Alabama
Montgomery Advertiser: While we wait, cost of immigration reform rises
November 6, 2013
Nov. 5, 2013 5:26 PM There are few states in the nation with as big a stake in immigration reform as Alabama. Immigrants make up a growing percent of Alabama’s population, and 4.6 percent of all business owners in Alabama are foreign-born. The state has everything to gain from a smoothly functioning immigration system, […]
Governing: Is Earmarking the Best Way to Fund Projects?
September 30, 2013
(Original Post) It’s not black and white, but understanding the pros and cons increases your chances of coming to the right answer for a particular project. BY: KATHERINE BARRETT & RICHARD GREENE | OCTOBER 2013 There are many issues in government management where things aren’t black and white, where gray is the color of the […]
Tax Expenditure Reports: A Vital Tool with Room for Improvement
August 14, 2013 • By Carl Davis
State and local tax codes include a huge array of special tax breaks designed to accomplish almost every goal imaginable: from encouraging homeownership and scientific research, to building radioactive fallout shelters and caring for "exceptional" trees. Despite being embedded in the tax code, these programs are typically enacted with tax policy issues like fairness, efficiency, and sustainability only as secondary considerations. Accordingly, these programs have long been called "tax expenditures." They are essentially government spending programs that happen to be housed in the tax code for ease of administration, political expedience, or both.
The Birmingham News: Don’t sell short the contributions, in culture and in taxes, that immigrants make in the U.S., Alabama
July 31, 2013
(Original Post) By Joey Kennedy on July 29, 2013 at 9:39 AM, updated July 29, 2013 at 11:54 AM Comprehensive immigration reform appears bogged down in the U.S. House. Imagine that — the one branch of government controlled by far-right, tea-party politicians can’t (won’t) get anything done. Still, the hope is that some how, some […]
Jackson Clarion Ledger: A Mississippi sales-tax holiday primer
July 26, 2013
(Original Post) If you’re looking to save money on many kinds of clothing and footwear – but not school supplies – then the next two days are for you. Friday and Saturday will mark this year’s installment of Mississippi’s sales tax holiday, in which the state’s 7 percent sales tax will be generally waived on […]
McClatchy-Tribune: States expand sales tax holidays beyond back-to-school items
July 22, 2013
Many states with back-to-school sales tax “holidays” are expanding them to cover almost any purchase, in addition to the usual kids’ clothing, shoes, books and school supplies. As schools and students replace ink and paper with pixels, some states are expanding their holidays to cover sales taxes on low-cost computers and tablets. These electronics […]
Stateline: States Expand Sales Tax Holidays Beyond Back-to-School Items
July 10, 2013
(Original Post) By Elaine S. Povich, Staff Writer A crowd of about 100 line up outside of the Apple Store in the Saddle Creek shopping center in Germantown, Tenn., to get a head start on last year’s tax free weekend. (AP) Many states with back-to-school sales tax “holidays” are expanding them to cover almost […]
Gulf Coast News Today: We are conservative, Republican, religious
July 8, 2013
Steve Flowers Inside the Statehouse A recent survey rated Alabama as the most conservative state in the Union. More than half of our residents describe themselves as politically conservative. The poll was done by the vaunted Princeton, New Jersey Gallup polling firm. Four of our sister states, Mississippi, South Carolina, Louisiana and Arkansas, also […]
The Barre Montpelier Times Argus: Kids count
June 28, 2013
June 28,2013 Once again Vermont finished high in the ranking of children’s well-being released earlier this week by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The foundation’s Kids Count survey of the states measures children’s well-being in 16 categories relating to economic well-being, health, education and family and community. These include categories such as the number […]
The Birmingham News: The tax you pay for what you use every day
June 18, 2013
(Original Post) By Mike D. Smith on June 14, 2013 at 4:49 PM, updated June 15, 2013 at 11:08 PM I know I can tell you to the cent what I gave Alabama Power last month. Same goes for my cellphone bill, car note and my apartment complex. All that really matters when we’re direct-depositing […]
Reno News & Review: It happens
May 23, 2013
(Original Post) By Dennis [email protected] This article was published on 05.23.13. Nevada has a crappy tax system. Here’s why. It was sweltering. Januaries in Carson City are cold, of course, but the Nevada Assembly hall was jammed with bodies and television lights. Even on a weekday evening people traveled to the capitol for these occasions. […]
