Archive for the 'Taxation' Category

The ‘Gun Violence Tax’

Wednesday, September 30th, 2015

As expected, three gun-rights groups — the National Rifle Association, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, and the Second Amendment Foundation — have sued the city of Seattle over the City Council’s unanimous August adoption of a so-called “gun violence tax.” The lawsuit accuses the city of violating Washington state law, which prohibits local governments from […]

Driving the Ranchers Off the Land, Part 6 of 6

Monday, October 13th, 2014

(NOTE: a condensed version of this report appears in the Autumn, 2014 issue of “Range” magazine, on newsstands through Oct. 15.) IS IT ALL TO SAVE THE TORTOISE?

Driving the Ranchers Off the Land, Part 5 of 6

Monday, September 22nd, 2014

(NOTE: a condensed version of this report appears in the Autumn, 2014 issue of “Range” magazine, on newsstands now.) WHAT’S ‘THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF GRAZING’?

Driving the ranchers off the land, part 4 of 6

Sunday, August 31st, 2014

(NOTE: a condensed version of this report appears in the Autumn, 2014 issue of “Range” magazine, on newsstands now.) Cliven showed me areas where he’d bulldozed dirt across an occasional wash, which then filled up and became a muddy watering pond not only for his cattle, but for the quail and other wildlife that subsequently […]

Driving the Ranchers Off the Land, part 2 of 6

Wednesday, August 6th, 2014

(NOTE: a condensed version of this report appears in the Autumn, 2014 issue of “Range” magazine, on newsstands now.) DOES THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OWN THE LAND?

The ‘government shutdown’

Monday, October 21st, 2013

My mom called me the other day to ask whether I thought the “government shutdown” would impact some state program or other. I can see how the thought arose, given that there are hardly any independent “state programs” any more (most having fallen victim to the siren call of “supplemental federal funding,” which leaves them […]

Who’s paying for all these bike lanes?

Wednesday, April 3rd, 2013

In Northwest Las Vegas, I motor from time to time along Lone Mountain Road between Jones and Decatur boulevards. Recently, these streets have been repainted with solid white lines designating bicycle lanes. In addition to the re-striping, the city of Las Vegas has posted reflective metal “Bike Lane” signage, 10 to the mile.

And now the clock chimes, and all the impostors drop their masks …

Sunday, December 16th, 2012

“U.S. Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada said Wednesday he would not rule out allowing tax rates to increase for higher-income Americans if it is coupled with substantial spending cuts … in a bid to avoid the ‘fiscal cliff,’” the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported last week. Few bothered to read further down, where the newspaper reported […]

How are we doin’?

Wednesday, July 4th, 2012

How are we doing, safeguarding those “unalienable Rights” with which we are “endowed by our Creator” — in support of which 56 patriots solemnly pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred Honor, 236 years ago? We remain free by many measures. Americans can still pretty much live where we want, work where we want, […]

Layoffs here, layoffs there … now let’s shut down a thousand smoke shops!

Sunday, June 17th, 2012

Jeffrey Armstrong is a soft-spoken guy, of evident Caribbean origin. He’s the owner and sole proprietor of “The Smoke Zone,” a rented storefront next to the Quizno’s on Rancho Boulevard just north of Charleston — though it’s one of several similar “RYO (Roll Your Own) Filling Stations” in Southern Nevada. The basic pitch? Cheap cigarettes.