Public Finance

Jay-Z's "Open Letter" to Cuba Haters: "Obama Said 'Chill, You Gon Get Me Impeached'"

It seems Jay-Z has been up to more than smoking cigars and celebrating his marriage in Cuba. He's been busy penning and recording a serious dis track to all those haters who aren't happy to see the first couple of hip-hop chillin' so close to Castro. His recent vacation to the island set some polit ... More >>

Barack Obama Takes Aim at Marco Rubio's "Deadbeat Nation" Remark

In Barack Obama's televised press conference today as he prepares for yet another fight with Republicans over raising the debt limit, the president took aim directly at Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. Though, he managed to slam the Tea Party hero without directly mentioning Rubio by name.

Miami's Scummiest Tax Scams of 2012: Marine-Bilkers, Football Frauds, and Laundry Cheats

That Fiscal Cliff Deal Is Going To Cost Florida Billions; Here's How Much More You'll Pay

Chances are, when you heard that the GOP-controlled House had finally relented on a deal that kept the nation from plunging Wile E. Coyote-style off a fiscal cliff, you popped a little mental champagne. But even though the compromise prevents huge tax increases and keeps unemployment benefits in pla ... More >>

Convicted Cocaine Trafficker Alexander I. Perez Gets Huge Tax Breaks for a Questionable Sugar Company

Mayor Gimenez to Uncle Luke: Back Off!

Last week, our columnist Luther Campbell slammed Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez. The following is Gimenez's response: Last year, while campaigning for Mayor of Miami-Dade County, I made certain promises to our residents for a better community. In the fourteen months since then, we have worked day ... More >>

Rick Scott's Taxpayer Waste Czar Got $400,00 No-Bid Contract in Taxpayer Money

Abraham Uccello, the man appointed by Gov. Rick Scott to head a task force to reduce waste in state government, once received a $400,000 no-bid contact from the state to provide "technology consulting." Uccello, by the way, is close friends with Steve MacNamara, Scott's chief of staff.Here's a good ... More >>

Top Five Fuming Foodies of 2011: The Good, the Bad, and the Preposterous

It's been a hell of a year, folks. We've had a lot of food and food industry-related news this year, and not all of it has been pretty.As a nod to the upcoming year and as a way of reminiscing, I've gone back over my Fuming Foodie archives and amassed a list comprising the five most ridiculous, cont ... More >>

Almost Half of Floridians Think Republicans Are Intentionally Trying to Hurt the Economy

Some Democrats have accused Republicans of intentionally trying to slow economic recovery for political gain. Republicans have tried to dismiss that theory, but it's not just partisan Dems who believe it. Nearly half of voters in Florida believe "Republicans are intentionally hindering efforts to bo ... More >>

Marco Rubio Says Obama's Jobs Plan Won't Work, Moody's Top Economist Says It Will

​Yesterday, President Obama outline a proposed $447 billion jobs bill that would cut payroll taxes, increase spending on infrastructure and public works programs, and extend unemployment benefits.Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, with lightning-fast speed, released a statement and video response last nigh ... More >>

McKeon's Musings: The Marlins Skipper Shares His Thoughts on the Debt Ceiling

​Riptide is pleased to announce the hiring of Jack McKeon, the 80-year-old interim manager of the Florida Marlins, as an interim semi-regular columnist. His first topic: the debt ceiling. I was on the bullpen phone with Corny the other day when he said the damndest thing. Apparently, there's ... More >>

Mayor Carlos Gimenez Shows Commissioner Barbara Jordan His New Shiny Badge

Barbara Jordan has climbed to the top of Carlos Gimenez's Most Hated List.​Even though she has no plans to run against Carlos Gimenez in 2012, county Commissioner Barbara Jordan is definitely cementing her place as the Miami-Dade mayor's number one adversary. We already know Jordan is peeved Gimen ... More >>

Time for Miami Tax Evaders to Come Forward, Warns Local Attorney

The days of hidden offshore accounts are drawing to an end, it seems​Not everyone in Miami is on the up & up. Sure, your neighbor could have bought that brand-new Mercedes-Benz with the Christmas bonus. Or it could have been that narco slush fund in the Cayman Islands. The truth is that ... More >>

No, Your $4,000 Tax Refund Was Not Legit

IRS: the tax man cometh.​Did you pay Tomeka Wimberly at Wizard Tax Services Inc. to fill out your return this year? Did she claim Doritos and Mountain Dew on your work expenses? How about the little known "new underwear credit"?And did you get a nice refund of roughly $4,000?If so, we hope you hav ... More >>

North Bay Village Closer to Giving Mayor Corina Esquijarosa the Boot

North Bay Village Mayor Corina Esquijarosa​North Bay Village Mayor Corina Esquijarosa's days in office might be numbered. Political action committee Citizens for Full Disclosure has collected 414 signatures from village residents for its petition to give the mayor the boot.The group targeted Esqui ... More >>

Miami's Red Light Cameras are a Financial Failure that May Lead to Furloughs

As much as city officials try to talk a good game about installing pesky red light cameras for public safety, most were really swayed by extra money generated by tickets. City of Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado pretty much admitted as much, and the city hoped red light cameras would bring in $10 million ... More >>

Rick Scott Gets Over His Fear of Trains and Approves SunRail

​Gov. Rick Scott has seemed to overcome his hesitations about funding Central Florida's SunRail commuter train program and announced his approval of state funding for the program today. Scott's first big decision in office was surprisingly killing a federally funded high-speed train project, a mov ... More >>

Miami Springs Mayor Zavier Garcia Owes IRS Nearly $200,000

Miami Springs Mayor Zavier Garcia.​No wonder Miami Springs Mayor Zavier Garcia made it a point in his campaign to plead for lower taxes. Not only is there a $1,803.41 state tax lien on his company, ZMG Media, which we reported about last week, but on June 8 the IRS filed a $198,672.75 federa ... More >>

Allen West, uncut

A candid conversation with South Florida's rising Tea Party star.

