Tag: taxes

Scheming politicians made utilities their energy bagmen— and we’re all paying the price

Electric utility bills have exploded in New York: As of May, the average monthly residential rate had jumped 13% over the previous year, and a whopping 54% since May 2019.

Headline-hungry politicians have found the culprit: the utility companies.

Press releases excoriate greedy executives and their heartless shareholders: Why, these rascals even installed special machines in our homes to decide how much to charge us!

It turns out, though, that Albany pols aren’t just using the utilities as a fall guy for their political theater.

They’ve also pressed them into service as state government’s bagmen, collecting for various climate programs that we’d otherwise recognize as tax hikes. 

The black cables go back to the electric company, but the trail of green leads straight to the state Capitol.

Decades ago, monthly electricity bills were based on your usage and two added factors.

The first was supply cost: Electricity is a commodity sold on a competitive wholesale market, where its price fluctuates based on supply and demand.

About half of New York’s electricity is generated with natural gas, so fluctuations in gas prices translate into electricity-price changes.

The second factor is the utility company’s charge for delivering that electricity.

These rates are tightly regulated by the state Public Service Commission, which requires gas, electric and water companies to account for literally every dollar they collect from ratepayers, and every dollar they spend.

The PSC then sets the profit they’re allowed to keep, decided by a formula.

But, as state officials discovered in the 1990s, that utility-bill system is a fabulous way to tax electricity customers without taking the blame.

Utility companies had no choice but to play along.

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Big Beautiful Bill Will Save Taxpayers From Paying Millions To Fund Medicaid For Dead People

When it comes to potential fraud in government health care programs, the hits just keep on coming. Thankfully, Congress has (finally) done something about it.

Two new reports illustrate why Congress needed to act to boost program integrity efforts in the Obamacare exchanges and in Medicaid. After four years where the Biden administration prioritized enrolling people in government-funded health coverage over any other priority, taxpayers may finally get a dose of some sanity.

Exchange ‘Ghost Enrollees?‘

The first data point came via the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which released data from exchange insurers’ risk adjustment submissions. The spreadsheet contains enough numbers to make one’s head spin, but two sets of numbers — lines 4 and 7 of the spreadsheet — stand out. Those two lines show that the percentage of enrollees in Bronze and heavily subsidized Silver plans without claims rose from roughly one-quarter (29 percent and 23 percent, respectively) in 2019 to 40 percent last year.

To some, that change may not seem like a big deal — after all, isn’t it a good thing when people don’t make claims on their health coverage? But it suggests that, after four years of Biden administration policies, a growing number of individuals were being auto-enrolled (and/or automatically reenrolled) into taxpayer-funded “free” health coverage that they did not want, need, or use.

It also means that insurers had a slew of enrollees on their hands for whom they received premium payments — funded by taxpayers, of course — and yet didn’t have to pay out a single cent in claims. (Think about it: Will 40 percent of Americans not go to the doctor at all, or pick up a single prescription, this year? I doubt it.) For all Democrats’ tough talk about insurance companies, the last four years look like a gravy train for insurers on the exchanges.

As an article on the release noted, the data have some drawbacks. The spreadsheet shows over 33 million enrollees on insurance exchanges last year — definitely an overestimate — in part because it double-counts enrollees who switched plans mid-year.

But the spreadsheet also shows the biggest percentage of zero-claims enrollees in states like Florida and Texas. Other data points also show those states as potentially having large numbers of individuals who lied about their income to receive “free” taxpayer-funded coverage, meaning that the CMS spreadsheet merely provides confirmation of existing trends.

Thankfully, help is on the way. On Dec. 31, the enhanced subsidies that allow so many individuals to qualify for “free” zero-dollar benchmark coverage will expire, sharply reducing the incentive for fraud. The additional verification provisions mandated in the recently passed reconciliation bill will also ensure that only individuals with a documented need for assistance will receive it.

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Former Secret Service Chief Paid Himself a Bonus

Former acting Secret Service Director Ron Rowe gave himself a senior leadership “performance” bonus around the holidays in December after previously serving as the second in command of the agency, leading up to the two assassination attempts against President Trump last year, according to multiple knowledgeable sources.

