Tag: taxes

EXPOSED: Rep. Tim Burchett BLASTS Congress for Sneaking Through $90.1 BILLION in DIRTY SPENDING — $1.425B to Egypt and “Building Jordan a Wall While They Fire Missiles at Others”

Tennessee Republican Rep. Tim Burchett stormed off the House floor in utter disgust after Congress rammed through a massive $90.1 billion spending bill loaded with foreign giveaways and anti-American pork.

Burchett first pointed to an amendment offered by Chip Roy to cut the D.C. Court of Appeals budget by 20% and strip salary funding for the staffs of Judges Boasberg and Boardman.

Next up was an amendment from Eli Crane to defund the National Endowment for Democracy, an NGO long criticized by conservatives for meddling abroad and fueling censorship and regime-change operations.

Burchett also laid out another outrageous line item buried in the bill: an estimated $6.15 billion total for the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program across multiple countries.

FMF funding includes:

  • $1.3B for Egypt
  • $3.3B for Israel
  • $425M + $50M for Jordan
  • Additional FMF allocations to other countries

Tim Burchett wrote on X, “I am so disgusted. This is not what you sent us here for. Funding liberal causes and foreign militaries and contraception. $90 Billion of your money.”

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Medicaid FUNNELED to Illegal Aliens Now Tops $1.8 BILLION Across 8 States — CMS Withholds $300M From California, the Worst Offender

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced it is withholding nearly $300 million from California after federal auditors have now confirmed that more than $1.8 BILLION in Medicaid funds may have been unlawfully spent on illegal immigrants across EIGHT states.

The update was revealed by Dr. Oz, who issued a blunt warning on X that the problem is “worse than we thought.”

According to Oz, federal law explicitly prohibits the use of federal Medicaid dollars for non-emergency care for illegal immigrants. While states are free to use their own state funds to provide such coverage, they are required to maintain a clear paper trail proving that no federal dollars were used.

As a result, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is now withholding nearly $300 million from California, which Oz described as “by far the worst offender,” until the state can demonstrate it complied with federal law.

“UPDATE: It’s worse than we thought.

In October, we flagged $1.3 billion in Medicaid funds that 6 states may have unlawfully spent on health care for illegal immigrants.

Since then, we’ve gathered more data and the total has grown to over $1.8 billion across 8 states.

It’s against the law to spend federal Medicaid funds on non-emergency healthcare for illegals. If states use their own money to do it, there needs to be a clear paper trail proving that federal dollars didn’t fund those services.

These states failed to provide that for this $1.8 billion. So today, CMS is announcing that we’re withholding nearly $300 million from California — which is by far the worst offender — until they demonstrate to our satisfaction that they’re spending that money properly.

Medicaid dollars belong to Americans, not illegal immigrants, and we won’t stop until we’ve held rogue states accountable and recovered their misspent funds.

More announcements to come.”

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Trump Class Battleships Could Get Megawatt Lasers: Navy’s Top Officer

The U.S. Navy’s top officer wants directed energy weapons to become the go-to choice for the crews of American warships when faced with close-in threats. He also said that more powerful megawatt-class lasers should not be seen as “beyond” the capabilities that could be found on the future Trump class warships. The Navy has been a leader within the U.S. military in fielding laser weapons and is actively pursuing systems that employ high-power microwaves, but there continue to be significant hurdles to these efforts.

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle talked with TWZ and other outlets about his service’s directed energy weapon plans at a roundtable at the Surface Navy Association’s (SNA) annual symposium earlier today. Caudle has long been an outspoken proponent of directed energy capabilities.

“My thesis research at [the] Naval Post Graduate School was on directed energy and nuclear weapons,” Caudle said. “This is my goal, if it’s in line of sight of a ship, that the first solution that we’re using is directed energy.”

In particular, “point defense needs to shift to directed energy,” the admiral added. “It has an infinite magazine.”

