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Daily Mail
10 hours ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Furious summer vacationers want to shake off $100k 'Taylor Swift tax' headed their way
Rhode Island has approved a controversial bill, dubbed the ' Taylor Swift Tax', on million-dollar second homes people use for summer breaks. The tax will target the second homes of all the residents in the state who don't use their home full time. The Rhode Island House of Representatives has already greenlit a proposed $13.9 billion state budget that includes the sweeping new real estate tax. This means the pop star will face her own six-figure tax on her $17 million Watch Hill estate if the bill goes into law. The measure passed by a 66 to 9 vote on June 18 and now moves to the state Senate. Swift has famously owned the mansion in the upmarket beach town since 2013 and spends July 4th there every year. Under the guise of helping Rhode Island's affordability crisis, those who have 'non-primary residences valued over $1 million' will be taxed under the proposal. Overall, homeowners would face an annual surcharge of $2.50 per $500 of assessed value above the first $1 million — meaning a $3 million second home would see a $10,000 yearly fee. Swift and her beachfront estate neighbors would likely get taxed $100,000 and up based on the size of their mansions. The budget also proposes a 63 percent hike in the real estate conveyance tax, which sellers pay upon transferring property. The state says revenue from both tax hikes would go toward affordable housing projects, including the construction of low-income units and expansion of housing tax credits. But Watch Hill realtor Larry Burns warns there will be economic backlash. Burns specializes in coastal and luxury properties, and says the impact of the tax will trickle down to longtime residents who are not wealthy, and to local economies. He said the state has not been specific about how exactly the money is going to be spent — and the tax will unfairly penalize those who own inherited or family properties. Watch Hill famously passes homes on for generations. 'Rhode Island economy for the most part is driven by tourism, especially in all in New England especially coastal state like Rhode Island,' he told the Daily Mail. 'And it's really going to discourage people from buying second homes here because of the added expense.' Burns warns that neighboring states like Massachusetts, Maine, or Connecticut could become more attractive to buyers and Rhode Island will take a massive hit. 'You squeeze them here they're going to go somewhere else,' he warned. He continued: 'There's people like Taylor Swift — people will look at her and think, "Well, she has so much money she'll never even notice an increase like this." 'But it's not like the residents here have inexhaustible resources. '$100,000 here might be college education for the year for a kid, or two kids.' Burns added the tax could force many to part with cherished family homes. 'There's a lot of older folks or multigenerational properties where the siblings have inherited the property, and if you keep adding expenses people end up selling because they can't keep up with the cost,' he said. Part-time residents are also crucial to the local economy, Burns said. 'They spend an enormous amount of money in those six to eight weeks that they're here,' Burns said. 'And they don't impose a lot of demand on municipal resources like schools, police, or the hospital.' Local businesses are bracing for the fallout. 'I hear from people in the construction business, landscaping, any kind of service work, restaurants — everybody's going to be really negatively affected if this goes into effect,' Burns said. 'You're creating a welfare state at that point for service workers.' Burns stressed that tourism and the summer season is what gives the state its money. 'They're worried about funding low income housing, but the problem is you've got to give people jobs before you worry about the housing,' he said. 'If your economy runs on tourism and you do this to it, you're really negatively impacting those people's ability to earn a living.' Whether the tax becomes law remains uncertain, but it now awaits Senate approval and the Governor Dan McKee's signature. Burns says it could go either way. 'I don't know if they're posturing for political reasons, but this is really killing the goose that lays the golden egg,' he said. If the tax does pass, the tax would take effect in July 2026.
