Tag: taxes

Blatant Lawlessness: Connecticut’s Department Of Labor And Union Leaders Betray Union Workers & Taxpayers

That question looms large in Connecticut where Department of Labor (CT DOL) commissioner Danté Bartolomeo has openly acknowledged ignoring a statute designed to protect union members.  

At issue is Connecticut General Statutes Sec. 31-77. This 1959 law requires unions to file verified annual financial reports, make them available to members, and submit them to the CT DOL for safekeeping and possible audit. It was enacted to deter corruption, protect workers’ dues, and hold union leaders accountable. The law also protects taxpayers, who subsidize union activities through paid union leave, administrative costs associated with dues collection, grants, and other state-supported benefits.  

For years, however, CT DOL has simply refused to enforce it.  

Commissioner’s Contradictions  

In an August 2025 letter to Senators Rob Sampson and Stephen Harding, Commissioner Bartolomeo acknowledged the statute but dismissed it as “redundant” because unions already file IRS Form 990s. She further complained that compliance is “burdensome” and rarely requested.  

This rationale is indefensible. Commissioners are not empowered to decide which laws are worth enforcing. The General Assembly writes the laws; the executive branch is obligated to carry them out. If Bartolomeo truly believed she had discretion to ignore Sec. 31-77, she would never have asked lawmakers last session for “technical changes.” That request alone proves she knows the law is binding — she has simply chosen not to comply.  

Keep reading

UK, US Sign $42 Billion Tech Deal To Boost AI Partnership

The United Kingdom and the United States struck a technology pact on Sept. 16 that would bring $42 billion in investments from U.S. tech giants into the UK’s AI infrastructure.

The deal was reached as President Donald Trump arrived in the UK for a two-day state visit, during which he is expected to meet King Charles and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Under the “Tech Prosperity Deal,” the two nations agreed to cooperate in advancing AI, quantum computing, and nuclear technology, according to a statement issued by the UK government.

Major U.S. tech companies—Microsoft, Nvidia, Google, OpenAI, and CoreWeave—will invest in the UK’s AI infrastructure, including data centers and computer chips, as part of the agreement.

The deal is expected to generate more than 5,000 jobs in the northeast of England, which the UK government said will become a new AI growth zone.

The two countries will collaborate on research schemes to further the use of AI to allow for “targeted treatments and other shared priorities like fusion energy,” according to the statement.

This could lead to “life-changing breakthroughs like developing targeted treatments for those suffering with cancer or rare and chronic diseases,” the UK government said.

“This Tech Prosperity Deal marks a generational step change in our relationship with the U.S., shaping the futures of millions of people on both sides of the Atlantic, and delivering growth, security and opportunity up and down the country,” Starmer said.

The deal includes a $30 billion investment from Microsoft over four years, its largest commitment in the UK.

The company stated in a blog post that the funding will help develop the country’s “largest supercomputer,” which will be equipped with more than 23,000 advanced AI chips.

Under the U.S.–UK tech pact, Nvidia will partner with UK companies to deploy 120,000 advanced GPU chips across the country, marking its largest rollout in Europe to date, according to the statement.

“Today marks a historic chapter in U.S. – United Kingdom technology collaboration,” Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang said.

OpenAI said it will team up with British company Nscale and Nvidia to launch a Stargate UK project to boost the UK’s sovereign computing capabilities, as part of the tech pact.

The UK and the United States signed a trade agreement in June on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada. The deal still left UK steel and aluminum subject to 25 percent tariffs, rates that the UK government is working to reduce.

Speaking to reporters before departing for the UK on Sept. 16, Trump indicated that he was willing to further negotiate trade with the UK government.

“They want to see if they can refine the trade deal a little bit. We made a deal, and it’s a great deal. And I’m into helping them,” the president told reporters.

Keep reading

Major NYC strip club group bribed state auditor with lap dances, avoided $8M in taxes: AG

What a bunch of boobs.