When it comes to point defense for its ships, the Navy currently relies heavily on Mk 15 Phalanx Close-In Weapon Systems armed with six-barrel 20mm M61 Vulcan rotary cannons and launchers for RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missiles (RAM). Each Phalanx has enough ammunition to fire for a total of around 30 seconds, at most at the lower of two rate-of-fire settings, before needing to be reloaded. RAM launchers available today can hold either 11 or 21 missiles at a time, and the latest versions of those missiles cost around $1 million each. Many ships across the Navy also have 5-inch or 57mm main guns, and/or 30mm automatic cannons, which can also be used against close-in threats.

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Florida Governor Candidate Proposes 50 Percent Tax on OnlyFans Creator Revenue

Politicians proposing extra taxes on pornography purchases or proceeds is nothing new. But Florida gubernatorial candidate James Fishback’s porn tax proposal stands out for the extraordinary paternalism that comes along with it.

“As Florida Governor, I will not allow a generation of smart and capable young women to sell their bodies online,” Fishback posted to X on Monday. 

It’s standard these days for anti-porn warriors to wring their hands about how porn viewership is corrupting young men and driving up loneliness, or to proclaim to be protecting children, or to claim that all porn performers are victims of human trafficking. So it’s almost refreshing to someone crusading against porn on “no hussies allowed” grounds.

At least Fishback, intentionally or not, suggests that online porn creators can be “smart and capable” women who are acting out of their own agency.

He just wants to take that agency away.

Specifically, Fishback is calling for a 50 percent tax on whatever people make via OnlyFans—a platform that has become notorious for connecting sexually explicit content creators with those willing to pay directly for said content, but in fact, creators of all sorts can sell content directly to fans through the platform.

“As Florida governor in year one, I will push for the first of its kind Only Fans Sin Tax,” Fishback said in a recent video. “If you are a so-called OnlyFans creator in Florida, you are going to pay 50 percent to the state on whatever you so-called earn on that online degeneracy platform.” 

Fishback said the funds collected from his OnlyFans sin tax would be used to fund education, crisis pregnancy centers, and a “mental health czar for men in particular.”  

He went on to complain that “toxic masculinity” gets blamed for too many of society’s ills when, presumably, everything is the whores’ faults. How adorably retro!

“As Florida governor,” he continued, “I don’t want young women—who could otherwise be mothers raising families, rearing children—I don’t want them to be selling their bodies to sick men online.”

Well, now I’m confused—are men to blame here or not?

On one level, I don’t think we need to take any of this too seriously. Taxing profits from one’s legal speech on one platform and not similarly situated platforms is clearly unconstitutional. Florida doesn’t even have an income tax, which would at least complicate plans to tax OnlyFans income. And Fishback is a long-shot candidate with some serious baggage.

“A Florida school district ‘cut ties‘ with Fishback, who ran an organization called Incubate Debate, after he ‘initiated a romantic relationship’ with a 17-year-old student and faced allegations that he harassed her after they broke up, a charge that Fishback has denied,” The Spectator reports.

“The odds that Fishback will win the primary are not quite zero, as he’s running against Congressman Byron Donalds, who’s dogged by insider-trading and proxy-voting scandals,” points out the Spectator columnist who goes simply by Cockburn. “Yet Fishback seems to be doing everything he can to lose, generate outrage, or both, calling Donalds, who is black, ‘By’rone’ on X – as in ‘By’rone wants to turn Florida into a Section 8 ghetto.'”

So, schlock candidate makes schlock proposal, we all gawk, and that’s that, right?

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The Postal Service’s ‘Next Generation’ Electric Delivery Vehicles Cost $22,000 More Than Other Electric Vans

In 2014, the United States Postal Service (USPS) began replacing its fleet of delivery vehicles. In the almost 12 years since, only about 6 percent of its 51,500 custom-built delivery vehicles have been delivered. The Postal Service says the rollout will last at least two more years.

The signature USPS delivery truck is the Grumman Life Long Vehicle (LLV), which first entered service in 1986. Designed to last over 20 years, some have now been in service for twice as long, and don’t include many modern amenities, like air conditioning and airbags. Maintaining the LLVs beyond their best-by date involved reverse-engineering the 130,000-strong fleet for discontinued parts, according to The Washington Post. In 2014, the USPS began its $9.6 billion fleet upgrade by announcing the Next Generation Delivery Vehicle (NGDV) program.

