The California senate has approved seven new bills dealing with firearms. SB 47 bans so-called “bullet buttons” allegedly used, according to one report, “to get around existing laws banning detachable magazines.” SB 374 bans detachable magazines in rifles and SB 396 prohibits possession of magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition. SB…
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In California between 1974 and 1978 property taxes increased 120 percent and people worried they might lose their homes. Enter Proposition 13, which amended the state’s constitution to limit the growth of property taxes—appropriately enough, as 35 years ago the state was running a budget surplus. The measure capped property tax rates for residential…
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How much debt is your state government adding to your total debt burden? While the MyGovCost calculator can help you find out how the U.S. federal government is adding to your debt burden, it doesn’t take into account any of the borrowing that your state might be doing. That’s why we found the following…
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The federal government is not short on scandal these days. The IRS has been cracking down on groups who want to make the country better, or monitor government spending. The Attorney General is going after news reporters and the Benghazi cover-up endures. In such an atmosphere embattled Americans should not forget another scandal that…
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Say what you will, governments do one thing really well: create perverse incentives! Today’s example is provided by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. “Obamacare”), which sets up a really perverse incentive for the employers of part time workers: it sends the cost of having an employee work their 30th hour in…
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Just in case anyone is thinking that it’s OK the IRS abuses its power because, after all, we need to fund the government and all the important functions its serves, you might be interested in the following. On Thursday, June 6, there will be a hearing entitled “Collected and Wasted: The IRS Spending Culture…
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“I’m not going to sit here and promise that there will not be cost growth.” That was Dan Richard, chairman of California’s high-speed rail authority, at a May 28 congressional hearing at Madera in California’s central valley. Richard’s non-promise was in vain because as rail subcommittee chairman Jeff Denham noted, enormous cost growth is…
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Every year, the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (a.k.a. “the OMB”) puts together the President’s budget proposal for the U.S. federal government. Those proposals include forecasts of the amount of revenue and spending the U.S. government will have for the next five years into the future. So how good is the OMB…
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