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Is investing in New York City a bad thing? Some progressives seem to think so: Theyre looking to tax it.

The left-leaning Fiscal Policy Institute and state Sen. Brad Hoylman are pushing a new tax aimed at foreigners who have the audacity to shell out big money on city apartments.

Under the plan, the city would levy a surcharge of between 0.5 percent and 4 percent on city co-ops and condos worth $5 million or more. The presumption is that most of these units are owned by foreigners and used as pieds--terre.

State Sen. Brad Hoylman (D-Manhattan) says he will introduce a pied--terre bill in the state Legislature soon. The tax is needed, he says, because foreigners arent paying income taxes but are nonetheless utilizing city services everything from our infrastructure to our police force.

Actually, if theyre not in the city using their apartments much, theyre not likely to be using many city services much, either.

So what this boils down to is out-of-town investors handing over money to the city, costing taxpayers little extra and still paying city property taxes. Why would anyone think these folks should pay more?

What Hoylman and the institute really want, of course, is the $665 million a year the tax is expected to raise from folks who dont vote here. But New Yorks sky-high taxes are already a disincentive to invest here. Adding a surcharge will only make matters worse.

Progressives dont understand that having investors spend money here boosting property values and the economy is good for the city. If they did, maybe theyd be calling for lower taxes for a change.

Continued here:
Another city property tax

The All Progressives Congress in Ogun State has described as wishful thinking the plot by the opposition to defeat it in the coming election.

This is coming against the background of a purported plan by both the Labour Party and the Peoples Democratic Party in the state to merge to confront the ruling party.

President Jonathan was reported to have endorsed a work arrangement between PDP and LP aimed at shoring up the chances of the former to produce the next governor of the state.

However APC in a statement by its publicity secretary in the state, Mr Sola Lawal, dismissed the plot,saying it would not succeed.

According to the APC, existing chaotic internal dynamics within the two opposition parties would end up frustrating any effort at any such unholy gang up.

The party further stated that both PDP and LP had always worked together in the state adding that such scenario has never produced any worthwhile result for them.

He said, In 2011 all the present members of PDP and LP in Ogun State were all in PDP with only a sprinkling of them in PPN, yet defunct ACN, a precursor to APC, trounced them.

Without the executive power of government in its hands the APC pummelled the combined forces of the opposition.

Now consider how much easier it will be with the superlative performance of the Amosun administration to send the send them to their electoral grave.

The party likened the gang up against Amosun to that between the fraudster and the thief against the owner of the property.

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Plot to unseat Amosun, a joke -Ogun APC

The All Progressives Congress has strongly condemned theendorsement of President Goodluck Jonathan as the sole candidate ofthe PDP for next years presidential election, to the exclusion of allother candidates, calling the endorsement nothing but a mockery ofdemocracy.

In a statement issued in Lagos on Wednesday by its National PublicitySecretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party also said the endorsementhas come at a great price to Nigerians, considering the obvious dealsthat were struck to make President Jonathan the sole PDP candidate.

It said the parody of democracy that the endorsement represents hasexposed the shameless hypocrisy of the PDP, which is ever so eager toaccuse other parties of lacking in internal democracy.

It said, Obviously, those fellows in the PDP have never heard of the sayingthat those who must come to equity must come with clean hands. PDP,where is your own internal democracy now that you have turned yourparty into a fiefdom controlled by one and only one person only?

While endorsements are part and parcel of democracy, they are neverdone to the exclusion of other candidates. This is simply notdemocratic. When then candidate Barrack Obama was endorsed by hispartys bigwigs to contest the US Presidency, the party never excludedHillary Clinton from its primaries. Thats how it is done.

The party said the price being paid for Jonathans endorsement byNigeria is simply too heavy, considering that the PDP Governors whospearheaded the endorsement have now secured perpetual immunity fromprosecution by anti-graft bodies, including the EFCC and the ICPC; theautomatic tickets for all first-term PDP Governors, whether or not they have performed, the automatic tickets for all PDP Governorsrunning for the Senate, as well as the free ride back to the UpperChamber for Senate President David Mark.

It is now an Open Sesame for the PDP Governors, who have no pryinganti-corruption agencies watching over their shoulders. They can nowsimply see the commonwealth as an extension of their deep pockets. Theendorsement is also a vote of approval for the proceeds of corruptionthat have been powering the noisy and outrageous Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria, it said.

