Taxes

Latest Articles

Making the ‘Buffett Rule’ LAW

Tax Dept.
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse has received plenty of ink for his "Buffett Rule" legislation, named after billionaire investor Warren Buffett.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | February 15, 2012

What were you hoping for?

LePage's year
In his first year as governor, Republican Paul LePage did a decent job.
By AL DIAMON | December 28, 2011

Creature from the Black Lagoon

Tax reform: it's downright scary
I don't believe in ghosts. Or vampires. Or werewolves. Or other mythical creatures, such as Republican US Senate candidate Scott D'Amboise.
By AL DIAMON | October 26, 2011

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

Notes on class warfare
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.
By EDITORIAL | September 22, 2011

Indentured servitude and other keys to the Rhode Island recovery

Dollars and Sense
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.
By BARRY SCHILLER | August 31, 2011

Museum dreams

Political Paleontology
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.
By AL DIAMON | August 24, 2011

Beantown counters

Infographic: Boston's addiction to property taxes
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, and state restrictions on how much cash the city can collect.
By PHOENIX STAFF | August 17, 2011

Pledge class

This campaign season, you’re not really committed to defending the GOP agenda unless you sign on the dotted line
Whether it's to flags, fraternities, or charities, privileged douchebags love pledging allegiance.
By CHRIS FARAONE AND DAVID EISENBERG | August 01, 2011

All that you paid for

Tax dollars
I've got some deals for you.
By AL DIAMON | June 29, 2011

Coughing fits

The tobacco tax
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.
By AL DIAMON | May 18, 2011

Local heroes of 2011

Simon Moore and Linda Katz
In the 14th annual edition of the Providence Phoenix 's Best issue, we highlight people and organizations who are doing exceptionally good work.
By DANIEL MCGOWAN AND MARION DAVIS | April 20, 2011

Too soon

LePage’s first biennial budget
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 impoverished workers seek shelter while being urinated on by corporate swine?
By AL DIAMON | February 23, 2011

Protect teachers' pensions

Letters to the Portland Editor, February 25, 2011
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 eliminate the estate tax. Better for the already fortunate.
By PORTLAND PHOENIX LETTERS | February 23, 2011

Walking on broken glass

A (very) short list of Baldacci's successes
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.
By AL DIAMON | December 15, 2010

Mo' money, fewer problems

Going green
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).
By DEIRDRE FULTON | September 29, 2010

Wait your turn to vote

Voting should be for citizens only
Immigrants are fantastic. But they shouldn't be in the voting booth.
By SHAY STEWART-BOULEY | August 18, 2010

Less of you

Reform is a bad idea
When the Legislature gets reformed, things get worse.
By AL DIAMON | August 18, 2010

Menino's money problems

Letters to the Boston editor, June 18, 2010
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.
By BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS | June 16, 2010

Take this to the polls

Endorsements
Our endorsements for the June 8 elections
By PORTLAND PHOENIX STAFF | June 03, 2010

Bragdon vs. Trevorrow, Greens, District 120

Primary 2010
Charles Bragdon and Anna Trevorrow vie in the East End legislative race
By DEIRDRE FULTON | May 19, 2010

Fed up and low down

For once, the beleaguered taxpayers of Maine can’t lose
Just kidding. Of course they’ll lose.
By AL DIAMON | April 21, 2010

Cooking the books

How long until Love, Sex & the IRS collide?
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.
By MEGAN GRUMBLING | April 14, 2010

Photos: Sarah Palin and the Tea Party Express

Tea Party Express rally, Boston Common, April 14, 2010
Photos from Sarah Palin’s Tea Party rally on Boston Common
By KELLY DAVIDSON | April 15, 2010

'Tea' is for terrorism

When even the most ‘legitimate’ voices of the right validate dangerously unhinged anti-government rhetoric — DUCK!
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 P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | April 12, 2010

Box-office guru comes to Boston

Film school
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.
By PETER KEOUGH | April 07, 2010

Nondeductible charities

Big Fat Whale
"Thanks for the foie gras!"
By BRIAN MCFADDEN | April 08, 2010

The ‘new Providence’?

Angel rising. Plus, the IRS blues, after the flood, drilling Obama, and Tiger talk
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 election of the ‘new Providence.’ ”
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | April 08, 2010