The agency pays nearly everyone in senior executive leadership positions bonuses – many worth thousands of dollars – at the end of the year, and that includes Rowe, the sources said.

Because Rowe was the acting director at the time, he moved forward with giving himself a bonus and then continued to remain on the payroll listed as a “senior advisor” for nearly half of this year – months after Trump tapped Sean Curran as the new director. Rowe could do so by using up all accumulated sick and leave time, sources tell RCP. Rowe has since announced that he had joined the Chertoff Group, the national security consulting firm run by former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

Former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, who resigned in disgrace after Trump was nearly killed at the Butler rally and rallygoer Corey Comperatore was murdered, did not receive a bonus last year because she was no longer employed by the agency at the end of the year, these sources confirmed.

Meanwhile, the first quarterly installment of promised retention bonuses for agents who agreed not to jump ship to another government law enforcement job or retire in the aftermath of the morale-sinking assassination attempts has been delayed for weeks. On Wednesday, USSS leaders once again reassured agents in an email that their promised retention bonuses are coming and would be paid by the end of August.

The information is helping ease some anxiety for agents miffed by multiple retention check delays – an important morale booster as the Secret Service prepares for President Trump’s ride-along tonight with D.C. law enforcement and National Guard troops. Trump wants to see for himself their efforts to crack down on crime in the nation’s capital, but such a hands-on D.C. night tour will pose a complex challenge for the Secret Service, which is charged with the unusual task of protecting a president while accompanying law enforcement officers on patrol.

USSS leadership sent an email to all agents Wednesday after RealClearPolitics once again inquired about the ongoing delays with the first quarterly installment of their retention bonuses. When the funds are fully disbursed over the next year, the retention incentives will amount to tens of thousands of dollars per employee who agreed to stay on the job and not to leave the agency.

The new email updated the agents to let them know that all Uniformed Division officers who deserved the retention bonuses had received them, while the agency was paying other agents in alphabetical order – and had disbursed the funds to agents with last names starting with the letter “A” through “F” so far, a source familiar with the matter told RCP.

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Minnesota Marijuana Businesses Say Tax Increase Could Drive Consumers To The Illegal Market

A last-minute tax hike on cannabis products passed as part of Minnesota lawmakers’ special session budget compromise may prove to be a boon to illicit dealers.

That’s according to cannabis industry experts, business owners, and at least one prominent DFL lawmaker who say the state’s relatively high cannabis tax will give consumers reason to avoid regulated, legal dispensaries in favor of informal sources on the black market.

Minnesota’s 15 percent state tax on marijuana and other cannabis products is among the highest in the country, trailing only Arizona (16 percent), Oregon (17 percent), California (19 percent), and Washington (37 percent).

“I thought it was the wrong thing to do, increasing the tax,” said Sen. Ann Rest, DFL-New Hope, chair of the Senate Tax Committee. “What we saw in California is that the high tax on legitimate cannabis leads straight to the black market. And I’m very concerned that that’s going to have the same or similar impact here.”

How do Minnesota taxes compare to other states?

Minnesota’s cannabis tax was initially set at 10 percent. The increase was a product of bipartisan budget negotiations between Gov. Tim Walz, Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul, House Speaker Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, and the late Speaker Emeritus Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park. The leaders stepped in to try to forge a compromise on the state’s budget after months of gridlock in the Legislature due to a tied House and a one-seat DFL majority in the Senate.

At the time, Demuth said the tax increase was simply “rightsizing” the tax rate to be more in line with other states’ rates. But, research by the Tax Foundation shows that the new rate puts Minnesota above the median tax rate for states that have legalized the sale of recreational marijuana.

Of those 23 states, 14 have a lower cannabis tax than Minnesota. There are nuances, like Illinois’ higher tax on edibles and concentrates compared to marijuana flowers, as well as two states that tax by weight rather than price.

This doesn’t account for Minnesota’s sales tax of 6.875 percent, and any local taxes. In Minneapolis, state, county, and city sales taxes are 9.03 percent. Add that to the cannabis tax and you end up with an effective tax rate of over 24 percent on cannabis products sold in the city.

