REFORM TAX

“The US military is blocking ships from entering or exiting Iranian ports absent a peace agreement. The blockade was due to take effect two hours ago. US central command says the action will not, quote, impede freedom of navigation for vessels transiting the Strait Of Hormuz to and from non Iranian ports.”

“I just think that it's gonna kill the demand for second homes. If you were a person who is thinking about buying a Piazza in New York, there's no way you would do it now. Because you don't know what the tax rate's gonna be, and it's gonna keep going up, and that has to be a bad thing for the city.”

“The Hungarian government under Orban has not been using the veto to protect Hungarian interest. It was using the veto to protect Russian interest. So that very clearly will need to stop.”

“Leaving fewer federal employees to audit returns.”

“Good morning I'm Janine Herpst from NPR news and here are today's top stories.”

“It's a dog whistle to say that's the next UnitedHealthcare CEO. And in the week that a fire a a Molotov cocktail and a bullet gets shot into Sam Altman's house, it's deadly serious. Just before you point at people's homes and say this is the villain, be careful because nobody deserves to have their house fire bombed or shot at, period.”

“Austin has, like, roughly doubled as a city over the past decade, and yet the rent for, you know, whatever, a one or two bedroom apartment's gone down. In other words, if you let people build to satisfy the demand, you won't have this problem.”

“There are fewer federal employees to collect unpaid tax debts.”

“So far, the average refund is about 11% higher than this time last year, about $350 more according to data from the IRS. Michael Pierce with Oxford Economics expects that average will go up. That's because higher income filers typically procrastinate on filing and seem to be benefiting more from the new tax changes.”

“They essentially crippled what's called non dom status, which is the big tax arb if you moving or parking assets in London. And what did all the rich people do? They just redirected themselves to Zurich, to Lugano, to Milan, and they took advantage of more hospitable tax policy in other places.”

“The thing that struck me is that actually people are perfectly reasonable. They say, look, do you know what? It comes down to three things. It comes down to learning to speak English, obeying the law, and working hard on paying tax. Beyond that, we should be living let live.”

“If you begin restoring a bit of fairness to the tax system, actually like that old socialist Nigel Lawson did, equalizing capital gains tax rates and income tax rates, you would begin to raise the money over the course of five to six years to build the kind of sovereign wealth fund that could help you finance those kinds of tax breaks.”

“The Trump administration has shrunk the IRS.”

“The thing is they're already paying taxes on the property, and because they're not there very often, they're not using city services. So they're paying taxes on the property, they're not using city services, and they are essentially profitable to the city. The second place thing goes away and that money goes elsewhere.”

“World Cup tickets are getting even pricier. FIFA, the international governing body for professional soccer, is adding a more expensive tier. A ticket for a front category one seat at the US opener against Argentina in Los Angeles will cost as much as $5,470 according to the Associated Press.”

“The federal government has scaled back tax enforcement.”

“This kind of reinvention of social capital and civic connectedness is what we need to glue communities back together again. And this is where the government has actually got its plan bang on. So this big multi-billion pound Pride in Place fund that it has launched... is actually one of its biggest and boldest and best ideas.”

“An NPR analysis of regulatory filings found that at least a dozen of the largest US companies have deleted some or all references to Dei from their most recent annual reports to investors.”

“Vought was a chief architect of the conservative agenda known as project 2025... he's also a supporter of what's known as impoundment that's when a president essentially holds back money that Congress has already approved.”

“I just think that it's gonna kill the demand for second homes. If you were a person who is thinking about buying a Piazza in New York, there's no way you would do it now. Because you don't know what the tax rate's gonna be, and it's gonna keep going up, and that has to be a bad thing for the city.”

“Then we've got to have the courage to take on some of the forces that are deepening divisions. One, American Big Tech. Two, kleptocrats trying to surge dark money into British politics. So there's a fight there as well. It's not just about, let's just refresh fraternity and build a more united kingdom from this diverse nations that we've got.”

“It's a dog whistle to say that's the next UnitedHealthcare CEO. And in the week that a fire a a Molotov cocktail and a bullet gets shot into Sam Altman's house, it's deadly serious. Just before you point at people's homes and say this is the villain, be careful because nobody deserves to have their house fire bombed or shot at, period.”

“They essentially crippled what's called non dom status, which is the big tax arb if you moving or parking assets in London. And what did all the rich people do? They just redirected themselves to Zurich, to Lugano, to Milan, and they took advantage of more hospitable tax policy in other places.”

“One, your borders have got to be strong. So, if you think about what we had to do, we had to go to the UK border agency, put people in uniform, create these kind of offshore checks before people got anywhere near the border. You've got to have strong borders, and that is why you have to fix the boats crisis.”

“Austin has, like, roughly doubled as a city over the past decade, and yet the rent for, you know, whatever, a one or two bedroom apartment's gone down. In other words, if you let people build to satisfy the demand, you won't have this problem.”

“The idea here is that you restore savings matches, tax breaks and incentives for people to build up assets, to put down a deposit on a home to call their own, to retrain, restock their human capital and to save more into a pension. Singapore is probably the best example. And the way you pay for it is actually by building a sovereign wealth fund.”

“House Republican leaders including speaker Mike Johnson met at the White House for about 5 hours on Thursday... part of a larger president Trump plan to install sweeping legislation that will address the Border taxes and more.”

“Within hours of those reports, nearly all of his major endorsers abandoned him. On x, Swalwell apologized for mistakes in judgment but denies the allegations. He's now facing calls from fellow Democrats in California to resign his house seat.”

“We have got to be punchier in taking on the selfish minority who don't play by the rules. And on the Business and Trade Committee, we see them week in, week out. Why has Fujitsu not contributed a bean to the two billion pound bill for restoring justice to the post-Obvious Horizon victims? Not a penny have they paid.”

“The thing is they're already paying taxes on the property, and because they're not there very often, they're not using city services. So they're paying taxes on the property, they're not using city services, and they are essentially profitable to the city. The second place thing goes away and that money goes elsewhere.”

“The cutbacks could lead to more Americans skirting the tax law.”

“The Doge team has come under scrutiny by former government officials for just how much power they seem to be wielding from inside of The White House.”