A Different Tax Exemption for Brown
It was Saturday night, I was reading through Providence’s 2012 fiscal year budget, and I came across an expenditure that caught my attention. We’re all pretty familiar by now with the gist of this table, even if the numbers are dizzying: Between the variations of public property, the “meds and eds,” and other tax-exempt properties, [...]
The Dirty Dozen Tax Scams of 2012
Today the IRS released its annual “Dirty Dozen” ranking of tax scams, reminding taxpayers to protect themselves against a wide range of schemes, from identity theft to return preparer fraud. IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman advises, “Scam artists will tempt people in-person, on-line and by e-mail with misleading promises about lost refunds and free money. Don’t [...]
Poverty Institute Becomes Economic Progress Institute
The name changes, but the mission will stay the same. Over a year ago I (and many others) had conversations with a consultant who was working with the Poverty Institute to rebrand their image. And today, in coordination with the annual Budget Rhode Map, the Poverty Institute is officially changing its name to the Economic [...]
Feb 12: Sen. Whitehouse Community Dinner in Narragansett
As Rhode Islanders continue to struggle in this tough economy, U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse will host a community dinner in Narragansett this Sunday, to listen to local residents’ concerns and take questions. Sheldon will discuss his fight to support Rhode Island small businesses, preserve Social Security and Medicare benefits, and implement the “Buffett Rule” to make [...]
Brown Students Call on University to Pay Fair Share
A group of students attending Brown University are publicly calling on the Brown Corporation to increase its monetary contributions to the City of Providence. Tomorrow morning at 10 a.m., students will speak in front of the University’s historic Van Wickle Gates, announcing the beginning of their campaign to convince Brown to reconsider its current fiscal [...]
Lucky Duckies
One of the more reprehensible things that conservatives have come out with of late is the idea of the ‘lucky duckies.’ This is what the Wall St Journal’s op-ed page called those of our society who are ‘fortunate’ enough to make such a low salary that they don’t have to pay fed income taxes. This [...]
Sound Fair to You?
Cities and towns across Rhode Island have faced financial hardship over the last several years. Cities have been devastated by the economic crisis, which itself was caused by a complete lack of oversight on Wall Street, oversight that even today Republicans are fighting tooth and nail. They even oppose the idea of having an agency [...]
Fighting for Rhode Island
The last few years have been tough for our great Ocean State. Across Rhode Island, I’ve organized community dinners, main street tours, and coffee hours where I’ve heard firsthand from so many people struggling to find work, seniors worried about their Social Security and Medicare, families being crushed by unfair credit card rates, and students [...]
What Can’t Brown Do for You?
Was with Occupy Providence to the City Council meeting on Thursday night and the City Council distributed the following flier about how the wealthy Brown University refuses to pay their fair share in Providence — even after teachers, firefighters, police officers and city workers did their fair share, the taxpayers did theirs and even after [...]
Republican Presidential Candidates’ Tax Policy Would Destroy the Economy (Even More)
There’s nothing quite like a political campaign to demonstrate just how extreme the national Republican Party and its primary voters are. The Center for Tax Justice has an analysis of the GOP Presidential Candidates’ Tax Plans which shows just how much they favor the wealthiest 1% of Americans. Some high(low)lights: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s [...]
Meritocracy or hypocrisy?
A friend of mine just had a tragedy in the family—his grandmother passed away. It has been difficult for him, but the good news is that his grandmother lived a rich, full, and happy life and died surrounded by a large and loving family. But talking to my friend really got me thinking about some of [...]
Providence Journal Losing It’s Tax Cut Religion?
With all the Huricane Irene preperation going on, maybe you missed the monumental shift yesterday in editorial policy at the newspaper of record in Rhode Island. After years of supporting tax cuts for the elite and encouraging buidgetary policy coddling the CEO class in the hopes that they would through their good graces employ the [...]
“…but there’s no money” or other lies the business community and conservatives want …
Have you ever heard this one from people? “But there is just no money. How are we going to spend tax dollars on (insert name of needed program here) when there is just no money?” Now sadly I hear this from just as many Democrats as Republicans, but that is another story. Of course there [...]
Libertarian Fairy Dust: AKA Its Only Class War When Workers Fight Back
Two interesting things of note. First, this gragh from the AFL-CIO: Then this story from the NYTIMES by Steven Greenhouse: Labor’s Decline and Wage Inequality By STEVEN GREENHOUSE The decline in organized labor’s power and membership has played a larger role in fostering increased wage inequality in the United States than is generally thought, according [...]
Its a day that ends in Y. You know what that means…
That’s right! Its time for another “Flight of the Earls” story in the Rhode Island media! This time it is from Eddie Achorn Junior, AKA, Stephen Beale of GuLP (that’s GOLOCALPROV for those of you who don’t know. You really have to GuLP it down when you read something Beale writes). Anyway, EJ hits the Rhode [...]
On Reading Classical Economists
“Classical’ econoimists refer to those thinkers who laid the foundation for modern economic thought. Since the U of Chicago school is full of neo-classical thinkers, I thought it would be good to go back to basics. And because I like to share, here’s a test for you. All of the quotes below come from either: [...]
“Bomb Now, Pay Later”
Paul Craig Roberts lays bare what’s wrong with the deficit hype being used to foist the dismantling of the social safety net on the American people: Recently, the bond rating agencies that gave junk derivatives triple-A ratings threatened to downgrade US Treasury bonds if the White House and Congress did not reach a deficit reduction [...]
Stand Strong for Rhode Islanders in the Debt Ceiling Fight!
The debt ceiling negotiations have heated up to match the mercury outside and Republicans and Democrats are proposing dranconian cuts to Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare while preserving tax breaks for the super wealthy and corporate tax subsidies. Join us to ask the RI delegation to stand their ground for Rhode Islanders by defending these [...]
And the consensus is…for H6095!
Today, the House Finance Committee heard testimony on H6095, the ’95/5′ tax that would solve our state’s budget deficit in a responsible way by asking those who can best afford it to join all the other Rhode Islanders who are “sharing the sacrifice.” And it was pretty clear which side Rhode Islanders came down on. [...]
New Comments