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From March 7th to May 15th another attention whore, (Stormy Daniel’s lawyer) Michael Avenatti appeared on television 147 times, most of those on CNN. All that ‘attention’ was supposed to hurt Mr. Trump, but something else has happened. Something worse than the defamation case stupidity I pointed out here.
Avenatti is accused of collecting payroll taxes for business concerns that never went to the IRS. He’s also, reportedly, given up filing tax returns altogether.
While there are plenty of reasons to oppose Democrat rule the one that affects the most people, most often, is the obsession with spending other people’s money. To that point, I have often asked ‘how much is enough‘ so that I can answer that ‘there is no enough.’ Democrats cannot tax you enough. There is no end to the ways in which they can spend your money, or how or how much they will take. Left unchecked that is exactly what they do. And they are no longer even shy about it.
Seattle, a hub of growth and opportunity, is the gender-dysphoric Democrat poster-child for the maxim, “there is no enough.”
Chief among them is the US House Minority Leader (who may become Speaker again) Nancy Pelosi and her leadership team:
They have promised to roll back the GOP Tax Reform, proving once again that your money is really only a rebate from Democrats – they truly believe that your money should and will be taken from you in support of The Progressive State. One would think that with a message like the hat says would be a complete slam dunk for the GOP but you’d be wrong.
Our good friend Michael Graham, writing at NH Journal, has an article titled “Study: Maine Vs. N.H. Shows “More Government Means More Poverty.”
The annual Family Prosperity Index is out and, while New Hampshire didn’t make the Top 10 (it’s ranked #16), the study’s authors did use the Granite State to make their case for more economic liberty vs. reliance on government. They used the case study of New Hampshire and its neighbor, Maine (FPI ranking: #39).
The result of Maine’s dancing with the tax devil in the “blue” moon light? More government, a shrinking private sector, and one of the highest dependency cultures in the nation.
Back in March Skip reported on a discussion underway in the city that never stops taxing, Seattle. The city council debate over a new tax based on how many people a company employs. At the time the issue was not so much if but how. The “how” has been decided and their latest act of plunder approved.
The result is the so-called head tax on Seattle businesses that gross at least $20 million annually. According to The Seattle Times, 585 businesses in the city will be subject to the tax. Not surprisingly, the tech giant Amazon is expected to pay the most under the tax. The initial proposal was for a $500 tax per employee, which, in Amazon’s case, would have meant an added $20 million in labor costs. Thanks to a veto threat from the mayor, the council reduced its tax grab to $275 per employee.
This week the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute (NHFPI) issued some analysis on the “abnormal rise” in New Hampshire Business tax revenue. Their conclusion? It is likely due to Federal Tax Reform.
As of the end of April, the BPT and BET together are about $90.8 million (16.9 percent) above plan for the year, and $107.0 million (20.6 percent) above April 2017. Although these two business taxes have been the primary source of the surplus during the year, the post-TCJA rise has dwarfed other revenue sources, even those that are major contributors.
To understand why Representative Kurk is #FullofSchiff, we need to understand how SB 193 works. From a prior post:
The bill provides that an “eligible student” can receive a grant from the State equal to 95 percent of the per-pupil funding the State provides to municipalities to pay for the cost of an “adequate education” (currently $3,636.00) in order to fund an “education freedom savings account.” The account must be opened through an approved scholarship organization and the funding can be used to pay only for “qualifying educational expenses.”
Well, I do have to admit, the Concord Monitor does get a large diversity of commenters on posts sometimes. No, not the skin-color-deep-facial-features kind of diversity where only looks count. I mean the only diversity that really counts – intellectual and philosophical differences. Dick Lemiuex riled up frequent Progressive CM and Grok commenter, Bruce Currie who wrote (emphasis mine, reformatted):
Mr. Metzger believes, “(New) Hampshire citizens know at a gut level that a property tax is not an equitable way to tax people.” But somehow, he seems to believe we will accept the notion that a car tax IS an equitable way to spread the cost of schools. If equity is the objective, how about “if towns were freed to set their own” head tax? Then, at least a family of 4, with 2 kids in school, would be paying twice as much as a retired couple without kids. That would create at least some link between costs and benefits. Maybe THAT would have more of a “gut level” appeal. Of course that idea wouldn’t appeal to heads of large families. Similarly, Metzger’s idea wouldn’t appeal to owners of high end cars.
