Taxation
… and then sternly point to it like you’re an uninvolved third party. President Barack Obama, calling current deficit spending “unsustainable,” warned of skyrocketing interest rates for consumers if the U.S. continues to finance government by borrowing from other countries. “We can’t keep on just borrowing from China,” Obama said at a town-hall meeting in…
So when the president’s budget errs in its estimation to the tune $58 billion, why is a more invasive pursuit of taxes the obvious answer? The Obama administration on Monday proposed $58 billion in additional taxes to offset budgeting errors that overstated revenues in the president’s plan to finance health care reform. The tax measures…
Sympathy is in order for the state’s lawmakers, although not of the exculpatory kind. It must seem to them that, no matter what they do, the economic dirt keeps falling in on them in the economic hole that they’ve dug: Rhode Island government’s budget deficits have grown by $200 million over the last six months,…
Does anybody else pick up a willful naivete in Gerald Bastarache’s advocacy for a mileage tax? To measure these miles, the commission calls for “in-vehicle or after market Global Positioning System (GPS) devices” that would track the way we drive. The per-mile charge would depend on whether the driving is on crowded urban freeways during…
Based on conversation here and here, it appears that I was wrong to state that “a new methodology will skew taxes toward waterfront properties.” Several people who are typically more specifically knowledgeable about town financial matters made statements that I apparently took too literally. That said, Tiverton Tax Assessor David Robert has strangely refused to…
I had a very helpful conversation with a gentleman from the property revaluation vendor for Tiverton last night, and I learned quite a bit about the process. By the way, he was very patient and cordial, and I was very impressed with him, even if we may arrive a different conclusions. I agree with Justin…
Most Rhode Islanders are likely ambivalent about their state’s status as background scenery for Hollywood movies. Yeah, it’s neat to see familiar places on the big screen, as well as to spot famous people around town, but it remains a novelty, not a matter of economic import or civic identity. Still, this strikes me as…
Because it works differently than most other taxes with which we’re familiar, it surprised me when first I learned how property taxes are calculated, at least in Tiverton. In short, the rate is almost an irrelevant statistic. Confusion over that fact has led local Budget Committee and TCC member Tom Parker to pen the following…
Maintaining infrastructure is one of the basic tasks appropriate to government, but for that very reason — its clear importance — politicians in the state of Rhode Island tend to seek money for it independently, as a sort of deliberate afterthought. Rhode Islanders’ ultimately don’t want any bridges to collapse, and if they don’t get…
Andrew briefed the audience of the Matt Allen show last night on the nature of Rhode Island taxes and fees, along with some notes on the bungling beginning of Lincoln Chafee’s gubernatorial run. Stream by clicking here, or download it.