The Wall Street Journal calls the House version of President Obama’s health care plan “the worst bill ever,” noting that it will lead to “epic new spending and taxes, pricier insurance, rationed care, dishonest accounting,” and other problems.

At the Atlantic, Megan McArdle, who voted for Obama, explains how ObamaCare will cost much more than promised — at least $150 billion more.  That’s true even if promised cuts to Medicare included in ObamaCare actually take place — but as McArdle notes, even…

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This month’s issue of Info Tech & Telecom News contains an article by yours truly on certain states’ attempts to collect sales taxes from out-of-state businesses. Key point:

Economists have known for a long time that when you tax something, you get less of it. Apparently some state legislators want less commerce in their states.

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Those pushing the Senate health care bill were ecstatic when the Congressional Budget Office reported that the bill “would result in a net reduction in federal budget deficits of $81 billion over the 2010-2019 period.” But it’s more budgetary legerdemain, as Cato’s Michael Tanner pointed out today.  Tanner notes that new health care taxes are the revenue-raising tools:

The bill imposes a 40 percent excise tax on health-insurance plans that offer benefits in excess of $8,000 for an individual plan and $21,000 for…

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Your host Richard Morrison welcomes returning guest co-host William Yeatman and special guest commenter Ryan Radia to the program for Episode 61 of the LibertyWeek podcast. We start with the FCC’s just-announced proposal for “net neutrality,” Treasury documents that reveal the true cost of cap-and-trade legislation and the plan for getting over California’s great depression. We then move on to the G20 Summit’s potential path to prosperity and the ever-expanding scandal that is ACORN.

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ObamaCare won’t just raise taxes on the rich, and impose tax penalties on people without approved health-insurance plans. It will also dramatically change tax laws so that “taxpayers will be fined for honest mistakes,” explains prominent New York tax lawyer James M. Peaslee. That’s true even if the mistake resulted from a confusing tax rule, and the taxpayer “tried in good faith to comply with the law.”

(Keep in mind that the health-care bill backed by Obama is over 1,000 pages long, and some…

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“ObamaCare is all about rationing,” says one of Obama’s own advisers, Martin Feldstein. Feldstein earlier noted that Obama’s health-care plan would harm people with insurance, and massively raise taxes.

Civil-libertarian and former ACLU board member Nat Hentoff says that after reading Obama’s health-care plan, he was more scared of the Obama Administration than any other Administration he’s lived under. (In 1995, Hentoff received the National Press Foundation’s Award for lifetime distinguished contributions to journalism).

Legal experts and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights have questioned the…

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Reason TV hits a home run:

Massive savings from your own pocket!

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Your host Richard Morrison welcomes back returning guest co-hosts Michelle Minton and Jeremy Lott for Episode 54 of the LibertyWeek podcast. We start with ominous hints of new taxes, California state employees making strike threats and the possible antitrust implications of the Microhoo partnership. We continue with a double-dipping pay scandal, the suppression of dissent in Venezuela and some fully transparent Olympic News.

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CEI and the Pacific Research Institute recently co-hosted a Capitol Hill briefing on “California’s Meltdown” - the unprecedented combination of flawed economic, energy and environmental policies that have left the state with a massive budget deficit and facing even tougher times ahead.

Our keynote speaker was Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA), a first term member of the House of Representatives but a 22-year veteran of the California state legislature. He was introduced by Director of Energy & Global Warming Policy Myron Ebell:

After his speech…

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Lead headline on the Drudge Report today – “Terrifying 57% tax looms for biggest earners in NYC.” It links to a NY Post article that points to the “job-killing effects” of the proposed tax surcharges to pay for the Democrats health care plan. As the Post noted,

That means New York’s top earners, small-business owners and most dynamic entrepreneurs will be facing new fees and penalties.

They’re likely to cut back on hiring and expanding their businesses – likely to deepen the recession. Also,…

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The potential specter of federal carry-on bag size restrictions has not deterred me from flying. But my jaw nearly hit the floor recently when I saw that I had paid more in taxes and fees than for actual airfare for an international flight.

Click here to see a list of 17 taxes we pay for flying. The September 11th Fee. International Departure Tax. International Arrival Tax. And those are just the direct taxes.

Indirect taxes are also legion. They’re harder to see.…

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Your host Richard Morrison brings you Episode 51 of the LibertyWeek podcast, along with special guest co-host Jeremy Lott and Fellow in Regulatory Studies Ryan Young. We start with Judge Sotomayor in the Senate hot seat, a privacy threat from “smart” passports and why Rep. Dan Lipinski has decided your suitcase is too big. The discussion continues with Rep. John Murtha’s expanding corruption scandal, beer news from the Beaver State and the arrival of Wal-Mart in India. We wrap up with…

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On both of the most salient issues of the day, health care reform and climate change, proponents of the corresponding legislation are setting their sights on the rich to pay for these expensive measures.

The massive government health care bill in the House involves a very expensive restructuring of the health care system in the United States–so expensive, in fact, that Democrats are proposing a tax increase on the rich, that is, in addition to the one that will occur when the…

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Congressional Democrats are pushing hard to complete their health care bill before next week’s recess, but their hopes for a quick passage and the fulfilling of Obama’s goal of signing by October look increasingly bleak–especially since the drafting was done without Republican input, leading, of course, to a political firestorm.  The bill would mandate health insurance coverage for all Americans at enormous taxpayer expense and require major employer contributions, though there is not yet full agreement on the specifics of the burdens…

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Some politicians in North Carolina want Amazon.com to collect and pay North Carolina state sales taxes.

This is troubling. In our federal system, states can only tax entities within their borders. And Amazon’s Washington state headquarters are three time zones away from the Raleigh, NC, statehouse. What gives?

The logic goes that Amazon works with affiliates to advertise and link to products it sells. Some of these affiliates are in North Carolina. Therefore, Amazon has a physical presence in North Carolina, and can…

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An excellent article in the June issue of Commentary Magazine, taking to task President Obama’s broad attacks on the wealth-producers in American society in the name of fairness.  Author Francis Cianfrocca in “Wealth creation under attack”  points out the flaws in this reasoning:

The United States is organized on the principle of the consent of the governed. Power and legitimacy do not flow from the state to the people, but the other way around. In this respect, what individuals do is…

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