Government Spending Archives - Page 25 of 27

Harrisburg, the Capital of Pennsylvania, Mulls Bankruptcy

Bloomberg: “Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania, will consider Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection along with tax increases and asset sales as options to address $68 million in debt service payments due this year, the chairwoman of a City Council committee said last night. . . . The $68 million in debt service payments that Harrisburg faces in connection with the construction of a waste incinerator this year is four times what the city of 47,000 expects to raise through property taxes, and $4 million more than the city’s entire proposed operating budget.”

Deficit Balloons Into National-Security Threat

Wall St. Journal: “The federal budget deficit has long since graduated from nuisance to headache to pressing national concern. Now, however, it has become so large and persistent that it is time to start thinking of it as something else entirely: a national-security threat. The budget plan released Monday by the Obama administration illustrates why this escalation is warranted. The numbers are mind-numbing: a $1.6 trillion deficit this year, $1.3 trillion next year, $8.5 trillion for the next 10 years combined—and that assumes Congress enacts President Barack Obama’s proposals to start bringing it down, and that the proposals work.”

Largest-ever Federal Payroll to Hit 2.15 Million

Washington Times: “The era of big government has returned with a vengeance, in the form of the largest federal work force in modern history. The Obama administration says the government will grow to 2.15 million employees this year . . . . Most of the increases are on the civilian side, which will grow by 153,000 workers, to 1.43 million people, in fiscal 2010.”

Phoenix to Approve New Food Tax to Raise Revenue

Arizona Republic: “Phoenix shoppers could soon be paying more for their vegetables, milk and bread. City Council members on Tuesday are expected to approve a 2 percent sales tax on food items to help close the city’s $241 million budget deficit through June 2011. The tax would take effect April 1. . . . But Councilman Sal DiCiccio said the tax is regressive, hurting the poor and those on fixed incomes . . . .

“It looks like they’re going to try to slam through a tax hike that hits the poor the hardest without giving the public the chance to tell them no,” DiCiccio said. The tax, he added, shifts the city’s responsibility onto residents. “I’m even more against trying to slip it by before the public tunes in. It’s our responsibility to fix government spending.”

Obama Seeks $1.9 Trillion Tax Increase on People & Businesses

Remember last week during his state of the union address when President Obama’s left hand said he had cut tons of taxes? Well today President Obama’s right hand wants to taketh what the left hand giveth. Bloomberg: “The Obama administration wants to increase taxes on Americans earning more than $200,000 by almost $970 billion over the next decade and take in an additional $400 billion from businesses even as it retooled a proposed crackdown on international tax-avoidance techniques. The budget released today would reinstate 10-year-old income tax rates of 36 percent and 39.6 percent for single Americans earning more than $200,000 and joint filers who make more than $250,000 as part of a broad $1.9 trillion tax increase proposal. It proposes to eliminate preferences for oil and gas companies, life-insurance products, executives of investment partnerships and U.S.-based companies that operate overseas.”