Archive for ‘Politics’

1106 results.
Jun19

Hog fuel or health care? WA state Senate considering 14 more more tax loopholes

by Bill Dow on June 19th, 2013 at 11:21 am
Posted In: Taxation, Politics, Washington State Politics

he fourteen tax breaks proposed by the state Senate – despite a revenue shortfall and $1 billion funding deficit in K-12 education – beg the question: can we really afford this? Some loopholes have their place, but as the state legislature tries to put together a budget that preserves essential state services with limited resources, […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry…

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Jun18

Estate Tax Fix in Place, More Revenue Needed

by Michael Mitchell on June 18th, 2013 at 1:51 pm
Posted In: Justice, Economic Justice, Taxation, Politics, Washington State Politics

Late last night, legislators came to an eleventh hour agreement to choose Washington kids over multimillionaires. By fixing Washington state’s estate tax, lawmakers have prevented the loss of nearly $160 million in resources that go to educating children. Closing the estate tax loophole is a good place to start, but much more still has to […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry…

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Jun18

Is Andrew Cuomo another Barack Obama?

by Don Smith on June 18th, 2013 at 12:38 pm
Posted In: Politics

I read an excellent article in The Nation by Eric Alterman, “Cuomo v.s. Cuomo.” Alterman describes how Andrew Cuomo (current governor of NY and son of former governor Mario Cuomo) is socially liberal and, unlike his father, economically conservative. Andrew Cuomo passed gun control and gay marriage. But he’s extremely anti-tax. He cut taxes and […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry…

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Jun16

Big Oil wins in state legislature, in an apparent quid pro quo for estate tax fix

by Don Smith on June 16th, 2013 at 8:46 am
Posted In: Environment, Politics, Washington State Politics, Jay Inslee, Politics, Taxation, Politics, Washington State Politics

[Revised and corrected. 2013/06/19] Thursday night the state legislature passed a bill, SB 5296, that weakened the Model Toxic Control Act. I got email from Washington Conservation Voters asking me to thank legislators who opposed the bill. See Support our kids; end the Big Oil Tax Loophole. According to Washington Environmental Council, the weakening allows […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry…

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Jun15

Sam Seder: Economic Libertarianism is a fantasyland

by Don Smith on June 15th, 2013 at 4:23 pm
Posted In: Politics, Libertarianism, Politics

Sam Seder nails it about libertarians and their puerile fantasies. Building codes needed to protect against earthquakes?   “Are people in Haiti more free because they’re out from under the scourge of building codes?”  Government needed for safe water and food? A fire department? “If you’re lucky you’ll be able to convince the rest of the […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry…

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