Posts tagged taxes
France learns (again) what sectoral bargaining means
October 9, 2025 // The public thought Truman hadn’t gone far enough. In 1946 it elected a Republican-majority Congress (the first since the Great Depression) and enough union-skeptical Democratic allies to pass the Taft-Hartley Act, with its limits on strikes for reasons other than immediate labor disputes, over President Truman’s (possibly entirely cynical) veto. The French political shutdown tactics would not be imported with the Burgundian wine and Normandy cheese.
No LIRR strike for at least 4 months as Trump steps in on labor dispute
September 17, 2025 // The emergency board will probe the contract fight and prevent and mediate negotiations under the Railway Labor Act, which triggers a 120-day “cooling off period.” That means neither the MTA nor the unions can change wages, hours or working conditions — and workers cannot legally strike — for roughly four months unless both sides agree to a deal.
Commentary California’s $20 Minimum Wage Is a Cautionary Tale for Los Angeles’ Olympic-Sized Wage Hike
July 22, 2025 // In a classic case of central planning, lawmakers in Los Angeles passed a bill in May to bring the minimum wage for hotel and airport workers to $30 by 2028, while also imposing a new $8.25 per hour mandatory health care contribution. Implementation of that bill is currently on hold as the city clerk reviews the signatures of a referendum petition that would bring the bill to a public vote in June 2026. Los Angeles’ sector-specific wage hike follows on the heels of California’s statewide $20 minimum wage mandate for fast-food workers that went into effect in April 2024. The consequences of that wage hike on the fast-food industry should be a warning sign to Los Angeles, especially as it prepares to host the 2028 Summer Olympics. Crucial to the success of those Olympic games will be the capability of the city’s hotels and its Los Angeles International Airport to serve an estimated 15 million visitors.
New Jersey Copycats California’s Job-Destroying Policy
June 3, 2025 // This proposal comes five years after the New Jersey legislature attempted and failed to codify the ABC test. A controversial bill in 2019–the same year that California passed AB5——failed to pass after loud public outcry from industries and independent contractors themselves. What policymakers could not enact through the law, they’re now seeking to advance through regulation.
GOP senators unveil legislation to cut taxes on overtime pay in line with Trump’s campaign promise
May 7, 2025 // The Overtime Wages Tax Relief Act, introduced by Sens. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) and Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), would allow individuals to deduct up to $10,000 in overtime pay from their tax bill. Married couples would be able to deduct up to $20,000. The legislation includes phase-out eligibility based on income. So, once individual adjusted gross income reaches $100,000, or $200,000 for married couples, the deduction is reduced by $50 for every $1,000 in earnings above the threshold.
Liya Palagashvili: The Portable Benefits Revolution: How Did We Get Here?
May 1, 2025 // Senator Bill Cassidy just put flexible benefits on the map. This is the story of how a niche policy idea climbed to the top of the Congressional agenda.
Union Workers Turn on Trump Tariffs: ‘Direct Attack on the Working Class’
April 29, 2025 // While the ILWU said that decades of free trade agreements had "negatively impacted American workers," it criticized Trump's approach to addressing this as "haphazard and destructive," while warning that the costs of food, energy and household goods would rise as a result. Similar warnings have been issued by associations representing the retail and home construction sectors, while the United Auto Workers union (UAW)—which had previously voice its support for "aggressive tariff action to protect American manufacturing jobs"—has recently offered a more critical view on Trump's import duties.
LETTER: Congress must reject proposed job-killing labor legislation
April 20, 2025 // However, a new threat to Kansas business owners has emerged in the form of a legislative framework that the Institute for the American Worker has dubbed the “PRO Act Lite,” modeled after the failed policies of Senator Bernie Sanders and other progressive lawmakers. While it may come with a new label, the substance remains the same. This proposal would drive up labor costs, stifle economic opportunity, and make it significantly harder for employers to create jobs.
State workers blast Ferguson’s furlough plan, calling it a betrayal
March 20, 2025 // Front-line workers and educators feel betrayed and frustrated that the man they helped elect wants to reduce their income while declining to endorse new or higher taxes on the state’s wealthiest individuals and largest corporations. “They feel they were lied to. We have to stop being the ones having the budgets balanced on our backs,” said Mike Yestramski, president of the Washington Federation of State Employees, following a rally Monday at the Capitol held by those pushing the Legislature to tax the wealthy and big businesses to erase the multi-billion dollar deficit. Yestramski called Ferguson a “pseudo Democrat” and added: “Budgets are moral documents. This is his moral test.
Opinion: A kidnappers bargain: linking CT union and nonprofit interests
November 26, 2024 // Under Osten’s plan, state funding for certain nonprofits would automatically increase whenever state unions negotiate pay increases for themselves. At first, this seems like a solid strategy for ensuring that that nonprofits get funded. Actually, it is a clever tactic to turn nonprofit workers into a sympathetic de facto lobbying group for Connecticut’s dominant special interest — the government unions — despite having no other relationship to them. This alignment could incentivize nonprofits, which traditionally focus on service delivery, to shift towards advocacy for increased state spending —effectively lobbying for higher taxes and more government spending. What’s more, nonprofits would have a vested interest in supporting higher wages, regardless of the state’s fiscal condition or the actual needs of the programs they administer.