By Andy Blom, TES Washington Editor
Summer is over. Labor Day is past. Back to school. Back to work. Back to Washington working to serve us, help us, take care of us? Maybe not. But the powers that be in Washington are starting to get busier so it’s more important than ever that free market thinkers and doers are working to keep us informed…and protected. Here is the last week of summer’s abreviated news…
Dem Steps Up to Oppose Biden’s “Step-Up”. Sure she endorsed him, but former Democrat Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota is speaking out in opposition to President Biden’s attempt to kill stepped-up basis. The Biden plan would tax capital gains at death, making it harder to keep businesses in the family and hurting ranchers, farmers and small businesses. John Kartch of Americans for Tax Reform has the full story here including Heidi’s letter to Joe.
You Mean We’re Paying Government Employees to Work for Their Private Interests? Sadly, yes. It’s called Release Time and it often happens when Government employees (and yes, that includes police and firefighters) are paid with your tax dollars for time when they are working to advance their union’s interests. Many state constitutions actually forbid this, but collective bargaining agreements wrap it right in. Now the Goldwater Institute is trying unwrap it. Learn the ins and outs here. It’s complicated…and important.
Working hard to Keep You from Being Over-taxed. In case it’s not clear from the name, Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) is against raising taxes…and there are a lot of new proposed taxes needed to pay for the Democrat’s new $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill. Never mind the Biden/Bernie Sanders’ promises of you ‘not playing a penny more in taxes’, you are about to get soaked. Who has your back? ATR is leading a coalition to oppose the new taxes and they have a powerful coalition letter to the people in Congress trying to figure all this out. Learn more by reading the letter here and pray Congress is listening. Or can read.
Andresen Blom is a Washington based policy and political analyst and author who has been published in The Wall Street Journal, The Hill, and Politico.