APC accused President Jonathan of desecrating the countrys democracybecause of his desperation for re-election, adding: It is a cruelirony that a man who has benefited, more than anyone else, from thisdemocracy has been the one who has been doing everything possible toundermine it.

The party said President Jonathan has also abandoned domestic issueswhile seeking international relevance, in a clear negation of theaphorism that charity begins at home.

This President has basically abandoned governance. Unprecedentedcorruption is mounting, insecurity stalks the land and Nigerians gropein darkness as power generation has plummeted. This President has yetto tell Nigerians the full involvement of his government in the 9.3million dollars that was illegally ferried to South Africa on aprivate jet. This President has yet to tell Nigerians why he hascontinued to hobnob with an alleged sponsor of Boko Haram, who is supposed to be under a probe by his Administration. Yet, he is eagerto attend meetings with serious-minded leaders who have done well fortheir own people.

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Jonathans endorsement as sole candidate, mockery of democracy -APC

National Chairman, All Progressives Congress, John Odigie-Oyegun

The All Progressives Congress has released its timetable for the nomination of candidates for elective offices on the party platform.

According to the timetable seen by our correspondent in Abuja, on Sunday, the expression of interest forms for all offices will go on sale as from Monday, October 6, 2014.

Those interested in seeking the partys nomination to stand in the presidential, governorship, senatorial, House of Representatives and state Houses of Assembly are expected to pick their forms between October 6 and 19, 2014.

Sale of nomination forms for presidential aspirants will commence on October 20 and end on November 6, 2014.

Screening of Presidential aspirants has been slated for between November 10 and 13 while November 14 and 15 are for appeals. The partys national convention is slated for Tuesday, December 2, 2014.

The sale of nomination forms for those interested in the governorship race is slated for between October 20 and November 9, 2014.

Screening of aspirants will hold as from November 10 to 12, 2014 while appeals have been slated for between November 13 and 14, 2014.

Governorship primaries is to hold on Saturday, November 15 , 2014 while appeals emanating from the primaries will be entertained as from November 18 to 22, 2014.

Sale of nomination forms for senatorial aspirants will begin on October 20 and end on November 17, 2014, while their screening will hold between November 19 and 20, 2014.

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APC releases timetable for party primaries

The All Progressives Congress has warned those nursing the plan to postpone the 2015 general elections to perish the thought, saying Nigerians will not accept, under any guise whatsoever, any scheme by desperate elected officials to get tenure elongation by subterfuge.

In a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said those who are flying the kite of pushing forward the election ostensibly because the nation is at war are trying to imperil the nations democracy.

Election is the lifeblood of democracy, the mechanism by which modern representative democracy operates. It is the only way for the citizenry to renew and refresh the governing process so they can get the most benefits out of democracy. Therefore, anyone that tries to sabotage this mechanism is aiming a dagger straight at the heart of democracy, it said.

APC said the statement credited to Senate President David Mark, that thereis no question of elections, it is not even on the table now. We are in a state of war, reflects the thinking in government circles, even though the Senate President, having run into a wall of opposition over his unfortunate statement, has tried to step back from the comments.

We in the APC saw this coming, and we have said it at several fora: That the Jonathan Administration has deliberately allowed the insurgency in the North-east, an opposition stronghold, to fester so he can cash in on it to get re-elected. Simply put, the Administration has been playing dirty politics with Boko Haram, at the expense of the lives and property of the citizenry and the well-being of the nation.

However, the Administration is being too clever by half to think that Nigerians will reward it for its failure in its main reason for existence, which is the protection of the welfare and security of the citizens. There is just no way this government will be allowed to profit from its ineptness and its conspiracy to prolong an insurgency that should have ended a long time ago, the party said.

It said the statement by INEC Chairman Attahiru Jega, that the commission has started preparing for elections even in the North-east, represents a ray of hope, but warned the electoral body to remain steadfast and not to cave in to what will be massive pressure from the Jonathan Administration and its gong beaters to scuttle the 2015 elections.

APC said just like Jega has said, countries like Afghanistan and Iraq successfully held elections even though they are in a state of war, hence there is no reason why Nigeria cannot organize elections because of the insurgency in a part of the country.

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APC opposes plot to shift 2015 elections