Tag: taxes

California Attorney General Calls For ‘Lowering Taxes’ On Marijuana To Combat The Illicit Market

California’s attorney general says the cost of doing business in the state’s legal marijuana marketplace is too steep, pointing to high taxes and compliance hurdles that can create incentives for entrepreneurs to remain in the illicit market.

“The barriers to entry are too high,” state Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) said at an event in Fresno on Tuesday. “The costs to stay in operation are too high. And we should be lowering taxes at least temporarily.”

For operators trying to comply with state law, he continued, “We should make the regulatory burden less than what it is while we target the illicit market that is undercutting them.”

Bonta’s comments came as he announced a new program to aid cities and counties in addressing illegal marijuana activity through administrative enforcement and nuisance abatement. For too long, he said, fly-by-night operators in the state have gotten away with it.

“Some folks believe they can avoid the tax burden or regulatory burden and just operate and make a profit without being legal,” Bonta said at the event. “And they’ve been doing it. They haven’t been shut down. They haven’t had an administrative action taken against them. And that’s what is necessary, and that’s why this will be an important tool.”

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France to spend millions on wine disposal

The French government and the EU will shell out a total of €200 million ($216 million) to destroy wine surpluses in a country renowned for its centuries-old winemaking traditions, Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau has said. Officials in Paris cited sluggish demand which resulted in overproduction and falling prices.

Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Fesneau explained that the money is “aimed at stopping prices collapsing and so that wine-makers can find sources of revenue again.” The official also suggested that the entire industry should “think about consumer changes… and adapt.”

According to AFP, the alcohol from the condemned wine could be sold to companies that produce hand sanitizers, cleaning products, and perfume.

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LOS ANGELES COMMITS ANOTHER $1 BILLION TO LAPD DESPITE FALLING VIOLENT CRIME

The Los Angeles City Council approved a contract with the Los Angeles Police Department’s union on Wednesday containing salary increases, increased healthcare pay, and bonuses that will cost the city an additional $994 million over the next four years.

The 12-3 vote followed an outpouring of opposition from Angelenos, who argued during public comment that the police have more than enough funding. Many pleaded with councilmembers to instead invest in other city services, like housing and infrastructure. Councilmembers who voted against the proposal voiced agreement with their constituents.

“When we allocate so much of our city money to just one department, we starve all of our other departments of the money, personnel, and resources that they need to serve Angelenos,” said councilmember Eunisses Hernandez at a press conference before the hearing. Hernandez voted no on the proposal, alongside councilmembers Hugo Soto-Martinez and Nithya Raman.

“It is unclear exactly how the city will pay for nearly $1 billion in salary increases over the next four years, despite the fact that we already allocated a quarter of our city’s general fund to the LAPD,” Hernandez added.

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Biden Administration Announces Massive $5 Billion COVID-19 Funding Called “Project NextGen”

This week, InfoWars published insider information that alleges the TSA and US Border Patrol will be moving back to 2020-era COVID-19 mandates and restrictions starting in mid-September through mid-October, to include mask mandates on all flights.  This is in addition to the confirmed mask-mandate reinstatement at Morris Brown College in Atlanta, GA and Lionsgate Studios in Santa Monica, CA.

That same week, WarRoom’s Natalie Winters uncovered millions of dollars in funding, awarded primarily for the Department of Veteran’s Affairs, to ramp up testing and other COVID-19 related.  This was just a week after the NIH appointed Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, a staunch advocate for masks, lockdowns, and vaccine mandates, as the replacement for Dr. Fauci.

To further the suggestion that another lockdown scare is in the forecast, yesterday the US Department of Health and Human Services announced funding of $1.4 billion to “support the development of a new generation of tools and technologies to protect against COVID-19 for years to come” according to a press release:

The awards announced today follow extensive coordination with industry partners and include support for clinical trials that will enable the rapid development of even more effective and longer-lasting coronavirus vaccines, a new monoclonal antibody, and transformative technologies to streamline manufacturing processes.

“Project NextGen is a key part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to keeping people safe from COVID-19 variants,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. “These awards are a catalyst for the program – kickstarting efforts to more quickly develop vaccines and continue to ensure availability of effective treatments.”

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Kansas Highway Patrol to pay $500,000 after passenger killed in police chase in Topeka

The Kansas Highway Patrol will pay a half million dollars to the family of a woman who died in a 2021 police chase in Topeka. The settlement was approved Wednesday by the State Finance Council. According to the lawsuit, Trooper Justin Dobler was patrolling on March 6, 2021, when he allegedly saw a car with a cracked windshield. It looked similar to a white Ford Crown Victoria that was on a list of stolen vehicles. He attempted to pull the vehicle over, but the driver did not stop and a chase began. About 45 seconds into the pursuit, the lawsuit said Dobler identified the car as a Mercury Grand Marquis. Dobler provided dispatch information including the license plate number and was told a couple minutes later that the vehicle was not stolen. The vehicle allegedly was speeding up to 55 mph in a 35 mph zone. He twice attempted a “tactical vehicle intervention” to disable the car. The third attempt was successful and the car spun out and struck a utility pole. Passenger Anita Benz, 45, was killed. Her daughter filed a federal lawsuit in March. The lawsuit said the highway patrol found Dobler had violated the agency’s chase policy.

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Delaware judge dismisses tax charges against Hunter Biden

A federal judge in Delaware dismissed tax misdemeanor charges against first son Hunter Biden on Thursday, a pro forma move weeks after a plea agreement between the Justice Department and Biden’s attorneys blew up, new filings show.

US District Judge Maryellen Noreika granted without prejudice a motion from the office of Delaware US Attorney — and newly elevated special counsel — David Weiss to withdraw its case against the 53-year-old first son after prosecutors said last Friday he would likely have to stand trial in either Washington, DC, or Southern California.

