Friday, October 18

Tag: government budget

Biden’s $3.1 Billion Train Ticket to Nowhere
2Jan By adminNo Comments
Health

Biden’s $3.1 Billion Train Ticket to Nowhere

It didn’t get a lot of attention, but last month the White House awarded $3.1 billion to the California High-Speed Rail project. This was supposed to be a bullet train connecting San Francisco and Los Angeles in less than three hours. Instead, its costs keep rising even as the state scales back the plan. Since 2008, when California voters authorized a $10 billion bond issue for the train, they’ve been sold a bill of goods.The original total estimated construction cost to taxpayers was $33 billion. That’s risen to at least $100 billion. The authority decided to offer service between San Francisco and Los Angeles in Phase I, then eventually extend the train service north to Sacramento and south to San Diego. Phase I was to have been completed by 2020. Copyright ©2024 Dow Jones & Company...
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India’s Infrastructure Push Is Key to Taking on China
28Dec By adminNo Comments
Money

India’s Infrastructure Push Is Key to Taking on China

The coming few years will be a litmus test for India’s ambition to become a manufacturing hub rivaling China. A big question mark is how quickly it can build out the infrastructure it needs to really seize the opportunity. There have been signs of progress recently, but New Delhi’s cramped fiscal space means it needs to do more to entice private-sector investors, too.India is experiencing a manufacturing renaissance of sorts led by Apple and its Taiwanese suppliers—after decades of failed efforts. As recently as the fiscal year ended in March 2018, India was a importer of smartphones to the tune of more than $2 billion. Last fiscal year, India was a net exporter of $11 billion worth. About half of that was Apple products, according to investment bank Macquarie.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones &a...
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The Employee Retention Tax Credit Is the Biggest Covid Scam
28Dec By adminNo Comments
Business

The Employee Retention Tax Credit Is the Biggest Covid Scam

It’s hard to feel sorry for the Internal Revenue Service, but cleaning up for Congress is never fun. The Covid employee retention tax credit is turning into a classic case of government waste and fraud. Congress created the mess, leaving it to the IRS to mop up. Pandemic transfer payments and student-loan forbearance ended this year, but the employee retention tax credit (ERC) is a Covid giveaway that keeps on giving. The government has paid $230 billion in claims, including about $120 billion this year. The taxpayer bill will keep growing since employers have until April 2025 to claim the credit on wages paid through 2021.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
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The Great Blue to Red State Migration Continues
23Dec By adminNo Comments
Business

The Great Blue to Red State Migration Continues

The migrant border mess is benefiting progressive states like New York, California and Illinois in one respect: It’s offsetting some of their population loss from droves of taxpayers fleeing to lower-cost and low-tax states. That’s one lesson from new Census Bureau state population data released this week.The U.S. population increased by 1.6 million between July 2022 and July 2023, with states in the South accounting for about 1.4 million of the growth. Leading the boom were Texas (473,453), Florida (365,205), Georgia (116,077), South Carolina (90,600) and Tennessee (77,512). Driving their growth was migration from other states.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
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IRS Offers Deal to Employers Who Regret Claiming Pandemic Tax Credit
21Dec By adminNo Comments
World

IRS Offers Deal to Employers Who Regret Claiming Pandemic Tax Credit

WASHINGTON—Many employers who received a popular pandemic-relief tax credit can return 80% of the money and escape most scrutiny from the Internal Revenue Service, the agency said Thursday. The repayment plan is the government’s latest attempt to combat what it says are fraudulent and ineligible claims for the employee retention tax credit, or ERC, which provides up to $26,000 per worker for employers who kept people on payrolls during 2020 and 2021. Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
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Union to Eric Adams: Drop Dead
16Dec By adminNo Comments
Health

Union to Eric Adams: Drop Dead

Public unions are big cities’ toughest customers, even for an ally like New York’s Eric Adams. The mayor is patching the city’s budget amid a growing migrant crisis, but government workers are dragging him to court to block cost savings.One of New York’s largest public unions sued Wednesday to prevent City Hall from curtailing a costly jobs program. The parks and sanitation departments currently pay welfare recipients to do custodial work, but the city’s Office of Management and Budget wants to save money by shifting about 2,300 of those positions to outside firms. These savings are low-hanging fruit for a city with a $7 billion budget gap, but the union won’t budge.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
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Chinese Leaders Vow to Step Up Support for Flagging Economy
12Dec By adminNo Comments
World

Chinese Leaders Vow to Step Up Support for Flagging Economy

Chinese leaders vowed to increase government spending and monetary support for the economy at an annual gathering, signaling they plan to stick with a measured approach to stimulus despite calls for bolder action. The Central Economic Work Conference, which ended Tuesday, capped a bruising year for the country’s economy, which has struggled with a drawn-out housing crunch and weak consumption.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
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The California Budget Bust Arrives
9Dec By adminNo Comments
Business

The California Budget Bust Arrives

Much like California’s climate cycle of storms and drought, the state’s progressive tax code yields revenue booms and busts. Now the bust is coming. After a $100 billion budget surplus two years ago, the Golden State is now staring at a $68 billion shortfall because the gusher of tax revenue from soaking the rich has dried up.The state Legislative Analyst’s Office projected on Thursday a $68 billion budget gap through the next fiscal year and $155 billion in cumulative deficits over the next four years. For comparison, Florida’s entire general fund budget was $46.1 billion this year.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
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Hunter Biden Indictment Alleges Post-Addiction Fraud
8Dec By adminNo Comments
World

Hunter Biden Indictment Alleges Post-Addiction Fraud

WASHINGTON—In early 2020, while his father was on the cusp of a political turnaround that would propel him to the Democratic presidential nomination, Hunter Biden went to his accountants to clean up a lingering personal issue: his failure to have filed taxes for 2017 and 2018.By his own account, the younger Biden had been sober since June 2019. But during that attempt to resolve his tax mess, he created a far more serious one for himself, according to federal prosecutors, who charged him Thursday with nine tax offenses, including three felonies.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
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