A major strip club group bribed a state auditor — including with lap dances — to avoid paying more than $8 million in New York City sales taxes over the last 14 years, prosecutors charged Tuesday.

The State Attorney General’s Office unsealed a 79-count criminal indictment against the company, RCI, and five of its executives, accusing them of engaging in a naked, tax fraud scheme.

The affair was so brazen, a top RCI accountant even allegedly made at least 10 trips from Texas to New York to treat the former auditor at the company’s Manhattan jiggle joints, Rick’s Cabaret, Vivid Cabaret and Hoops Cabaret and Sports Bar, court papers state.

“RCI’s executives shamelessly used their strip clubs to bribe their way out of paying millions of dollars in taxes,” said AG Letitia James. “I will always take action to fight corruption and ensure everyone pays their fair share.”

Keep reading

Michigan Lawmakers Embrace Marijuana Tax Hike Plan Proposed By Governor

Michigan Senate Democrats are reportedly moving toward implementing a major tax hike on marijuana that was previously proposed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D).

While no legislation to effectuate the policy change has been filed yet, the plan is to impose a 32 percent wholesale excise tax on cannabis—which would be in addition to the existing 16 percent in taxes that are placed on marijuana at the retail level.

The governor said in February that the proposal would “close a loophole that exempted the marijuana industry from wholesale tax, which is applied to similar smoking products, like cigarettes, and other tobacco items.” Aligning those tax policies, her office said, could help the state fund plans to “fix the damn roads for generations to come.”

“After voters legalized marijuana, the industry has grown exponentially thanks in part to Michigan’s industry-friendly taxes, the fourth lowest in the nation,” the governor said at the time. “The industry, which recorded billions in sales in 2024, uses Michigan roads to transport marijuana multiple times throughout the process, including to grow operations, testing labs, distribution hubs, and finally retail stores. This will add an additional $470 million to help fix roads across the state.”

It would also effectively double the total tax rate on cannabis in Michigan, which advocates say would unfairly burden businesses and consumers.

“Michigan’s cannabis consumers already pay more than their fair share of taxes. They should not be singled out to bear the costs of ‘fixing the damn roads,’” Karen O’Keefe, director of state policies for the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), told Marijuana Moment.

“Michigan’s excise taxes are about 10 times as high on cannabis as they are on alcohol,” she said. “Gov. Whitmer’s proposal would roughly double the tax burden on consumers, many of whom are medical patients who are struggling to make ends meet.”

Keep reading

Influence Operation? The EU Paid-Off €600,000 To Friendly Media Outlets Right After European Elections

While the European Union likes to throw out terms like “misinformation,” “disinformation,” and “influence campaigns,” the reality is that the EU is pumping millions into influencing public opinion itself. The difference is just that when Brussels does it, it is not supposed to be propaganda.

One European politician, MEP Petr Bystron, has revealed that the EU commission has provided Financial support to the American investigative network Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) right after the 2024 EU elections. Major German news outlets like Spiegel, Zeit, and Süddeutsche Zeitung belong to the group, which is the world’s largest network of investigative media.

These outlets are known for their hit pieces on conservative and right-wing parties, often at opportune times. Notably, Spiegel and Süddeutsche Zeitung’s reporting in 2019 on the Ibiza Affair scandal — which involved an undercover video of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) party’s leader — led to the toppling of the Austrian government at the time, which included the FPÖ. Many critics believed that due to the sophistication of the operation, which included an undercover actress, intelligence services may have played a role.

The OCCRP group was founded in 2006 and is most well known for publishing the “Panama Papers” and the “Azerbaijan Laundromat” evasion scandals.

After a massive flow of U.S. money was cut off to key European establishment outlets and NGOs, Brussels is stepping in to fill the gap. Namely, the Trump administration ended the massive levels of funding headed towards foreign organizations, particularly from USAID, which allowed them to pump out pro-EU and left-wing content to wide swathes of the population across Europe.

