Illinois moves to tax online purchases, hits bloggers, small business

Gov. Pat Quinn (D, IL) about to destroy IL Amazon affliliates?
It’s certainly looking that way: the Democrat-run (Democrat-dominated) State Legislature has just passed a bill to tax online purchases (via Points and Figures, via Instapundit): the bill is just waiting for Governor Pat Quinn’s (D) signature, which is almost certainly inevitable.  In fact, the state of Illinois is going to raise taxes across the board - because that’s what Democrats do .  Business is good; raise taxes.  Business is bad; raise taxes.  Business is in a

Amazon threatens to dump Illinois associates over unconstitutional bill - Tenaska threatens to abandon project
* The so-called Amazon Tax also passed the House yesterday… Now, some large Internet Retailers such as Amazon.com and Overstock.com don’t collect Illinois sales taxes because they don’t have a physical Illinois presence. Shoppers technically still owe the taxes, but the vast majority don’t pay because they’re unaware. The Legislation would force Amazon to collect the taxes because they have certain kinds of contracts with Illinois companies. It was approved by a 88-29 vote. I

The Amazon Tax
The Amazon Tax It seems the State of Illinois is so desperate for revenue that it is instituting an Internet Sales Tax. Chicago, Jan. 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Internet Tax Bill (HB 3659) was passed in the Illinois Senate on January 5, by the House of Representatives on January 6 and brought to the Governor, who may sign it into a law as early as Friday, January 7. The tax Legislation relates to out-of-state merchants like Amazon.com and Overstock.com that do not have a physical presence in ...

Illinois about to institute massive tax hikes
There's no question that Illinois is in an economic basket case. It might be in the worst fiscal shape of any state in the union. So how does Illinois plan to dig itself out of the hole it's in? Taxes, taxes and more taxes: Springfield sources are confirming that Democratic legislative leaders and Gov. Pat Quinn have struck a deal to almost double the state Income Tax, boosting the individual levy from 3% now to 5.25% and hiking the corporate rate to 8.4% -- the highest of any state in the unio...

California business exodus creates opportunity in pro-business states
San Diego’s plant Fertilizer producer, George Hahn, is taking his business and leaving the state.  We knew people were fleeing in numbers, but businesses are leaving California in droves.  What’s new is that they’re being actively pursued by pro-business states of the nation.    While the Calexodus continues, business savvy states like Texas, Florida, and Ohio lick their chops at the flow of business talent headed their way.  Rick Scott , Republican Gov...

GOP Still All-Or-Nothing on Health Care.
You may recall that longtime conservative advocate and former Bush II Speechwriter David Frum was excommunicated from the Conservative Movement after he suggested that implacably opposing the Affordable Care Act was strategically misguided (he argued that the GOP would have been better served by negotiating to make the bill more conservative). Frum landed on his feet, and now has some more advice for his fellow Conservatives on Health Care. Once their silly theatrical presentation on repealing t...

DESPERATE FOR CASH: Illinois moves to tax online purchases. But then, Illinois is the Greece of th
DESPERATE FOR CASH: Illinois moves to tax online purchases. But then, Illinois is the Greece of the Midwest. And if you haven’t checked out Illinoisisbroke.com, it’s worth it for the abject-Lincoln pic. UPDATE: Illinois moves to tax online purchases, hits Bloggers, Small Business. “This is Illinois. More stuck on stupid.” ...

Sen. Manchin takes aim at part of healthcare law
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who has been under fire from Republicans to reveal where he stands on healthcare Repeal, announced Friday that he's co-sponsoring a bill to repeal one provision of the law.  Along with Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.), Manchin is co-sponsoring a bill to eliminate the so-called 1099 provision of the healthcare law, which imposes an additional tax filing requirement on small businesses for transactions over $600.  Manchin did not endorse a full repeal of the law.  "As sm

How the death penalty abolition bill passed on the second try
* As you know by now, the House passed a death penalty abolition bill on the second try yesterday. Democratic state Rep. Pat Verschoore voted against the bill the first time, then changed his vote after the bill’s sponsor appealed to him… “I’d been back and forth on this since they started talking about abolishing it,” Verschoore said. State Rep. Karen Yarbrough, D-Maywood, the proposal’s sponsor, asked him to reconsider his vote, he said. “She’s helped me o

REDSTATE: Gov. Pat Quinn (D, IL) about to destroy IL Amazon affliliates? I should note that the St
REDSTATE: Gov. Pat Quinn (D, IL) about to destroy IL Amazon affliliates? I should note that the State Rep. who wanted to do this in Tennessee — a long-time Incumbent — was handily defeated last November. But that’s why Tennessee is Tennessee . . . and Illinois is Illinois. ...

Illinois House Passes Death Penalty Ban, Senate Next
Source: Reuters Illinois House passes death penalty ban, Senate next Thu Jan 6, 2011 11:18pm EST Chicago (Reuters) - The Illinois House on Thursday voted to ban the death penalty, moving the measure on to the Senate a decade after a Moratorium on executions was put into place by former Governor George Ryan. Thursday night's vote came after a first vote failed, according to Illinois State Representative Elaine Nekritz, a Democrat who voted in favor of the ban. The final vote was 60-54 in favor of...

Illinois House debating death-penalty abolition
St. Louis stocks SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- The Illinois House has just started debating a bill to abolish the death penalty. If it passes, it would return to the Senate. Supporters are trying to get it passed to Gov. Pat Quinn as early as today. We'll update here....

Illinois lawmakers approve major Medicaid reforms
The Illinois House today approved major changes to the state's Medicaid system aimed at cutting waste and Fraud and scaling back who qualifies for government-subsidized Health Care. The 111-4 vote sends the changes to Gov. Pat Quinn. Read more in Clout Street. ...

