David Murdter '12 puts Republican talking points on tax hikes in perspective. 

As discussion continues in Albany about a proposed two percent property tax cap, City of Ithaca officials are anticipating a larger strain on the city’s budget.

Ithaca's Common Council held a special meeting Monday to discuss the implication of a property tax cap passed by the New York Senate.

Did you file your taxes yet? For this week's 10 on 10, Daze interviews Prof. Daniel Benjamin, economics, about everything from putting off taxes to picking a favorite superpower.

[Author’s note: I do not smoke — cigarettes or otherwise — nor have I ever. It is disgusting when my hair smells like an ashtray after standing next to people who smoke, and the cigarette butts that litter the entrance of my building are just as nasty. I also do not want to die of lung cancer.]

In this wonderful country of ours, I am guaranteed the right to the pursuit of happiness — and cigarettes make me happy. Given that I am a ripe 21-years-old, I should damn well be able to buy the cigarettes of my choice.

The commotion around the Commons yesterday was not a last-minute rush to mail tax returns. Instead, the small crowd of activists that assembled on the corner of E. State Street and Seneca Street had gathered to protest federal government taxation policies that, according to the organizer’s event invitations, constitute “willful, deliberate and recklessly irresponsible fiscal behavior.”

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Thousands of protesters, some dressed like Revolutionary War soldiers and most waving signs with anti-tax slogans, gathered around the nation Wednesday for a series of rallies modeled after the original Boston Tea Party.

They chose the income tax filing deadline to express their displeasure with government spending since President Barack Obama took office.

The protests were held everywhere from Kentucky, which just passed tax increases on cigarettes and alcohol, to South Carolina, where the governor has repeatedly criticized the $787 billion economic stimulus package Congress passed earlier this year.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Tom Daschle withdrew Tuesday as President Barack Obama's nominee to be health and human services secretary, dealing potential blows to both speedy health care reform and Obama's hopes for a smooth start in the White House.

"Now we must move forward," Obama said in a written statement accepting "with sadness and regret" Daschle's request to be removed from consideration. A day earlier, Obama had said he "absolutely" stood by Daschle in the face of problems over back taxes and potential conflicts of interest.

One of the great debates in politics concerns the merits of tax cuts versus tax increases. Traditionally, the Republican Party has preached supply-side economics and tax cuts as means to stimulate growth and investment, whereas the Democratic Party has claimed that tax cuts for only the middle-class will be effective and tax increases elsewhere are beneficial. While both Barack Obama and John McCain have tax plans that are far from perfect, issue should be taken with Sen. Obama’s plan, particularly his claim that 95 percent of workers who earn less than $250,000 will receive a tax cut.