All posts tagged: Taxpayers

Andy Burnham is hiding his real agenda – taxpayers should be terrified | Personal Finance | Finance

Andy Burnham is hiding his real agenda – taxpayers should be terrified | Personal Finance | Finance

Published by Sam Flores

After that, we haven’t got a clue what’s on his mind. Or what sort of prime minister he’d make. Or how he’d do things differently to the hopeless case currently in Number 10. And that’s exactly how Andy Burnham likes it. He seems determined to smuggle himself into Downing Street without anybody properly scrutinising him. Now who does that remind me of? The very man he’s trying to replace. Sir Keir Starmer. During the 2024 election, Starmer adopted the so-called “Ming vase strategy”, originally tested by Tony Blair. Tiptoe carefully into power without saying anything alarming or daft, that might cause him to drop the vase. That’s why Starmer never told voters he planned to hammer us with £75billion of taxes, open the spending floodgates, scrap the winter fuel payment and unleash Ed Miliband. It worked. He even gave us the impression that Rachel Reeves knew what she was doing. I imagine that was the toughest bit. If Starmer had levelled with voters, Labour’s electoral vase would have shattered into a thousand pieces. Burnham is …

German Taxpayers Bled Dry: Mass Migration Cost €40 Billion In 2025

German Taxpayers Bled Dry: Mass Migration Cost €40 Billion In 2025

Published by Jenni Sidey

Via Remix News, Migrants cost German taxpayers — just at the federal level — €24.8 billion in 2025, according to new data in the “refugee costs report” from the German Federal Ministry of Finance. However, the true sum is much higher. The €24.8 billion is strictly the federal bill. The actual, combined national cost of migration for Germany is that €24.8 billion plus the massive, separate billions that the individual states and municipalities had to pull from their own local tax revenues to cover their own deficits brought on by mass immigration. Welt notes that the total figure is indeed much higher, since it does not include states and local communes, but Welt does not provide this combined data. Nevertheless, previous years indicate that this number is at least €15 to €20 billion. That means any total figure is likely well over €40 billion, but as in previous years, it may actually go as high as €50 billion. The total costs cover several areas, including the federal government’s contribution to the refugee and integration costs of states and municipalities. One …

Trump’s B buyoff to cancel offshore wind farms is a bad deal for taxpayers amid energy shortage

Trump’s $2B buyoff to cancel offshore wind farms is a bad deal for taxpayers amid energy shortage

Published by Sam Flores

The U.S. is in a bizarre situation in 2026: It’s facing a looming energy shortage, yet the Trump administration is making deals to pay offshore wind developers nearly US$2 billion in taxpayer money to walk away from energy projects. These politically motivated moves are costing Americans far more than just the buyouts. Communities have been laying the groundwork for offshore energy projects for years. Offshore wind development brings jobs and economic development that reshape regional economies, with the scale of public and private investment reaching into the hundreds of billions of dollars over years. East Coast communities have built up ports to support the industry and launched job-training programs to prepare workers. Construction, maintenance and shipping businesses have sprung up, along with secondary businesses that support the industry. Losing the projects, and the threat of losing other planned wind farms, will also likely mean higher energy prices. And while some offshore wind farms are moving ahead, developers must account for both lost momentum and increased uncertainty from the Trump administration. As a result, Americans will …

Tens Of Millions Of Taxpayers May Be Owed IRS Refunds From Pandemic Era: Watchdog

Tens Of Millions Of Taxpayers May Be Owed IRS Refunds From Pandemic Era: Watchdog

Published by Jenni Sidey

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), The IRS’s internal watchdog has stated that tens of millions of U.S. taxpayers may be owed refunds or abatements of penalties or interest during the COVID-19 federal disaster period. A 1040 Internal Revenue Service tax form, in this file photo. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times “The bottom line: You may be entitled to a refund or reduction of assessed penalties and interest,” the National Taxpayer Advocate (NTA) stated in a notice published on April 30 and updated on May 1. “For taxpayers dealing with financial pressures, these amounts can make a real difference. But most taxpayers must act by July 10, 2026, to request their potential refunds.” The NTA stated that the refunds or payments had arisen from multiple court decisions, including one handed down in November 2025 that “provides for the automatic postponement of filing and payment deadlines during the period a federal disaster declaration is in effect, plus 60 days” during the COVID-19 federal disaster period, which lasted more than three years. The declaration …

