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but the |||rade deficit grew 2.3 percent in May, pushed up by higher oil prices, but the ye

UK Feb house prices up 0.7pc on month

28 Feb 2007 10:20 GMT | Inbox Robot: Mortgage Finance

... continued to rise in February but the Bank of England's three quarter point rate hikes ... Earley, Nationwide's chief economist. "Buyer interest and mortgage demand are waning, but the supply of ...


Trade Deficit Rose in May, but the Pace Was Slower

Fri, 13 Jul 2007 03:15:29 GMT | New York Times

The U.S. trade deficit grew 2.3 percent in May, pushed up by higher oil prices, but the year-to-date gap remains lower than in 2006.


Drop in eBay Items Concerns Investors

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 10:05:00 EDT | NPR News Headlines

The world's largest online auctioneer posts sharply higher revenues and profits. But the total number of items listed on eBay fell. Some on Wall Street were expecting a decline, but the drop was larger than some had predicted.


Mottley: Government Will Hold A Referendum On Becoming A Republic, But The Details Of What We Will Be Voting For Are Secret!

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 15:40:42 +0000 | Barbados Free Press

Mottley Says “Just Vote YES, Then We’ll Tell You What You Are Voting For!” The Barbados Government has announced that Bajans will vote in the next election for or against becoming a republic - but the details of how the Barbados Republic will be organised and run have been kept secret by the government for the [...]


California Sales Tax Back in the Spotlight: LA and SF Would Have Double-Digit Rates

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST | Tax Foundation's Tax Policy Blog

During the summer, Governor Schwarzenegger proposed a temporary sales tax hike to close the expected budget gap, but he settled for other reforms when opposition was fierce to raising the state's highest-in-the-nation sales tax. Now budget projections show a larger gap, so he's back, this time with a larger tax hike.

Instead of an additional 1 percent, he wants 1.5 percent, a hike that he would like to expire after three years. It's accompanied by several other taxes and a host of new spending cuts as well.

But the sales tax is the big provision. If enacted as proposed, it would put Los Angeles and San Francisco into double digits when their local rates are tallied. LA's sales tax just went up from 8.25% to 8.75% with Prop R's passage on Tuesday. Under Schwarzenegger's plan it would go to 10.25%, tying Chicago for the nation's highest rate (aside from a few small resort towns and college towns). San Francisco would end up at 10%.

As we've written before, a better approach to raising the revenue would be to apply the current rate to goods and services that are currently exempt. The governor's plan does some of that so-called base broadening, but the biggest exemption, groceries, isn't mentioned. Taxing groceries is routinely criticized as hard on the poor, but in fact food stamps solve most of that problem. Those could be expanded if necessary, and still the tax on groceries would raise between $4 and $5 billion a year. California tax scholar Annette Nellen, a favorite of liberal-leaning think tanks, has written along the same lines.


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