Oshkosh Defense, which produces rather mean-looking tactical vehicles for the American military (and has never before produced a delivery van), was awarded a multibillion-dollar contract in February 2021 to produce the NGDV for the Postal Service over 10 years. The Post details the production nightmare that ensued. After repeated delays, setbacks, and quadrupling the minimum number of electric NGDVs, thanks to a generous $3 billion subsidy from the Inflation Reduction Act, Oshkosh had only delivered 612 of 35,000 e-NGDVs by November 2025, and only 2,600 of the 16,500 internal combustion engine NGDVs.

The Postal Service agreed to pay Oshkosh $77,692 per e-NGDV and $54,584 per NGDV in March 2023. To put these numbers in context, FedEx’s fleet of Mercedes-Benz Sprinter vans is considerably cheaper, costing $50,830 for the baseline 2026 Sprinter and $61,180 for the 2026 eSprinter. (The Sprinter debuted in 1995 and the eSprinter rolled out in 2019, two years before the USPS awarded its Next Generation Delivery Vehicle contract to Oshkosh.)

Paying almost $80,000 per vehicle should have rung alarm bells, but what makes this situation worse is that the USPS knows cheaper alternatives exist. 21,000 of the Postal Service’s new fleet are commercial off-the-shelf vans like the Ford E-Transit (whose 2026 model starts at $54,855). In 2023, there were nearly 40,000 Mercedes-Benz Metris vans (which start at $41,495) in its fleet. It’s unclear why the agency decided to get bogged down with Oshkosh at all. Whatever the reasons may be, price is not one of them.

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Somali Suitcase Stash: Feds say $130 million moved from Ohio airport to Minnesota on way overseas

ederal agents investigating a Somali immigrant operation that moved massive amounts of cash in suitcases from the Minneapolis airport to overseas have uncovered a new leg of the courier journey: the Columbus, Ohio airport.

Homeland Security Department officials told Just the News that Transportation Security Administration officers tracked and flagged about $136 million in bulk cash in outbound luggage at the passenger checkpoints at John Glenn Columbus International Airport since November 2023.

The cash movements were made by U.S. citizens of Somali origin who flew out of the Columbus airport en route to either the airports in Minneapolis or Atlanta, and the couriers always declared the cash as legally required on documents, officials said.

“Typically, when they go to Minneapolis, they drop off the cash and then a subsequent courier travels abroad from Minneapolis to Dubai through Amsterdam,” one official familiar with the investigation told Just the News on Tuesday, speaking only on condition of anonymity.

Multiple Somali communities involved

The officials said they appear to have uncovered a massive cash movement operation that gathered money from multiple Somali immigrant communities in the West, Midwest and South that eventually brought luggage filled with currency to Minneapolis for flights overseas.

Just the News reported exclusively last week that TSA detected nearly $700 million in cash in luggage leaving the Minneapolis airport in 2024 and 2025, frequently headed on a route to Amsterdam and then Dubai where U.S. officials lost the tracking. The TSA agents routinely alerted investigators during the Biden years, but there was little interest in probing the money movements further until President Donald Trump took office last year.

The cash movements out of Minnesota’s largest airports by the Somali immigrant couriers were 90 to 99 times larger than the total amounts moved out of major international airports like John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City or Seattle and Atlanta, officials said.

As investigators began tracking the money backwards throughout its journey, they discovered the operation in Columbus, officials said Tuesday.

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Spain Punishes Homeowners: Selling Your Home Can Cost You Up to 40 % in Taxes

For years, Spain has promoted the idea that homeownership is the ultimate safe haven for family savings. What is rarely mentioned is that, when the time comes to sell, the State shows up with a bill that can swallow up to 40 % of the profit.

The hit begins with personal income tax. Capital gains are currently taxed at rates of up to 28 %, among the highest in Europe. But the blow doesn’t end there. Local governments impose the so-called municipal capital gains tax (plusvalía municipal), which taxes the supposed increase in the value of the land—even when the real profit is minimal or highly questionable.

Added to this is a crucial factor that the tax authorities deliberately ignore: inflation. In Spain, the original purchase price is not adjusted to reflect the loss of purchasing power over time. As a result, the State taxes as “profit” what, in many cases, is merely a nominal price increase.

