legalized cannabis today, they'd be collectively raking in more than $3 billion a year in taxes. That's according to NerdWallet, a personal finance site, which forecasts a total $3.1 billion annual windfall for state governments that legalize   ... MORE

How A Government Crime-Fighting Tool Was Made Evil

by John Yoder and Brad Cates.       John Yoder was director of the Justice Department’s Asset Forfeiture Office from 1983 to 1985. Brad Cates was the director of the office from 1985 to 1989.  Last week, The Post published a series of in-depth articles about the abuses spawned by the law enforcement practice known as civil asset forfeiture.    ... MORE

What Happens When Libertarian Fantasies Become Reality?

by Daniel J. Mitchell. No, this post is not about that kind of fantasy. Instead, we’re dealing strictly with public policy and specifically addressing whether the libertarian agenda is unrealistic. This is because when I talk to people about libertarianism, they often will say something mildly supportive such as: “I like the idea of getting         ... MORE

Ex-Policeman Balks At "Indiscriminate Revenue Gathering"

Tells how to beat the rap on speeding tickets.      My name is Stan. I am a retired Sergeant of the Police force for 14 years. I was also a police prosecutor at times, so I know what I am talking about. I spent half my life in Magistrates Court during my time in the Force. I was only ever a very fair copper, and I am proud of my time in the job,    ... MORE