Liberal, Tax, Government, Incompetence, Oops, Economy, Socialism

The last of the three major credit raters downgraded France on Friday, citing poor growth, rising unemployment, and projected public debt of 96 percent of GDP by next year. President François Hollande has responded by reluctantly promising to move ahead with austerity measures... It wasn’t long ago that Hollande entered office as a left-wing firebrand, chasing a 75 percent tax on the rich to avoid having to cut any spending.

Liberal, Tax, Oops, Socialism

France's prime minister has slammed wealthy citizens fleeing the country's punitive tax on high incomes as greedy profiteers seeking to "become even richer".

Liberal, Tax, Financial, Oops, Socialism

A Belgian mayor says famed French actor Gerard Depardieu has bought a home and set up legal residence in his small town, lured by the food, the people, the lifestyle — and lower tax rates than back home. The Socialist government under French President Francois Hollande has infuriated many ultra-rich in France by presenting a 2013 budget that would tax top earners at 75 percent over the first €1 million of annual income.

Liberal, Tax, Government, Incompetence, Narrative, Oops

Almost two-thirds of the country’s million-pound earners disappeared from Britain after the introduction of the 50p top rate of tax, figures have disclosed. In the 2009-10 tax year, more than 16,000 people declared an annual income of more than £1 million to HM Revenue and Customs. This number fell to just 6,000 after Gordon Brown introduced the new 50p top rate of income tax shortly before the last general election. The figures have been seized upon by the Conservatives to claim that increasing the highest rate of tax actually led to a loss in revenues for the Government.

Democrat, Liberal, Tax, Financial, Oops

A new report says wealthy Maryland residents may be moving out due to recent tax hikes – a finding that is sure to escalate the battle over taxing the American rich. The study, by the anti-tax group Change Maryland, says that a net 31,000 residents left the state between 2007 and 2010, the tenure of a "millionaire's tax" pushed through by Gov. Martin O'Malley... The Change Maryland study found that the tax cost Maryland $1.7 billion in lost tax revenues. A county-by-county analysis by Change Maryland also found that the state’s wealthiest counties also had some of the largest population outflows.

Liberal, Tax, Oops, Socialism

The amount of income tax paid fell sharply last month in the first formal indication that the new 50p higher rate is not raising the expected amount of revenue.

Liberal, Tax, Government, Oops, Regulation

According to National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson, approximately 4,000 people gave up their citizenship from fiscal year 2005 to FY 2010. Renunciations increased sharply within the past three years, from 146 in FY 2008 to 1,534 in FY 2010. And during the first two quarters of FY 2011 alone, 1,024 Americans ditched their citizenship.

Liberal, Tax, Government, Incompetence, Oops

Taxed-out New Yorkers are voting with their feet, with a staggering 1.6 million residents fleeing the state over the last decade, a new report found. That's as if the entire populations of Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers, White Plains and West Babylon combined had packed up and left. For the second consecutive decade, New York led the nation in the percentage of residents leaving for other states, according to the report by the Empire Center for State Policy.

Liberal, Government, Oops

Five years later, all sides are rushing to repeal the withholding, saying the $11 billion it would save over the next decade is far outstripped by the herculean bookkeeping burden it imposes on businesses and government at all levels, costing orders of magnitude more in lost economic activity.

Liberal, Government, Oops

THE 10 percent excise tax on pleasure boats, coming on top of the recession, is helping to scuttle parts of the local boating industry, say those who make their livings building, selling and maintaining the boats. The luxury tax, which began Jan. 1, is applied to that part of a new boat's sale price over $100,000.

Democrat, Liberal, Tax

CME Group Inc. is evaluating whether to move some operations to other states from Chicago to reduce its taxes, but it has not decided on an exact timeline, CEO Craig Donohue said Thursday. "Our tax situation is untenable," Donohue told Reuters, noting that CME is taxed more heavily than any of its global competitors. The company is talking with at least three states -- Texas, Florida and Tennessee -- about relocating some of its business to take advantage of lower tax rates there, Donohue said.

Democrat, Liberal, Tax, Incompetence, Oops

Gov. Jerry Brown has signed into law California's tax on Internet sales through affiliate advertising which will immediately cut small-business website revenue 20% to 30%, experts say. Amazon has already emailed its termination of its affiliate advertising program with 25,000 websites.

Democrat, Tax, Incompetence, Financial, Oops

Mr. Caruso added that negotiations for the sale had begun earlier in anticipation of the repeal of the 10 percent excise or luxury tax on boats costing more than $110,000 and on other expensive items like jewelry and furs, but not on automobiles. "The customer told me he would have never bought the boat if he had had to pay the luxury tax, which would have added $30,000 more to the purchase price," Mr. Caruso said.

Liberal, Oops

Today is the day thousands of retailers in Illinois had been dreading. That's because they'll lose their affiliation with online retailers like Amazon and Overstock.com, thanks to a new state sales tax for online purchases.

Democrat, Tax, Incompetence, Financial

Boat dealers in Maryland and across the nation are hoping that Congress will soon throw them a lifeline by repealing a luxury tax on yachts that has crippled an industry already wracked by the recession.