“I’ve had people pick out their products, ring them up, and then when they hear the final price, they just walk out the door,” said Mark Eide, owner of In-Dispensary, the first recreational dispensary licensed in Minneapolis.

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HHS Cuts California Sex Ed Grant over State’s Refusal to Remove Radical Gender Ideology from Student Program

The U.S Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Thursday terminated a sex education grant to California due to the state’s refusal to remove radical gender ideology from the taxpayer-funded program, the agency announced. 

HHS, through its Administration for Children and Families (ACF), specifically terminated the state’s Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) grant, which is a program for students meant to prevent teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. HHS said California used taxpayer money to “teach curricula that could encourage kids to contemplate mutilating their genitals, ‘altering their body … through hormone therapy,’ ‘adding or removing breast tissue,’ and ‘changing their name.’” HHS said the state also instructed teachers to “remind students that some men are born with female anatomy.”

“California’s refusal to comply with federal law and remove egregious gender ideology from federally funded sex-ed materials is unacceptable,” Acting Assistant Secretary Andrew Gradison said in a statement. “The Trump Administration will not allow taxpayer dollars to be used to indoctrinate children. Accountability is coming for every state that uses federal funds to teach children delusional gender ideology.” 

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14 Million Illegals in 2023: The Cost to Our Nation

Illegal immigration in the United States surged to a record 14 million in 2023, according to a Pew Research Center report. That figure marked a sharp increase from 11.8 million in 2022 and broke the previous high of 12.2 million set in 2007. Numbers rose further in 2024 under Biden’s policies, then began to decline in 2025 under Trump, though the total remains above 14 million.

California, Texas, Florida, New York, New Jersey, and Illinois had the largest concentrations of illegal immigrants, with Texas rapidly catching up to California. Pew estimated that 9.7 million were part of the U.S. workforce in 2023, about 5.6% of all workers, with Nevada, Florida, New Jersey, and Texas recording the highest shares.

The economic impact of illegal immigration is staggering. According to a 2023 study by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the gross annual cost of illegal immigration, the total before factoring in taxes paid by illegal aliens, has risen to $182 billion.

Taxes paid by illegal immigrants cover only about 17.2 percent of these costs, leaving American taxpayers with a net burden of $150.7 billion per year. That amounts to $8,776 annually for each illegal immigrant or U.S.-born child of illegal immigrants. On a per-taxpayer basis, illegal immigration costs $1,156 a year, or $957 after accounting for taxes paid by illegal aliens.

These costs have grown sharply. The 2022 totals represented a 30 percent increase over just five years. A previous FAIR study in 2017 estimated the net annual cost at $116 billion, underscoring how quickly the burden has escalated.

The local impact of illegal immigration is especially visible in law enforcement statistics. In Los Angeles County, 95 percent of all outstanding warrants for homicide are for illegal aliens, and as many as two-thirds of all fugitive warrants in the county involve illegal aliens.

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Another Mexican Politician Facing U.S. Federal Fraud Charges

A Mexican politician is out on bond as he faces federal fraud charges in Texas for allegations that he used COVID-era loans to buy cryptocurrency. The politician, his wife, and various other South Texas business owners are accused of obtaining fraudulent loans during the COVID-19 pandemic, which were intended to support failing businesses, but were instead used for personal gain.

Court records revealed that 46-year-old Bernando Gomez Jr. and his wife, 42-year-old Lesley Chavez, allegedly took out nearly $200,000 in Paycheck Protection Program loans during the COVID-19 pandemic and then used them for personal expenses, including buying cryptocurrency. Gomez, who lives in Edinburg, Texas, is a sitting city councilman in the Mexican City of Rio Bravo, Tamaulipas, where he serves as a close advisor to local Mayor Miguel Angel Almaraz.

Court documents indicate that Gomez and Chavez own several entertainment and service businesses, including a wedding planning service, a rental company, and a print shop.

Federal prosecutors allege that in June 2020 and May 2020, they obtained a series of government loans through the Small Business Administration aimed at helping businesses survive the COVID-19 Pandemic. The government then forgave those loans after the business owners allegedly filed documents claiming that the money had been used for legitimate purposes such as paying employees and other similar expenses. After receiving those three loans, totaling $150,000, $40,800, and $20,800, they transferred the funds to different accounts, which they then used for personal expenses and, in the case of Gomez, to purchase cryptocurrency.

