{"id":2451869,"date":"2025-06-25T13:47:59","date_gmt":"2025-06-25T17:47:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/blue-state-democrats-taylor-swift-tax-proposal-triggers-backlash\/"},"modified":"2025-06-25T13:51:34","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T17:51:34","slug":"blue-state-democrats-taylor-swift-tax-proposal-triggers-backlash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/blue-state-democrats-taylor-swift-tax-proposal-triggers-backlash\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue State Democrats&#8217; &#8216;Taylor Swift Tax&#8217; Proposal Triggers Backlash"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fblue-state-democrats-taylor-swift-tax-proposal-triggers-backlash%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2451869&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>In Rhode Island, a controversial tax increase, dubbed the &#8220;Taylor Swift Tax,&#8221; is causing widespread discontent among homeowners, particularly those who do not reside year-round in the state. This tax would be applied to homeowners with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/france-germany-and-luxembourg-seize-assets-of-lebanon-central-bank-chief\/\" title=\"France, Germany and Luxembourg Seize Assets of Lebanon Central Bank Chief\">properties valued<\/a> over a million dollars and is intended to address state budgetary needs, especially in healthcare. Critics, including the Rhode Island Association of Realtors, argue that this tax unfairly targets high-value second homes, creating a burden on the housing market. Even individuals without properties in Rhode Island, like Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, express concern about the precedent this tax could set for other municipalities. The state government, however, defends the decision as necesary for generating revenue without overburdening working families. Additionally, there are alarms about a 63% increase in the conveyance tax for home sellers, further complicating the real estate landscape in Rhode Island.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC4)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>Given her ubiquity and worldwide fame, you&rsquo;d think that any association with pop czarina Taylor Swift would generally be a popular or well-received one.<\/p>\n<p>(<a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/nfl-fans-enraged-league-displays-taylor-swift-star-players-bizarre-post\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Disgruntled NFL fans<\/a> notwithstanding.)<\/p>\n<p>Democrat-run Rhode Island is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trumps-granddaughter-commits-to-miami-for-golf-sends-heartfelt-thank-you-to-her-grandpa\/\" title=\"Trump&#039;s Granddaughter Commits to Miami for Golf, Sends Heartfelt Thank You to Her Grandpa\">learning &#038;mdash<\/a>; in real-time &mdash; that that&rsquo;s simply not the case.<\/p>\n<p>Especially when Swift&rsquo;s name is being unofficially plastered on a <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >deeply unpopular tax increase<\/a> that would hit homeowners who are not year-round occupants of their Rhode Island home.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;This <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/maga-unforgiving-trump-blasts-taylor-swift-comments-super-bowl-crowd-booing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Taylor Swift<\/a> Tax is not a &lsquo;tax the rich&rsquo; tax even though it sounds like it,&rdquo; President of the Rhode Island Association of Realtors Chris Whitten told <a href=\"https:\/\/turnto10.com\/news\/local\/rhode-island-realtors-sound-the-alarm-on-proposed-taylor-swift-tax-conveyance-tax-budget-housing-market-selling-home-not-occupied-homeowners-june-16-2025\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">WJAR<\/a>. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrats-push-for-student-debt-forgiveness-would-cost-taxpayers-millions\/\" title=\"Democrats push for student debt forgiveness, would cost ...payers millions\">yearly tax<\/a> on someone that owns a home whose assessed value is over a million dollars.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p> <script type=\"text\/javascript\"> \t\t\tif ( getCookie( \"ff_subbed\" ) ) { \t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"stnvideo\").remove() \t\t\t} else { \t\t\t\tdocument.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\", function() { \t\t\t\t\tfunction loadScript(src) { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst script=document.createElement(\"script\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.src=src; \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.async=true; \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.body.appendChild(script); \t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\tfunction findPreviousParagraph(selector, x) { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst targetElement=document.querySelector(selector); \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!targetElement) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Target element not found.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Get all <\/p>\n<p> elements in order as they appear in the document \t\t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphs=Array.from(document.querySelectorAll(\"p\"));  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the index of the last <\/p>\n<p> before the target element \t\t\t\t\t\tlet targetIndex=paragraphs.findIndex(p=> p.compareDocumentPosition(targetElement) & Node.DOCUMENT_POSITION_PRECEDING);  \t\t\t\t\t\tif (targetIndex===-1 || targetIndex <x) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Not enough paragraphs before the target element.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\treturn paragraphs[targetIndex - x]; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Set up IntersectionObserver \t\t\t\t\tfunction observeElement(element) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!element) return;  \t\t\t\t\t\tconst observer=new IntersectionObserver( \t\t\t\t\t\t\t(entries)=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tentries.forEach(entry=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tif (entry.isIntersecting) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log(\"Paragraph is now visible:\", entry.target.textContent.trim()); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tloadScript(\"https:\/\/embed.sendtonews.com\/player3\/embedcode.js?fk=s28Az7AY\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.disconnect(); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t}, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t{ threshold: 0.5 } \/\/ Adjust threshold as needed \t\t\t\t\t\t);  \t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.observe(element); \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the 1st paragraph before #stnvideo and observe it \t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphToObserve=findPreviousParagraph(\"#stnvideo\", 2); \t\t\t\t\tobserveElement(paragraphToObserve); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> <\/p>\n<p>Obviously, this tax is not taking direct aim at Swift (though, WJAR noted that Swift would have to cough up an additional $136,000 per year for her Rhode Island property under this new tax).