The Providence Journal: Study says Rhode Island is one of 10 states with highest taxes on poor
media mentionJanuary 30, 2013 12:01 am
By Katherine Gregg
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — As the tax debate begins anew at the State House, a new study has identified Rhode Island as one of ten states with the highest taxes on the poor.
The poorest Rhode Islanders paid 12.1 percent of their income in state and local income, sales and property taxes in 2010. The top 1 percent paid 6.4 percent, according to a newly-released study by the non-partisan, liberal Institute on Taxation & Economic Policy.
“Fairness is, of course, in the eye of the beholder,” the study’s authors acknowledged. “Yet almost anyone would agree that the best-off families should pay at a tax rate at least equal to what low- and middle-income families pay.”
Kate Brewster, executive director of The Economic Progress Institute in Rhode Island, viewed the report as ammunition for the campaign by labor and others to convince state lawmakers to ask the wealthy to “pay a little more.” Advocates are drafting a bill that would raise the top rate from 5.99 percent to 7.9 percent on those whose household income tops $250,000.