The OCCRP group has received an extraordinary amount of money from U.S. taxpayers and other U.S. sources. According to French outlet Mediapart, the group received nearly $50 million from U.S. sources, but these funders were not just generous donors. They also could dictate editorial agendas and veto staff appointments.

Two journalists from NDR, a German state media network, questioned just how independent the OCCRP is in a 2024 report.

The two determined that a significant portion of the money was coming from American funds, particularly from USAID. OCCRP was funneling content and material to German media outlets like Spiegel, Zeit, and Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Keep reading

House Appropriations Committee Unanimously Passes Amendment to Defund All NIH-Funded Transgender Animal Experiments in FY26 Spending Bill

In a significant victory for fiscal conservatives and animal welfare advocates, the House Appropriations Committee has unanimously passed an amendment to the FY26 NIH spending bill that would prohibit the use of taxpayer dollars for bizarre and controversial “transgender” experiments on animals.

The amendment, which was added to the spending bill, states explicitly:

“Sec. ___. None of the funds made available by this Act may be used for research on vertebrate animals for the purpose of studying the effects of drugs, surgery, or other interventions to alter the human body (including by disrupting the body’s development, inhibiting its natural functions, or modifying its appearance) to no longer correspond to its biological sex.”

The amendment was first proposed by Rep. Paul Gosar in May, who was working with White Coat Waste Project, a watchdog group focused on ending wasteful taxpayer-funded animal experimentation.

The full FY26 NIH spending bill advanced out of committee and now heads to the full House for a vote. If approved by Congress and signed into law, this provision would permanently bar NIH-funded labs from using tax dollars on such experiments, ensuring no repeat of the disturbing practices uncovered earlier this year.

Keep reading

Funding for green groups soared after 2009 endangerment finding, nonprofit finds

Changes to the Environmental Protection Agency’s strict regulations on the automobile industry could cost nonprofit groups that reported a 267% funding bump in the years since the federal agency’s 2009 Endangerment Finding, a rule that provided a legal basis for the agency to regulate vehicle emissions and the energy industry through the Clean Air Act.

Democracy Restored, a nonprofit dedicated to showing how government works, reviewed the tax returns of more than 75 of the top nonprofit organizations focused on climate change. Funding for those 75 groups has increased significantly since 2009 with their bottom lines moving from about $3 billion to $8 billion, since the most recently available tax returns were made public, said Houston Keene, director of Democracy Restored.

Government grants to those same 75 organizations increased from $350 million in 2009 to nearly $1.4 billion in 2023, the most recent year for which records were available.

“The endangerment finding seems to have given a very big boost to these groups,” Keene told The Center Square.

In July, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed to rescind an Obama-era environmental finding, or endangerment finding, impacting the automobile industry. Trump’s EPA boss, Lee Zeldin, says the endangerment finding cost the industry $1 trillion in regulations. Trump’s EPA blames the 2009 Endangerment Finding for the Biden administration’s electric vehicle mandate, which aimed to reduce the production of gas-powered vehicles.

Zeldin’s EPA says that if the proposal is finalized, it will lead to the repeal of all “resulting greenhouse gas emissions regulations for motor vehicles and engines,” resulting in consumer choice and affordability. The agency says that it will save over $54 billion a year.

In support of the proposal, the EPA cited new scientific data it says challenges “the assumptions behind the 2009 Endangerment Finding.” The EPA chief contends the Obama and Biden administrations used “warped science” to cram through new emission standards.

Other groups disagree. Former vice president and environmental activist Al Gore says the move ignores reality.

Keene said the groups are pushing policies out of touch with Americans.

“They’re pushing policies that the majority of Americans wouldn’t want to live under or even agree with at this point,” he told The Center Square.

Keene said that such spending needs to be carefully examined going forward.