North Bay Village Mayor Faces Lien For Unpaid Property Taxes

​The Miami-Dade Property Appraiser's Office is looking to collect $3,109 from North Bay Village Mayor Corina Esquijarosa. That is how much she owes in unpaid property taxes on a downtown Miami condo she claimed was her homestead. Following our report that Esquijarosa was getting a tax break on the ... More >>

Bob Graham Thinks Florida Has Lost Its Way

​To talk about respected, legendary Florida politicians is to talk about Bob Graham. The former Governor and Senator was one of the few politicians to manage sustained cross-party popularity and still looms large over the state as an occasional source of wisdom. Yesterday, the retired moderate Dem ... More >>

Mayor Alvarez Successfully Stalls Recall Attempt

Miami-Dade Carlos Alvarez has successfully, if only temporarily, bought himself some time to breath. Billionaire Norman Braman's recall effort collected about 112,000 signature and seemed to be heading to a ballot, but Alvarez's lawyers are fighting the effort on a procedural technicality. The two s ... More >>

Kendrick Meek Should Be Worried About Dennis Stackhouse

Alex Izaguirre​ Congressman Kendrick Meek better keep a close eye on what happens to Dennis Stackhouse, the Boston developer who's been criminally charged on multiple counts of grand theft and organized scheme to defraud. Local law enforcement officials accuse Stackhouse of stealing $942,000 set a ... More >>

Hialeah Hanky-Panky

Alex Izaguirre​Did something improper go on in Hialeah's budget office? Did budget director Alex Vega and senior internal auditor Ana Maria Gomez do more than just crunch numbers on city time? Well, whatever they were up to, it didn't sit well with Vega's wife Tania. This past April 6 around 12:30 ... More >>

News Roundup

Today is sentencing for five members of the Liberty City Six. Each could face up to 70 years in prison. [CBS4]Miami 21 got its first stamp of approval from the city commission Friday night. But there's still plenty of hoops the plan has to jump through before becoming official. [SFBJ]Say h ... More >>

Kendrick Meek Opposes Using Federal Funds to Pay for Abortions

Rep. Kendrick Meek has joined a small group of house Democrats asking that any health-care reforms not lead to federal funding of abortion, according to the Washington Post. The possibility of taxpayer money being used to pay for abortions is becoming a hot-button issue in the health-care reform ... More >>

Helio Castroneves Strikes Back

After a year of dodging tax charges, Miami's fastest driver takes the Indy 500.

Castroneves Acquitted

Two days after everyone paid taxes, and thousands protested this basic fact, one guy got off free on charges of evading his taxes. Indianapolis 500 and Dancing With The Stars champion Helio Castroneves was acquitted on tax evasion charges. Castroneves was charged last October with failing to report ... More >>

State Stem Cell Funding Ban Upheld

Last month President Obama repealed the ban on federal funding on stem cell research, but that doesn't necessarily open the door to state funding. Yesterday, the state house voted to keep language in a bill that would bar universities from using state money for embryonic stem cell research 68-46. Th ... More >>

Floridians Favor Some Sort of Legal Recognition for Gay Couples, Despite Banning Marriage in the Constitution

It was pretty evident to anyone with basic reading comprehension skills that the part of Amendment 2 that read, "no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized," would ban civil unions in the Florida Constitution. Florida voters pa ... More >>

Lobbyist Ron Book Tries to Tackle the Housing Crisis

Maybe he can rent us a room in his $2.2 million pad in Plantation.

Banana Republican - Transit Follies

Pretty in the City – Blow Your Tax Rebate Out With a Bang

Beenie Man

Alex Daoud’s Election Day

Forget the runoff between Matti and Simon. Mayor Alex is the man.

Christmas in Key West

Why Americans Get Their News From Jon Stewart

Are Newspapers Pocketing Illegal Taxes?

To IRS With Love

The restaurateur and candidate for county mayor has had major money problems

Cows to Cuba

A South Florida rancher is using bovine diplomacy to improve relations with the island nation

The Will Adams Embargo

The sad saga of how the feds hounded a senior citizen over, what else, Cuba

The Deep Blue Greed

The Arison clan built Carnival into a money machine by cleverly avoiding tax laws

If El Exilio Doesn't Get You, Uncle Sam Will

Cuban salsero Issac Delgado played Miami without incident. Then the government accused him of breaking the law.

All Herald BrandsMart

Clinical Depression

Hounded by budget crises, unflattering audits, and general gripes about management, the Economic Opportunity Family Health Center circles the wagons

As Nasty as They Can Possibly Be

It's Only Money

Owing to bureaucratic bad judgment, Miami Beach taxpayers will have to pay (and pay, and pay) for the city's vaunted new parking garage

In the Dead of the Night

While you were sound asleep, the Dade County Commission spent hundreds of millions of your dollars. Aren't you glad they didn't bother to wake you?

Money for Something

That's the Way the Check Bounces

Thanks to executive order 12922, some Haitian students face the prospect of being kicked out of local colleges for failure to pay tuition