by:  The Macro Butler

Confucius said a ruler needs three things: food, weapons and the people’s trust. Asked which to drop first, he said weapons, then food, but never trust. Modern democracies have found a shortcut: run out of food, and the trust leaves with it.

Your income tax has an expiry date. So why does a “temporary” tax keep coming back?

Every year, Parliament renews the authority to charge income tax. We follow the legislation, the vote that keeps it alive, and what happens if that renewal fails.

From a wartime tax Parliament actually rejected to modern “temporary” levies with moving end dates—this is the fine print behind taxes that never seem to leave.

The Supreme Court accepted a case that asks if Congress can ban distilling spirits in homes as a tool to collect taxes. The justices will weigh whether the ban is “necessary and proper” to carry out the taxing power, not whether alcohol is good policy. The Department of Justice sought review after losing in the Fifth Circuit. The dispute centers on whether a location ban is a real tax measure or an overreach into private life.

Federal prosecutors say three Mexican nationals used Mexican identification documents to help steal $74 million in fake tax refunds — a hard hit to taxpayers and trust in the system.

Posted by Tyler Durden; Authored by Bryan Hyde via American Greatness,

A new report published by the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA) shows federal taxpayers are losing up to $521 billion annually to fraud and improper payments.

Los Angeles voters approved Measure ULA in 2022. The law adds a real estate transfer tax on sales above about $5.3 million to fund housing and homelessness programs. The city’s housing department says most revenue flows to an affordable housing program, plus preservation and prevention efforts. Supporters say the measure raised more than $1 billion, which they hail as a major win for tenant aid and future construction. Those dollars, however, must still turn into homes people can live in.