After their arrests, both Gomez and Chavez went before U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Scott Hacker, who set their bonds at $100,000. Both have been released as they await trial.

Gomez is currently a member of Mexico’s National Action Party (PAN), one of the major opposition parties in Mexico that has been at odds with the current ruling party, MORENA.

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Supreme Court Allows Trump Admin To Revoke DEI-Related NIH Grants

The Supreme Court voted 5–4 on Aug. 21 to allow the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to cancel hundreds of millions of dollars in research grants linked to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

The new ruling clears the way for the funding reductions while litigation over the grants continues in the lower courts.

The justices filed five separate opinions explaining their votes.

Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett voted to allow the grants to be cut.

Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Ketanji Brown Jackson, and Chief Justice John Roberts voted to deny the government’s request to rescind the funding.

The high court said it acted because the federal government faces the possibility that the grant monies, once paid out, may not be recovered.

Moreover, “the plaintiffs do not state that they will repay grant money if the Government ultimately prevails.”

The case is known as National Institutes of Health v. American Public Health Association.

The Department of Justice filed an emergency application with the nation’s highest court late last month, asking the justices to block a ruling by Boston-based U.S. District Judge William Young, who found the cancellation was unlawful and ordered the government to restore the funding.

NIH began taking steps in February to end the grants that conflict with President Donald Trump’s policy priorities.

The NIH is the world’s largest government funder of biomedical research.

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Taxpayers On Hook For $3.5 Billion To Replenish Munitions US Used Defending Israel

Taxpayers are yet again on the hook for America’s supposed “closest Middle East ally” as the Pentagon is planning to allocate at least $3.5 billion to restock weapons used in defense of Israel.

A Bloomberg report issued this week has reviewed Department of Defense budget documents prepared through mid-May. Emergency expenditures are highlighted which include US combat operations “executed at the request of or in coordination with Israel for the defense of Israeli territory, personnel or assets during attacks by Iran” or its proxies.

The largest single portion of the funding is $1 billion that is earmarked for replenishing Standard Missile interceptors, specifically the SM-3 IB Threat Upgrade models made by Raytheon and deployed by US Navy ships to intercept ballistic missiles.

Each of these big missiles are estimated to be between $9 million and $12 million, and these were used in the initial April 2024 flare-up and brief round of fighting between Israel and Iran.

The US assisted Israel following the Netanyahu government’s airstrike on the Iranian embassy in Damascus – which was the first such deliberate attack by a sovereign government on a foreign embassy in history (the lone precedent being the Chinese embassy strike in Belgrade in 1999, which the US apologized for as an ‘accident’).

The second-largest funding request in the documents is $204 million to restock THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) interceptors, produced by Lockheed Martin at a price tag of about $13 million each.

All of this will be pushed through despite recent polls showing public support for Israel being at a recent all-time low. The American public is also generally war-weary, given the now years-long conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, and the fact that Washington has sunk billions into supporting one side of each war.

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US To Fund $500 Million Boeing KC-46 Tanker Aircraft Deal for Israel

The Israeli Defense Ministry announced on Wednesday that it will be signing a contract to purchase two Boeing-made KC-46 tanker aircraft in a deal worth about $500 million that will be funded by US military aid.

“This is a follow-on contract with the US Government for procuring two advanced refueling aircraft in addition to four previously purchased KC-46 aircraft. This will expand the IDF’s new refueling fleet to six aircraft,’ the Defense Ministry wrote on Facebook.

“The new aircraft will be equipped with Israeli systems and adapted to the IAF’s operational requirements. The contract’s scope is estimated at approximately half a billion USD and is funded through US aid,” the ministry added.

The US provides Israel with $3.8 billion in military aid annually, including $3.3 billion in Foreign Military Financing, a State Department program that gives foreign governments money to purchase US weapons.

Since October 7, 2023, the US has provided Israel with significantly more aid, including an additional $3.5 billion in FMF that was part of a $17 billion military assistance package for Israel tucked into a $95 billion foreign aid bill authorized by Congress and signed by President Biden last year.

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