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
RI GOP leader wants answers about pallet shelter costs
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Rhode Island House Minority Leader Mike Chippendale said on Wednesday that taxpayers deserve to know the full financial picture for the cost of the state's pallet shelters pilot program, known as ECHO Village. The shelters opened in February after months of delays. The R.I. Department of Housing said additional time was needed to install necessary utilities and to meet fire and building codes. The pilot program was designed to address the state's homelessness crisis and was paid for entirely with federal funds. The project was originally estimated to cost $3.3 million, but the final cost was $4.6 million. Chippendale said he wants to know why the cost went up. 'All I want, and all the taxpayers of Rhode Island deserve, is accountability,' he said. Two days after a ribbon cutting was held to celebrate the shelters opening, Chippendale said, he filed an Access to Public Records Act (APRA) request. It's a tool reporters and other members of the public use daily to request public information. The request asked the Department of Housing to provide a list of all contractors and subcontractors involved in the project; all contracts, purchase orders and invoices; any procurement or bidding documents; plus copies of any project budgets. Chippendale also asked for all correspondence related to permitting for ECHO Village and for a list of any financial sponsors of the project. He said he hit a snag in the early days of his records request, with the department seeking to charge him $495 to obtain the information, 'for which I am statutorily entitled to as a member of the House Finance Committee.' Chippendale explained that a compromise was reached, which resulted in the fee being waived. As a result, he agreed to wait for emails — which officials said had to be reviewed to protect certain personal information — but would accept the financial information he requested 'immediately.' Chippendale said those documents came last Thursday, a month after his initial request. 'These documents that they provided me did not paint any picture, let alone the full picture,' Chippendale said. 'It would be irresponsible for me to assert there was something nefarious going on. The entire point is we don't know until we have the information.' The Foster Republican also characterized the issue as reflecting a broader lack of transparency by the administration of Gov. Dan McKee, a Democrat who has faced repeated criticism on issues related to open records. Chippendale sent Target 12 the financial documents he had received, which comprised dozens of files. About an hour after the media briefing, Chippendale sent reporters a statement which said in part that a closer look at the records revealed additional invoices he had not previously seen, though 'the remaining assertions during the press conference remain relevant.' 'I consider my request for information on behalf of the taxpayers of Rhode Island incomplete and unfulfilled,' Chippendale said. Emily Marshall, a spokesperson for the Department of Housing, told Target 12 that Chippendale's outstanding request is comprised of about 1,300 emails which staff would need 33 hours to review in full. Chippendale told reporters: 'The 33 hours have long passed. They've come and gone.' Marshall also said the Housing Department did not have the list of any financial sponsors or other benefactors for the Echo Village, though House of Hope, which operates the shelters, would. Ben Smith, spokesperson for House of Hope, told Target 12 that the organization had not received Chippendale's records request until Wednesday. 'We will work with Leader Chippendale to provide any information or documentation he needs related to our role in operating Echo Village,' Smith said. Marshall explained that the project's total budget increased because of costs associated with getting the units up to code and said that those modifications 'were only finalized after the initial budget was contemplated.' Smith added that the final cost of ECHO Village was 'not only the construction,' but also accounted for the infrastructure needed to ensure residents have access to essential services, including case management, restrooms, showers and laundry facilities. 'Additionally, staffing and wraparound services play a critical role in the success of the project and its sustainability in serving those experiencing homelessness,' Smith said. Target 12 learned the pallet shelters were on track to reach full capacity within a month of opening, and that one guest has already moved into permanent supportive housing. Alexandra Leslie (aleslie@ is a Target 12 investigative reporter covering Providence and more for 12 News. Connect with her on Twitter and on Facebook. Download the and apps to get breaking news and weather alerts. Watch or with the new . Follow us on social media: Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
House GOP got the records they asked for after all. They just didn't unzip them.