Prince William revealed as one of Britain’s largest taxpayers – report

Prince William revealed as one of Britain’s largest taxpayers – report

Published by Daniella Wilson

The Prince of Wales has been named one of Britain’s top taxpayers in a new report. According to The Sunday Times, Prince William, 43, pays up to £7 million in income tax a year, putting the royal in the top 0.002 per cent of taxpayers in the UK.  The newspaper also reports that the majority of William’s income comes from the £20 million-plus a year he receives from the Duchy of Cornwall, a private land estate worth approximately £1.1 billion, inherited by every heir to the throne since the 14th century. © Andrew Parsons / Kensington PalaPrince William is one of Britain’s top taxpayers according to a new report Does William have to pay income tax?   Under a 2013 agreement between the late Queen Elizabeth and the Treasury, the monarch, meaning King Charles now, is not legally liable to pay income tax, capital gains tax or inheritance tax. His son is also not legally liable to pay income tax on money received from the duchy, but both royals have always paid income and capital …

Wildfire season is coming, and taxpayers might pay millions more : NPR

Wildfire season is coming, and taxpayers might pay millions more : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

A firefighting aircraft drops retardant ahead of the Palisades Fire on Jan. 11, 2025, in Los Angeles. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Justin Sullivan/Getty Images In the summer of 2021, five “Fire Boss” airplanes skimmed the surface of a lake. They belonged to aerial firefighting company Dauntless Air, and they were helping fight a wildfire in Washington state. CEO Brett L’Esperance described the planes this way: “So if you’ve ever seen Planes 2, this is Dusty Crophopper.” In a video of the maneuver shared by Dauntless Air, the single-engine aircraft roar across the water one by one, filling their twin pontoons with water. While the U.S. government is in charge of fighting most big wildfires, nearly all the 500 or so aircraft they use are privately owned by contractors like Dauntless. “Fire Boss” airplanes skim the surface of a lake while helping fight a wildfire in Washington state in the summer of 2021. Last year, those planes burned through about $50 million worth of jet fuel. Every fire season is different, but if …

Trump wants do-over of failed airline fantasy — at taxpayers’ expense

Trump wants do-over of failed airline fantasy — at taxpayers’ expense

Published by Sam Flores

It looks like Donald Trump is taking on yet another side gig. In addition to his day jobs running the most powerful nation on earth, overseeing his family’s fortune and serving as general contractor for the rebuilding of the White House and Washington, D.C., he is taking on yet another full-time responsibility. The president plans to take over America’s worst airline, turn it around and sell it for a profit. If there’s a more perfect illustration of the Trump era, I don’t know what it would be. Hemorrhaging cash and in bankruptcy court, Spirit Airlines is on the brink of liquidation. The nation’s largest budget airline has been struggling for years and has been forced to drastically downsize by selling planes and cutting routes. With the federal government reportedly close to stepping in with a $500 million bailout plan, Trump apparently wants to buy it outright and run it.  The president does, after all, have experience with bankrupt airlines. Nearly 40 years ago, he ran one into the ground. The president does, after all, have …

Pennsylvania Treasurer Says ‘No’ to Taxpayers Footing M in Security Upgrades at Shapiro’s Home

Pennsylvania Treasurer Says ‘No’ to Taxpayers Footing $1M in Security Upgrades at Shapiro’s Home

Published by Sam Flores

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s treasurer refused Thursday to approve payments for more than $1 million in security systems and other upgrades to the private home of Gov. Josh Shapiro, changes that were made after an intruder set fire to the state-owned governor’s residence last year in an attempt to kill the Democrat. The treasurer, Republican Stacy Garrity, said there is no legal authorization to use taxpayer dollars to reimburse contractors for the security upgrades on private property, even the private home of a governor. The Pennsylvania State Police submitted the reimbursement requests to the Treasury Department but “appear to have simply ignored the statutory limits and restrictions on spending and procurement,” Garrity said during a news conference in her offices. The state police have other options to get taxpayer dollars to underwrite the work, which has already been done. The agency could ask lawmakers to explicitly authorize the payments or enter the state’s settlement process for disputes between contractors and state agencies, Garrity said. Garrity is expected to be Shapiro’s main opponent in the …