Spain’s approach stands in sharp contrast to that of other countries. In the United States, for example, homeowners can exclude up to $250,000 in capital gains ($500,000 for married couples) on the sale of their primary residence, provided certain conditions are met. In many cases, middle-class families pay nothing at all when selling their homes.

In countries like Germany, capital gains on residential property can be entirely tax-free if the property is held for more than ten years. France offers significant reductions over time, eventually eliminating capital gains tax altogether after long-term ownership. Even Portugal provides rollover relief when proceeds are reinvested in another primary residence.

Spain, by contrast, offers limited and restrictive exemptions, while maintaining high marginal rates and local taxes that stack on top of national ones. The result is a system that discourages mobility, locks families into their homes, and penalizes long-term saving.

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Woke Council VP Turns City Into Sanctuary Grocery Service for Illegal Aliens

A St. Paul city official is facing intense criticism after publicly encouraging residents to assist illegal aliens in avoiding federal immigration enforcement, including by delivering groceries, escorting workers, and reporting the movements of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

St. Paul City Council Vice President Hwa Jeong Kim posted a video to social media urging residents to resist ICE activity in the city following an increase in federal enforcement operations.

The video, which was shared on Kim’s Instagram account and later circulated widely across other platforms, prompted swift backlash from critics who accused the council member of promoting interference with federal law enforcement.

In the video, Kim claimed that federal immigration agents had already taken several individuals into custody earlier in the day.

“It’s not even noon, and ICE has already kidnapped five of my neighbors. I’ve responded to one where we believe a whole family was taken with children,” Kim said.

Kim went on to assert that the presence of federal agents in Minnesota had surpassed that of local law enforcement.

“There are more federal agents in Minnesota than we have of the St. Paul and Minneapolis police combined. And yet, there are neighbors that are showing up in incredible ways like standing in front of known targeted businesses helping escort workers home,” she continued.

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Dr. Oz on MN Fraud: ‘We Are Taking the Largest Action of Its Kind Ever in Medicaid History’

Dr. Oz announced what he described as the largest enforcement action in Medicaid history, saying his administration has begun demanding financial documentation from states and deferring hundreds of millions of dollars in payments amid concerns about fraud and improper spending.

According to Dr. Oz, the move requires states to submit detailed receipts for Medicaid expenditures, with a significant portion of funding potentially withheld while reviews are conducted.

“So we are taking the largest action of its kind ever in Medicaid history, by asking the state to give us all the receipts, and we’re going to defer could be hundreds of millions of dollars,” Dr. Oz said. “A quarter of money that’s not going to go to the state.”

Dr. Oz specifically addressed criticism from Minnesota’s congressional delegation, pushing back on claims that the action would harm residents.

He said the state has sufficient financial reserves to absorb the impact.

“Now I just heard all that belly aching from Congressman and Congresswoman from Minnesota,” Dr. Oz said.

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US May Spend Up to $2 Billion on New Israeli Armored Vehicle Factory

The US may spend up to $2 billion financing the construction of a new armored production plant in Israel, Haaretz reported on Monday, citing official US documents.

The report said that the Israeli government announced last year a project it calls the “Armored Vehicle Acceleration Project” to increase production of Merkava tanks and troop carriers used by the IDF. The Israeli Defense Ministry estimated the project would cost about $1.5 billion, but didn’t mention potential US financing.

The US Army Corps of Engineers said in a presentation in October that future “business opportunities” in Israel include the “planning, design, and construction” of the “Joint Systems Manufacturing Center” for the armored vehicles. The presentation stated that the project is expected to cost between $1 billion and $2 billion and will be financed by US military aid.

Another document from the US Army Corps of Engineers, dated November 2025, outlines “contractor opportunities forecast” and includes the construction of the Israeli armored vehicle plant. “We are exploring the potential for a multibillion-dollar Joint Systems Manufacturing Center (JSMC) project, which could be a pivotal next step for the program,” the presentation reads, according to Haaretz.

The Haaretz report said that when asked about the projects, the US Army said a final decision had not been made. The potential project highlights the fact that US military aid to Israel doesn’t just provide weapons shipments but also finances military construction inside the country.

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