Plea talks broke down between Hunter’s legal team and federal prosecutors following a July 26 hearing, during which Noreika pressed both parties about the scope of their agreement, including potential immunity for past crimes.

Under persistent questioning from Noreika, prosecutors said such charges could include alleged violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act — prompting Biden attorney Chris Clark to declare the deal “null and void.”

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Why is the Welsh government funding Drag Queen Story Hour?

The Welsh government has clearly learnt nothing from Scotland’s disastrous flirtation with gender self-identification. Welsh ministers are still blithely pushing ahead to make ‘Wales the most LGBTQ+ friendly nation in Europe’, by which they really mean the most beholden to gender ideology. To this end, it has already produced an arsenal of mad policies as part of its LGBTQ+ Action Plan, from the ‘recognition of nonbinary’ identities to ordering public buildings to fly flags representing ‘asexual’ and ‘aromantic’ people. And this week the Telegraph revealed that Welsh government funding was used by Cardiff’s Labour-run administration to pay for a controversial drag act in a children’s library.

In August 2022, Cardiff council paid an undisclosed sum for a Drag Queen Story Hour (DQSH) event at Cardiff Central Library, using grant money from the Welsh government. The event was hosted by ‘Aida H Dee’, the drag persona of DQSH founder Sab Samuel.

According to DQSH’s website, the purpose of grown men dressing in drag to read stories to kids is ‘to show the world that being different is not a bad thing’, and to provide ‘imaginative role models for children to look up to’. DQSH has certainly proved a hit with many publicly funded bodies, which have booked it on a regular basis. But it has proved less popular with parents and others who argue the performances are inappropriate for youngsters and are trying to indoctrinate children into gender ideology.

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It’s Time to Decriminalize Personal Possession of All Drugs. Yes, All of Them 

Drug addiction is a chronic disease. It alters the way the brain works, stripping people of self-control and their ability to resist further drug consumption. Yet unlike responses to other diseases, in the United States, arrests and incarceration serve as the primary treatment for drug addiction.

This approach has been a failure. It’s time to treat drug addiction as a public health matter and not a criminal law one. This begins by investing in a treatment infrastructure and decriminalizing the personal possession of drugs.

Police in the United States make 1.16 million arrests a year for drugs. The vast majority of these arrests, 87 percent, are for personal possession or use of drugs, meaning that police arrest a person for drug possession, not drug selling, every 32 seconds. Drug arrests represent the number one activity that police engage in, at nearly 2.5 times the volume of arrests for all FBI-classified violent offenses combined (homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault). Despite people of all races using drugs at similar rates, Black people comprise 27 percent of all drug-related arrests—even though they make up just 13 percent of the U.S. population. There are about 350,000 people incarcerated in jails and prisons for drugs.

Yet for all these arrests and incarceration, we have little to show for it, other than more people in handcuffs and jail cells. New data released just last month revealed that nearly 110,000 people in the United States died from drug-involved overdoses in 2022, compared to fewer than 20,000 in 1999. The CATO Institute estimates that taxpayers spend approximately $47 billion a year on drug prohibition. In the 23 years that drug overdoses rose from 20,000 to 110,000 a year, taxpayers spent more than $1 trillion.

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Socialist Scholar Cornel West Owes $500,000 In Taxes

Socialist professor and presidential candidate Cornel West wants “massive investments” including “free college tuition” and “Medicare for All” as part of his presidential campaign.

Just don’t expect him to chip in on the bill.

According to the Daily Beast, and confirmed by West, the Union Theological Seminary professor owes over half a million dollars in taxes.

The Green Party candidate has “more than $500,000 in outstanding federal tax liens lodged against him in two states” dating back to 2005, according to the liberal news outlet.

He explained, when asked on Monday by commentator Charlamagne Tha God, that not paying taxes is part of his “gangster proclivities.”

“They’re not wasting no time attacking you because now they’re saying you owe a half a million dollars in taxes and they’re trying to say it’s hypocrisy on your part,” the commentator said.

“Because you spent so much of your life advocating for higher taxes on the wealthy. I’m like ‘I ain’t never heard any of this about Dr. Cornel West before but now all of a sudden he’s running for president,’” he said. “Everything’s coming out the woodwork,” another host said.

“Absolutely, absolutely, and the thing is, I mean, I told you before, I got so much gangster in me, I was a gangster before I met Jesus. I ain’t nothing but a reformed sinner with gangster proclivities,” West said on the show.

“Partly it’s because I do like to give to loved ones and others too,” he said. “But I take responsibility for it too. But it don’t make no difference to me.”

“They want to use it as a distraction. Why don’t you keep the focus on the suffering that I’m highlighting?” he told Charlamagne Tha God recently.

Instead of focusing on West’s legal obligation to pay all his taxes, the obligation that all Americans share, the media should instead focus on “the suffering” people in Appalachia, Chicago and Harlem.

“This is just a matter of trying to hit you below the belt and keep the distraction,” he added.”

He appeared to deny a report from the Daily Beast that he also owes $45,000 in child support, saying the outlet was “lying about his kids.”

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Does the IRS think you’re DEAD? Taxman has incorrectly ‘deceased locked’ 90,000 accounts despite filers still being alive

More than 90,000 taxpayers have had their IRS accounts locked because the government agency incorrectly thought they were dead, a new watchdog report states.

The blunder – which the IRS blamed on ‘human and computer programming issues’ -has left legitimate and living citizens unable to file tax returns and receive rebates. They were also then lumped with the burden of rectifying the issue.

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) issued a report last week claiming that prior to January 2022 it identified 77,868 accounts with potentially erroneous locks and a further 20,222 over the next ten months.

The IRS has since confirmed those affected can notify the service and file new returns once their accounts are unlocked.

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