The question is, who’s ox is going to be gored? Every tax creates winners and losers.
And Bruce wrote back:
Today, Ivanka Trump and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin came to New Hampshire to talk about President Trump’s tax plan on “Tax Day.” The two were talking about the benefits of the tax plan that was put into place by the Republican-controlled Congress (not one of New Hampshire’s Democrat representatives voted for their constituents to keep more of their own hard-earned money, not Jeanne Shaheen, Maggie Hassan, Annie Kuster or Carol Shea-Porter).
New Hampshire Democrats weren’t very happy about this visit. They seem to hate that Granite Staters actually get to keep more of their own hard-earned money.
Yeah, sure thing. Once again, a lack of thought about a taxing system as a whole versus just wanting a myriad of taxes to replace NH’s property tax system. Sadly, Scott Metzger fails to understand the driver(s) for this and is simply stated by a famous phrase by a former NH Governor. Emphasis mine, reformatted:
Year after year I am saddened to see my town continually divided over the ability or inability of its citizens to afford an increase in our property taxes.
At every town meeting, a group of residents approaches the microphone to explain how they are living on a fixed income and will be forced to move from the town they’ve lived in all their lives if taxes increase. Another group approaches the mic and talks about how we cannot afford not to increase the school budget or town budget to pay for vital building expansions or services. And both groups are right. What’s wrong is the way we are asked to share the burden.
He’s wrong. If decisions are to be made
Nancy Pelosi announced that one of the first things Democrats will do when they regain control is to repeal and replace recent Republican Tax reforms. And she promises it will be bipartisan and done in daylight, (unlike healthcare reform, I guess). So, what might that look like?
If previous proposals are any indication, Pelosi plans on instituting a major tax hike, particularly focused on punishing those same generous corporations. In a plan published last month, Congressional Democrats proposed a $1 trillion dollar tax hike, pushing the corporate tax rate from its current 21% to 25%, undoing tax breaks for high earners, and re-instituting a top tax bracket that could tax some Americans at a rate of nearly 40%.
If you have any doubts about whether criminals support efforts by progressives to get students to disarm law-abiding citizens then let me help. Street thugs, muggers, rapists, Gangs, and crime syndicates (including the ones pretending to be from the government), are all for a force monopoly that favors their endeavors. They are all advocates of gun-free … Read more
For years California’s higher mileage requirements for passenger vehicles have forced manufacturers to offset those costs with higher prices for car buyers all across the nation. But the EPA is dumping Obama CAFE standards for model years 2022-2025 defaulting to the current average of 34.5 mpg.
A legal fight is expected from CAFE-Clingers and Brownistas in Kalinfornistan.
Greg Moore from AFP-NH and NH House Rep JR Hoell join us to discuss Right to Work, economic freedom, business taxes, Medicaid expansion and Obamacare, wages, free markets and more.
Skip took some time to fisk a letter to the Concord Monitor in which someone named John Andrews complains about the high property taxes in New Hampshire. He notes that across the border in Maine, he’d be paying a lot less in property taxes.
Skip does a great job exposing the fallacies upon which Andrews makes his case, and rightly points out that Maine has lots of other taxes that John never mentions. But he doesn’t have space to show how vast the chasm of the overall tax burden is between Maine and New Hampshire.
It’s Yuge.
Conservative commentator Rachel Alexander joins us to talk about taxes, rising tax burden, the Obamacare fine, Bernie’s tax-utopia, and our tax future.
Online Sales taxes at both the state and federal level pose a potential nightmare for small business owners. Chrissy Harbin from AFP-HQ returns to talk about the legislation, some of the legislative players looking to impose them, and why we need to stop these in their tracks.
In part II of our conversation with Emily Sandblade and Susan Olsen we discuss the perverse tax incentives behind expanding Medicaid in NH, like how it will favor residents who work outside the state over those who stay and work in New Hampshire.
This week we are introduced to the NH Income Tax Calculator. We also welcome Sen. Bob Smith on Ted Cruz and this week’s debate, David McIntosh – President of Club for Growth, Aaron Day on the Medicaid Expansion hearing, Crissy Harris from AFP joins us to talk EPA overreach and Obama energy policy, and our guest co-host this week is … Read more
Doug Sachletben (SACK-lay-ben), the communications director for Club for Growth, joins us to discuss Governor Mike Huckabee’s real record on taxes and spending.