New York Post: “Only Albany could find a way to tax a cut. The cash-strapped state has been enforcing a bizarre distinction in the tax laws which requires delis and food peddlers to impose a levy on sliced bagels — even though there is no tax when the breakfast staple is sold whole.”
Another example of how desperate local governments are for money is the new$300 per year tax imposed by Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on bloggers who reside within the city limits. Apparently speech is not free in Philly. It costs $300 a year.
There is no better example of the lunacy and arrogance of government waste than the new $578 million school built by the Los Angeles Unified School District. The LUSD has a $640 million budget deficit and laid off 3,000 teachers during the last two years, but that didn’t stop it from spending other people’s money it doesn’t have. The new school is the most expensive school ever built in the United States at a cost that exceeds the cost of China’s Olympic stadium and the Denver Broncos new football stadium.
See “LA unveils $578M school, costliest in the nation” and “Los Angeles Public School Named After Robert Kennedy Costs $578 Million.”
Yea. We Arizonans have something to be proud of in these difficult economic times – highest taxes in the United States. Arizona is number 3 at 9.01% and kicking the tax butt of the lower taxed 47 states. Tennessee is 1st (9.44%) and California is 2nd (9.08%). Seven Arizona cities can also crow about being in the top 25 highest taxed cities in the United States. Glendale #2 (9.6%), Phoenix #12 (9.4%), Tucson and Mesa tied at #16 (9.2%), Scottsdale #18 (9.05%) and Chandler and Gilbert are tied at #23 (8.9%).
We all need to get a job working for the federal government. The pay is great and the benefits cannot be beaten – great medical care, early retirement for a fixed amount not subject to stock market losses, lots of time off and virtually impossible to be fired even if you watch porn all day on your computer in your government office. USA Today: “Federal civil servants earned average pay and benefits of $123,049 in 2009 while private workers made $61,051 in total compensation, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.”