Rhode Island House Minority Leader Mike Chippendale is shown with a photo of ECHO Village displayed on a posterboard on March 19, 2025. The GOP representative took aim Gov. Dan McKee and the Rhode Island Department of Housing over a public records request. (Photo by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current) Rhode Island House Minority Leader Mike Chippendale blasted the state's housing department at an early Wednesday afternoon press conference for not sending invoices detailing the $4.6 million spent on the ECHO Village pallet shelters in Providence. But the Foster Republican reversed course about an hour later even as he criticized the state's demand for $495 to collect and release emails relating to the project. The Rhode Island Department of Housing actually did send Chippendale the information he requested, the minority leader acknowledged in an email after the press conference at the Rhode Island State House. The files in question revolved around Chippendale's Access to Public Records Act (APRA) request for information on the 45-pallet shelter village that was approximately $1.3 million over budget when it opened in February. Curious as to why the project cost so much more than intended, Chippendale requested from housing officials the complete list of contractors and subcontractors involved in the construction, plus purchase orders, project budgets and any email correspondence from state officials relating to the project on Feb. 14. Chippendale said to reporters at the 1 p.m. press conference that the state had only sent over one invoice for electricity costs. But after the press conference, the Minority Office's legal counsel reexamined the files sent over by the housing department and found staff had not unzipped everything. 'It appears that I did receive a file from Housing that includes some invoices attached within it,' Daniel P. Reilly, a former state rep and the minority leader's legal counsel, wrote in an email to Chippendale Wednesday afternoon. 'It appears that the file did not transfer over initially when I received it via Dropbox from Housing and was not sent to you.' Reporters received the documents after Providence Journal reporter Katherine Gregg repeatedly asked Chippendale for the files he had received from the housing department. At the end of the press conference, around 2 p.m., Chippendale sent an email to all the reporters in the room with the folders, which were all compressed as ZIP files. The largest zipped folder was over 60 megabytes, which exceeds the attachment size limit for some email providers. Providers like Gmail automatically convert files that are too big to downloadable links. Other email providers may strip the attachments from an email if they're too large. 'While I asserted that no invoices were received other than the RI Energy invoice, I was clearly mistaken,' Chippendale wrote in a 3 p.m. email to six reporters with whom he shared the zipped files. The housing department had informed Chippendale that it would take 33 hours of labor to gather all the relevant correspondence — which would result in a $495 bill for the legislator, as APRA requests are charged at $15 an hour. Chippendale offered to pay the money, but rescinded the APRA and attempted to rely on his authority as a member of the House Committee on Finance. A housing department spokesperson said Chippendale's attempt to invoke statutory authority nullified the APRA rules. 'It is important to note that this change in request meant APRA requirements — including any time limits or extensions for gathering and reviewing the information — were no longer applicable,' spokesperson Emily Marshall wrote in an email Wednesday. Marshall said the state sent Chippendale the requested documents on March 13 — or, at least, what they were able to send the lawmaker, who had also asked for a 'list of any financial sponsors or other benefactors for the Echo Village project,' Marshall said. She added that the housing department does not possess such documents, as they belong to the project's main contractor House of Hope, which is 'a nonprofit entity, and…not obligated to provide this information to us.' Marshall did not immediately respond to a followup question about how the housing department sent the files to Chippendale. While Chippendale admitted the file confusion, that didn't absolve the state of its responsibility to be transparent, he thought. 'While I answered the question 'Did you receive any invoices?' with 'no' and I now realize that I was wrong, the remaining assertions during the press conference remain relevant,' Chippendale said in his followup email Wednesday. Despite her success in rallying for the documents, Gregg apparently never received them. 'Can you send the attachment again please. It did not arrive,' Gregg replied to all on the email thread in which Chippendale clarified that he had in fact received the documents. 'That's part of the problem Kathy, it's too big to transfer. It won't come over in an email,' Chippendale wrote back. The documents forwarded by Chippendale included at least three PDFs with meticulous itemizing of project costs. One PDF contained three pages fully redacted, but most pages are more revealing, including information on supplies, laborers and hours worked. The largest invoice was a 165-page PDF, 17 megabytes large. The file's size likely derives from the numerous full-page images it contains, like photocopied black and white photographs of supplies, scanned invoices on yellow paper, and even photos of Home Depot receipts on a laborer's work pants. Chippendale said after the press conference that the Minority Caucus will continue to review the documents. Meanwhile, the housing department is 'still reviewing the 1,320 emails to determine which can be released based on confidentiality,' Marshall said. The minority leader wrote in the email admitting the mistake that his main points about transparency in Gov. Dan McKee's administration remain relevant. Asked by reporters at the State House about his relationship with McKee, Chippendale characterized it as a constant cold shoulder. The minority leader said he's reached out to the governor's staff. He said he's tried to schedule meetings. 