Keep reading

White House requests $58 million to increase security for executive, judicial branches after Charlie Kirk shooting, sources say

The Trump administration is sending a $58 million request to Congress to increase security for the executive and judicial branches in the wake of the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, multiple sources familiar with the matter told CBS News Saturday.

Punchbowl was first to report the news.

A White House official confirmed the extra funds would be directed to the U.S. Marshals Service and would also include enhanced 
protection for Supreme Court justices.

Additionally, the Trump administration expressed support for increased funding to protect congressional lawmakers, but may defer to the legislative branch on that.

This all comes ahead of a Sept. 30 government funding deadline. 

CBS News previously reported on a new pilot program for House members that launched in August that provides an extra allowance for members to hire personal security or make upgrades at home.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said late this week a “deliberate” and thorough review of the program is underway. The Senate is also considering additional safety precautions.  

“We’ve got to protect people who run for public office or no one will, and that’s heavy on our hearts and minds, as we also, you know, work through the trauma of what happened,” Johnson told reporters Thursday. 

U.S. Capitol Police Chief Michael Sullivan told CBS News that the department expects to track more than 14,000 threats to members by the end of the year, significantly outpacing previous years. Sullivan said USCP will be operating at a “heightened posture” going forward. 

“We’re prepared to continue to react and keep the members of Congress safe,” Sullivan said.

Keep reading

NPR’s Luse: Kirk ‘Said Some Extremely Bigoted Things’ and That’s Why Some on Left Downplay His Death

On Friday’s edition of NPR’s “It’s Been a Minute,” host Brittany Luse stated that Charlie Kirk “said some extremely bigoted things. Because of that, I have seen and heard some folks who are saying something like, this type of violence shouldn’t happen, but I’m not mad that it did happen to this person, meaning Charlie Kirk.”

Luse said, [relevant exchange begins around 12:55] “[L]ooking to the left, Charlie Kirk was undeniably a polarizing figure for his, at times, extreme conservative views. He said some extremely bigoted things. Because of that, I have seen and heard some folks who are saying something like, this type of violence shouldn’t happen, but I’m not mad that it did happen to this person, meaning Charlie Kirk. What would you say to someone who takes that kind of stance in this politically-charged moment?”

Guardian Reporter Abené Clayton responded, “I think that’s a tough one, you know what I mean? Because it’s like, even that comes with its own dangers. You know what I’m saying? I’m a black woman. To me, the things he was saying [were] like, no, this just does not work for me, this is racist, this is trifling. And I also think there’s a little bit of pressure from other folks on the left to see Democratic lawmakers say, like, this person was horrible, this is bad, yes, but also look at what he said. I think that’s what people want, but that’s not super advisable if we’re trying to create an environment of, like, peace, safety, and justice for everyone.”

At the beginning of the show, Luse stated, “America is divided on how to respond to this moment. I have seen some people on the right calling for revenge. I’ve seen some people on the left indifferent or even cheering that this right-wing pundit, who frequently spouted bigoted views, was killed. I’ve also seen people of all political backgrounds fearing for what the shooting and the reaction to it mean for this country’s future.”

Keep reading

House Appropriators Include Money for mRNA Vaccine Research in Spending Bill

The House Appropriations Committee has approved a spending bill for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that authorizes the department to spend up to $1.1 billion on research into messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) technology.

Lawmakers on Sept. 9 advanced the $184.5 billion package for HHS and several other agencies from the committee after hours of markups. The vote was 35 to 28.

Before amendments, the proposed bill stated that $1.1 billion would be available through Sept. 30, 2027, for “expenses necessary to support advanced research and development” pursuant to the Public Health Service Act.

An amendment offered by Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.), chairman of the committee’s Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, added “including of mRNA vaccines” after the word “development.”

“Very briefly, this amendment includes language that’s been agreed upon by the majority and the minority for the report. And so, with agreement, I would recommend a yes vote,” Aderholt said.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the committee’s ranking member, said she supported the amendment. It was passed in a voice vote, with no members voicing opposition.

Keep reading