Health Care and Taxes and Spending, Oh My!
Earlier today I noted that the Congressional Budget Office’s rough score of the House’s Health Care Repeal bill projected that repealing the PPACA would increase the Deficit. Given that the CBO had previously scored the Health Care overhaul as reducing the deficit, that’s not surprising. This afternoon, the CBO provided a bit more information on the proposal's total revenue and spending effects to go with its score: We have been asked to provide the revenue and direct spending components

Kentucky Senate OKs Ultrasound Before Abortion Bill
Just hours after a Kentucky state Senate committee approved a bill that would allow women a chance to see an Ultrasound of their baby before an Abortion, the full state Senate has approved it. “It’s our first victory,” Mary Spaulding Balch, the attorney who oversees state Legislation for National Right to Life, told NRL News. “What can be more informative than an Ultrasound image of the mother’s own unborn child?, “Balch said. “It offers her a window to ...

Illinois Nearing a Tax Deal?
The state of Illinois is allegedly close to a deal to nearly double its Income Tax, from 3% to 5.25%. In a separate action, it's also passed a law allowing it to collect sales tax from any online vendor (read: Amazon) with affiliates in the state. The latter law doesn't make much sense to me. It is a cause near and dear to the hearts of State Legislators everywhere, but so far the only effect has been to embroil states in endless litigation, while causing Amazon (and for all I know, other online...

Illinois legislators thwart bill to encourage lawyers' lawsuit loans
Illinois legislators thwart bill to encourage lawyers' Lawsuit loans From the Illinois Civil Justice League, an e-mail alert.SPRINGFIELD - Legislation that would allow loans to litigants in lawsuits as cases proceed through court systems was overwhelmingly blocked Thursday by a coordinated effort by business organizations, including the Illinois Civil Justice League, Illinois Insurance Association, Illinois Chamber of Commerce and others. SB 3322, the "Non-recourse Civil Litigation Funding Act...

Socialism and prescription porn welcome here!
Socialism and prescription porn welcome here! (And I hope comments are too!) One of the things that makes spam such a pain in the ass in blogging is the way it increasingly tends to inhibit the ability to discuss ordinary topics. If you have been blogging for any length of time (I'm going on eight years now), you have no doubt been dragged into battle against these insidious spambots, and forced to deploy defensive software which often relies on blocking certain words and phrases in the hope o...

Action alert! Amazon.com may boot me--because of an Illinois internet sales tax
Thank you Marathon Pundit readers for the occasional purchase from Amazon.com from this site. I don't make much money from these sales, and what I earn gets plowed back into the blog--usually for book purchases for my travel series and of course political research. But I might soon be a former Amazon associate. Anne Leary of Backyard Conservative is also on the endangered list. Lawmakers in Illinois have voted for a 6.25% tax on online retail purchases. The levy, which still needs the Governor's...

Colorado governor pardons man executed for murder in 1939
By Keith Coffman Denver | Fri Jan 7, 2011 5:47pm EST Denver (Reuters) - Colorado's outgoing Governor issued a posthumous pardon on Friday to a mentally Disabled man executed in 1939 for the Murder of a 15-year-old girl, a crime the condemned man's supporters have long said he never committed. In pardoning Joe Arridy, Governor Bill Ritter called the case a "tragic conviction (based) on a false and coerced confession." "In addition, it would be Unconstitutional today to impose the death penalty...

A few more notes on health-care reform
May as well just combine these into one post. 1) Some parts are working better than expected. Notably, the small-business Tax Credits. As the L.A. Times reports, "major insurers around the country are reporting that a growing number of small businesses are signing up to give their workers health benefits." UnitedHealth Group, for instance, "added 75,000 new customers who work for companies with fewer than 50 employees." BlueCross BlueShield of Kansas City has seen applications jump by almost 60 ...

10 New Money Tools for Young Adults
Young adults want to get their finances in order in 2011, and they’re turning to online tools to help them meet those goals. Eight in ten Americans and 98 percent of young adults say they want to try to save more money this year, according to the new Chase Slate-U.S. News Consumer Monitor survey. One in ten of those surveyed said they used an online program to Budget their money, and almost half said they are looking for more tools to help them better manage their finances. [In pictures:...

December retail sales show shoppers still wary
By Phil Wahba NEW YORK | Thu Jan 6, 2011 7:23pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Anyone thinking Americans might be back to their free-spending ways got a reality check on Thursday as many mainstream Retailers reported disappointing December sales. While some store chains cited a blizzard that hit the East Coast after Christmas, investors seemed more concerned that December sales showed that consumers have still not returned to spending habits seen before the Financial Crisis and that they will conti...

Jobless claims up, underlying trend still down
WASHINGTON | Thu Jan 6, 2011 9:16am EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New claims for jobless benefits moved higher last week, but a decline in the four-week average to a nearly 2-1/2 year low indicated a trend toward better labor market conditions remained intact. Initial claims for state Unemployment Benefits increased 18,000 to a seasonally adjusted 409,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday, above Economists' expectations for 400,000. The prior week's figure was revised up to 391,000 from the...

Survey: Small Business Hiring Likely to Improve in 2011
by CalculatedRisk on 1/06/2011 07:29:00 PM From National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB): Small Business Hiring Stagnant in December; Likely to Improve in 2011 “Reports of net Job Creation continued to oscillate around the “0” line in December. Asked about changes in total employment over the last three months, 13 percent of owners reported increasing employment at their firms by an average of 3.5 workers while 14 percent reported (down two points from November) re...