<\/p>\n<p>Even homeowners who don&rsquo;t have Rhode Island properties are leery of other counties adopting a similar &ldquo;Swift Tax.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Barstool Sports founder <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/dave-portnoy-saves-struggling-pizza-shop-government-bureaucrats-last-possible-minute\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dave Portnoy<\/a> admitted he has no Rhode Island homes to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/media\/dave-portnoy-slams-blue-states-proposed-taylor-swift-tax-targeting-luxury-homeowners\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fox Business<\/a>, but he saw the potential ramifications.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Now, I don&rsquo;t have any houses in Rhode Island, but I got some pretty close to Rhode Island,&rdquo; Portnoy explained. &ldquo;So, I don&rsquo;t like those states getting the ideas.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Concerns from sports moguls and the Rhode Island Association of Realtors largely appears to be falling on deaf ears.<\/p>\n<p>State Speaker of the House Joe Shekarchi, a Democrat, made clear that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-ignominy-of-master-sergeant-timothy-walz\/\" title=\"The Ignominy Of Master Sergeant Timothy Walz\">tough &#038;mdash<\/a>; and potentially unpopular &mdash; budgetary decisions would be unavoidable.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;In order to address Rhode Island&rsquo;s crisis in health care, we needed to make tough decisions and find additional revenues in the budget to invest in primary care and Medicaid,&rdquo; Shekarchi told WJAR. &ldquo;I felt it was more equitable to increase the costs on second homes worth over a million dollars than increasing the tax burden on working Rhode Island families.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Whitten&rsquo;s not buying that line of thinking.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Please, don&rsquo;t take from our housing market at the moment to balance the budget for other items. It&rsquo;s going to be detrimental,&rdquo; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond the &ldquo;Taylor Swift Tax,&rdquo; Rhode Island realtors are also sounding the alarm on a flat 63 percent increase in the conveyance tax for home sellers.<\/p>\n<p>Whitten explained how, under the current conveyance tax, a $500,000 home would accrue about $2,400 in taxes.<\/p>\n<p>The conveyance tax increase would bump up that $2,400 figure by about $1,500.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* Name<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* <\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<label>* Message<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t<textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> \t\t<script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey==typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts={ \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs=[ 'name', '', 'message' ];  \t\t\t\t\tfor( var i=0; i <inputs.length; i++ ) if( ! ( opts[inputs[i]]=document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"' + inputs[i] + '\"]' ).value ) ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .required-message' ).style.display='block'; \t\t\t\t\t\treturn; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction input[type=\"submit\"]' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).src=firefly_loading_gif_url; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='inline-block';  \t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( 'ma subbing' );  \t\t\t\t\tif( firefly_post_id ) opts['post_id']=firefly_post_id;  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Send the data using post with element id name and name2*\/ \t\t\t\t\tvar posting=jQuery.post( firefly_ajax_url, opts );  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Alerts the results *\/ \t\t\t\t\tposting.done( function( response ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif( response.success ) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( response.data ); \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-confirm' ).style.display='block';  \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdataLayer.push( { 'event': 'submit-correction' } ); \t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> \t     \t\t\t\t\t\t     \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p style=\"border: 1px solid #f5f5f5; padding: 16px;\">Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/advertise-us\/?wj_source=article\">Advertise Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><script>console.log(\"ad slot (BA1)\")<\/script> \t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Given her widespread fame, one might assume that any connection to pop icon Taylor Swift would be generally well-received. However, Rhode Island, under Democratic leadership, is discovering that this isn&#8217;t always true-especially when Swift&#8217;s name is linked to an unpopular tax increase affecting homeowners who do not reside year-round in the state. Chris Whitten, President of the Rhode Island Association of Realtors, explained to WJAR that this &#8220;Taylor Swift Tax&#8221; isn&#8217;t aimed at taxing the wealthy as it may seem; rather, it&#8217;s an annual tax for homeowners with properties valued over a million dollars<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2451870,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/T-Swift.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[57892,38510,35697,57894,57893],"class_list":["post-2451869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-blue-state-democrats","tag-fiscal-policy","tag-political-backlash","tag-tax-proposal","tag-taylor-swift-tax"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/T-Swift.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2451869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2451869"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2451869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2451877,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2451869\/revisions\/2451877"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2451870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2451869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2451869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2451869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}