'And I've only been granted one meeting, and that was in 2020,' Chippendale said, trailing off and pausing as he tried to remember the date. '2021? Or [2022]-ish, and it wasn't a very productive meeting, and it was a frustrating meeting. Chippendale recounted the numerous scandals of McKee's tenure, like the ILO bid fixing and Washington Bridge sagas, as ample proof of the administration's tendency toward what he called 'opacity.' Chippendale said he didn't intend to discuss DOGE, but couldn't resist the temptation in the context of discussing scrutiny. 'We're living in a time now where there's this unique entity called DOGE in Washington, D.C., which is sending shivers through state governments across the country, because a lot of things are being looked into,' Chippendale said. 'In a time where a deep blue state like ours is potentially in the crosshairs of this presidential administration on conditional funds being withheld, you would think that this administration would not do anything that would further elevate their lack of concern for transparency, but evidently, that sort of savvy is not present right now with this administration.' Marshall offered an alternative take in the conclusion to her email. 'The department is cognizant of the importance of transparency and accountability in State government,' she wrote. 'We continually strive towards achieving our mission of solving the State's housing shortage and homelessness crisis, while also fulfilling the public's information requests.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
11-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
From IG to AI, here's what Rhode Island House Republicans want to pass this year
PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island House Republicans are proposing more than 100 legislative priorities in 2025, from creating an independent inspector general to using artificial intelligence to oversee public benefits. With just 10 lawmakers in the 75-member House of Representatives, the GOP minority will be lucky if a handful of legislative proposals on the list become law, let alone the scores of them in a list released Monday. Many of the proposals will be familiar to General Assembly watchers, like trimming state debt or the plan to create a state inspector general, which has been the Ocean State GOP's top priority for years. Others are new, like the proposal to "embrace Artificial Intelligence in all computer systems monitoring and administering benefits to all Rhode Islanders." "By using predictive AI, many of the crises that RI families who rely on state assistance face will never happen because properly used AI systems can detect issues before they arise," the GOP caucus said in the agenda document released Monday. "Other states are investing in this area and seeing amazing results." Other items in the policy agenda could have been inspired by President Donald Trump's executive orders, particularly rolling back efforts to combat climate change. "Republicans would repeal and end the unelected climate bureaucracy known as the Executive Climate Change Coordinating Council," the policy document said while also calling to end subsidies for electric cars and bicycles. Here are some of the ideas in the Republican priority list: End any programs started with pandemic-era American Rescue Plan funds End "vague and unmeasurable" initiatives, such as "equity zones." Eliminate the estate tax Repeal the every-two-year inflation adjustment to the gas tax Cut all subsidies to the I-195 Redevelopment Commission Shut down the three-year-old Department of Housing Create first-time homebuyer savings accounts Shift the majority of education costs from municipalities to the state End the tax exempt status for large nonprofits Repeal the state's unenforced nursing home minimum staffing law End the cap on charter schools Ban new solar farms on forest land Require private product manufacturers to play a greater role in recycling This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI House Republicans release ambitious 2025 agenda
USA Today
10-02-2025
- Business
- USA Today
From IG to AI, here's what Rhode Island House Republicans want to pass this year
From IG to AI, here's what Rhode Island House Republicans want to pass this year Show Caption Hide Caption President Donald Trump's agenda hits speed bumps Judges have pumped the brakes on Trump's efforts to fast-track his policy goals. Republicans want to add artificial intelligence to state computer systems They also want to cut state spending GOP proposes disbanding the state's climate change council and the housing department PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island House Republicans are proposing more than 100 legislative priorities in 2025, from creating an independent inspector general to using artificial intelligence to oversee public benefits. With just 10 lawmakers in the 75-member House of Representatives, the GOP minority will be lucky if a handful of legislative proposals on the list become law, let alone the scores of them in a list released Monday. Many of the proposals will be familiar to General Assembly watchers, like trimming state debt or the plan to create a state inspector general, which has been the Ocean State GOP's top priority for years. Others are new, like the proposal to "embrace Artificial Intelligence in all computer systems monitoring and administering benefits to all Rhode Islanders." "By using predictive AI, many of the crises that RI families who rely on state assistance face will never happen because properly used AI systems can detect issues before they arise," the GOP caucus said in the agenda document released Monday. "Other states are investing in this area and seeing amazing results." Other items in the policy agenda could have been inspired by President Donald Trump's executive orders, particularly rolling back efforts to combat climate change. "Republicans would repeal and end the unelected climate bureaucracy known as the Executive Climate Change Coordinating Council," the policy document said while also calling to end subsidies for electric cars and bicycles. What do RI House Republicans want to pass? Here are some of the ideas in the Republican priority list:
