Taxes

Latest Articles

Making the ‘Buffett Rule’ LAW

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse has received plenty of ink for his "Buffett Rule" legislation, named after billionaire investor Warren Buffett.
Tax Dept.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | February 17, 2012

What were you hoping for?

In his first year as governor, Republican Paul LePage did a decent job.
LePage's year
By AL DIAMON | December 30, 2011

Creature from the Black Lagoon

I don't believe in ghosts. Or vampires. Or werewolves. Or other mythical creatures, such as Republican US Senate candidate Scott D'Amboise.
Tax reform: it's downright scary
By AL DIAMON | October 22, 2011

Obama’s jobs plan is a step in the right direction

President Barack Obama's September 8 speech outlining his new jobs program — and the tax policies needed to finance it — was a sign of hope.
Notes on class warfare
By EDITORIAL | September 23, 2011

Indentured servitude and other keys to the Rhode Island recovery

Despite the continual awarding of tax breaks to various upper-income types, we Rhode Islanders are told our business climate is still near bottom. So I make these seven modest suggestions for addressing the problem.
Dollars and Sense
By BARRY SCHILLER | September 02, 2011

Museum dreams

This week, we're joining a guided tour of the Maine Museum of Political Paleontology. A docent is explaining to a group of schoolchildren what's happening in a scene depicting cave people trying to register to vote.
Political Paleontology
By AL DIAMON | August 26, 2011

Beantown counters

More than 50 percent of property in the city of Boston — state buildings, church grounds, college campuses, etc. — is tax exempt. These charts, stats, and graphs illustrate Boston’s property tax addiction: rising costs, a declining real estate market, an
Infographic: Boston's addiction to property taxes
By PHOENIX STAFF | August 19, 2011

Pledge class

Whether it's to flags, fraternities, or charities, privileged douchebags love pledging allegiance.
This campaign season, you’re not really committed to defending the GOP agenda unless you sign on the dotted line
By CHRIS FARAONE AND DAVID EISENBERG | July 29, 2011

All that you paid for

I've got some deals for you.
Tax dollars
By AL DIAMON | July 01, 2011

Coughing fits

Smoking isn't one of my many vices. But that doesn't mean I have something against those who've chosen that method of killing themselves. It's not like their addiction makes them bad people.
The tobacco tax
By AL DIAMON | May 20, 2011

Local heroes of 2011

In the 14th annual edition of the Providence Phoenix 's Best issue, we highlight people and organizations who are doing exceptionally good work.
Simon Moore and Linda Katz
By DANIEL MCGOWAN AND MARION DAVIS | April 22, 2011

Too soon

That's it? That's the budget that was supposed to transform Maine into — depending on your political orientation — either a business-friendly, job-creating, profit-making paradise of free-market capitalism — or an environmental wasteland in which impove
LePage’s first biennial budget
By AL DIAMON | February 25, 2011

Protect teachers' pensions

Our governor proposes more money for K-12 education, no cuts in funding for higher education, and increased funding for Medicaid. Good for almost everyone. He also promises to lower the personal state income tax for upper-income earners, and to eliminat
Letters to the Portland Editor, February 25, 2011
By PORTLAND PHOENIX LETTERS | February 25, 2011

Walking on broken glass

There must be some kind of law that kicks in whenever a prominent politician leaves office, requiring every columnist and pundit to blather on at length about the triumphs and tragedies of that esteemed figure's checkered career.
A (very) short list of Baldacci's successes
By AL DIAMON | December 17, 2010

Mo' money, fewer problems

Now is the time to weather- and winter-ize our homes, and not just because the temperatures are dropping (the Old Farmer's Almanac is predicting a milder-than-usual winter).
Going green
By DEIRDRE FULTON | October 01, 2010

Wait your turn to vote

Immigrants are fantastic. But they shouldn't be in the voting booth.
Voting should be for citizens only
By SHAY STEWART-BOULEY | August 20, 2010

Less of you

When the Legislature gets reformed, things get worse.
Reform is a bad idea
By AL DIAMON | August 20, 2010

Menino's money problems

David S. Bernstein’s article on the mayor’s feud with the firefighters and allegations that the city’s coffers are bigger than Mayor Tom Menino lets on is one of the only thoughtful treatments of this contract dispute to appear in the media.
Letters to the Boston editor, June 18, 2010
By BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS | June 18, 2010

Take this to the polls

Our endorsements for the June 8 elections
Endorsements
By PORTLAND PHOENIX STAFF | June 04, 2010

Bragdon vs. Trevorrow, Greens, District 120

Charles Bragdon and Anna Trevorrow vie in the East End legislative race
Primary 2010
By DEIRDRE FULTON | May 21, 2010

Fed up and low down

Just kidding. Of course they’ll lose.
For once, the beleaguered taxpayers of Maine can’t lose
By AL DIAMON | April 23, 2010

Cooking the books

Tax season got you feeling screwed? How about a little schadenfreude: Chances are Jon (Christian F. Luening) has it a lot worse and more embarrassing than you in Love, Sex & the IRS , the 1979 comedy by William Van Zandt and Jane Milmore.
How long until Love, Sex & the IRS collide?
By MEGAN GRUMBLING | April 16, 2010

Photos: Sarah Palin’s Tea Party rally on Boston Common

Photos from Sarah Palin’s Tea Party rally on Boston Common
Tea Party Express rally, Boston Common, April 14, 2010
By KELLY DAVIDSON | April 16, 2010

'Tea' is for terrorism

A year ago, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) produced a memo outlining the growing threat posed to this country from right-wing extremists. It compared the situation to that of the early 1990s — which culminated in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred
When even the most ‘legitimate’ voices of the right validate dangerously unhinged anti-government rhetoric — DUCK!
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | April 09, 2010

Box-office guru comes to Boston

The Massachusetts House of Representatives recently rejected attempts to cap the tax breaks offered to filmmakers in the commonwealth, which is good for Hollywood studios and for the local economy.
Film school
By PETER KEOUGH | April 09, 2010

Nondeductible charities

"Thanks for the foie gras!"
Big Fat Whale
By BRIAN MCFADDEN | April 09, 2010

The ‘new Providence’?

WRNI political reporter and Casa Diablo regular Scott MacKay was the first pundit to make the observation to your superior correspondents in the summer of 2002 that we were “about to witness either the last election of the ‘old Providence’ or the first e
Angel rising. Plus, the IRS blues, after the flood, drilling Obama, and Tiger talk
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | April 09, 2010

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