New America Media: Data Reveals Immigrants’ Financial Contribution to States
May 17, 2013
(Original Post) Asian Journal, News Report, Posted: May 16, 2013 LOS ANGELES – In California, Asian and Hispanic immigrants pay nearly $30 billion in federal taxes, $5.2 billion in state income taxes, and $4.6 billion in sales taxes each year. In New York, immigrants are responsible for $229 billion in economic output in the state. […]
Alabama 13: Taxing the Dinner Table
May 10, 2013
Posted: May 09, 2013 6:25 PM EDT Updated: May 09, 2013 11:10 PM EDT By Jon Paepcke BIRMINGHAM, AL – With every bar code swipe, the numbers add up in Alabama. Did you know that for every dollar you spend on groceries four cents goes to the state? It’s true. Did you also know we […]
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: Strategies to Address the State Tax Volatility Problem
April 19, 2013
State revenues plummet in recessions, just when states can least afford the loss. Some proposals to address this flaw in state tax systems would change the systems’ structure — for instance, by replacing state personal income taxes with sales taxes — but wouldn’t solve the problem and would exacerbate others in state tax systems. States […]
The Lansing State Journal: Cutting earned income credit hits families
April 12, 2013
Apr. 12, 2013 12:45 PM Written by Gilda Jacobs is president and CEO of the Michigan League for Public Policy. Tax day is right around the corner — and if you are a hardworking family in a low-paying job, you may be in for a big surprise. That’s because in 2011 the Michigan Legislature slashed […]
Reno News & Review: Enough with myths. Here are some facts.
February 21, 2013
(Original Post) By Sheila Leslie This article was published on 02.21.13. “There’s a woman in Chicago. She has 80 names, 30 addresses, 12 Social Security cards and is collecting veteran’s benefits on four non-existing deceased husbands. And she is collecting Social Security on her cards. She’s got Medicaid, getting food stamps and she is collecting […]
Bristol Herald Courier: Non-wealthy Tennessee families face high tax burdens, report says
February 7, 2013
(Original Post) Posted: Wednesday, February 6, 2013 12:02 pm | Updated: 2:27 pm, Wed Feb 6, 2013. BRISTOL HERALD COURIER Posted on February 6, 2013 by Roger Brown BRISTOL, Tenn. – Poor and middle-class families in Tennessee spend nearly 12 percent and 9 percent, respectively, of their total income on taxes, according to a new […]
Anniston (AL) Star: Alabama makes the ‘Terrible Ten’ because we are not fair Read more: Anniston Star – Alabama makes the ‘Terrible Ten’ because we are not fair
February 4, 2013
by The Anniston Star Editorial Board Feb 04, 2013 A nonpartisan research organization in Washington, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, says Alabama’s system of taxation was placed on its list of states with the most regressive tax systems. Why are we not surprised? For years, tax experts have told the state’s legislative leaders […]
The Philadelphia Post: When it Comes to Taxes in Pennsylvania, It’s Good to be Rich
January 31, 2013
(Original Post) When everybody comes out to vote, (i.e. presidential elections) Pennsylvania’s a blue state. And at least in certain pockets, it behaves much like the northeastern liberal states the surround it, like New Jersey, Maryland, and New York. When it comes to taxation, however, it looks a lot more like Texas or Alabama. According […]
Business Insider: There’s A Reason Bill Gates And Jeff Bezos Both Call Washington State Home
January 31, 2013
(Original Post) Megan Durisin | Jan. 31, 2013, 3:43 PM Why does the wealthiest man in America live in Washington? The answer is in a report released this week by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Washington’s tax system is the most disjointed in the nation, leaving rich residents — including Bill Gates, the […]
Birmingham Business Journal: Alabama tax system lands in ‘terrible 10’
January 31, 2013
(Original Post) Jan 31, 2013, 2:21pm CST Staff Birmingham Business Journal Alabama has one of the nation’s 10 most regressive tax systems, according to a new report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The institute claims the lack of a graduated personal income tax and a reliance on sales and consumption taxes has […]
Knox News: TN Taxes Hardest on Middle and Low-income Families
January 31, 2013
Nashville, Tennessee – Like most state tax systems, Tennessee takes a much larger share from middle- and low-income families than from wealthy families, according to the fourth edition of Who Pays? A Distributional Analysis of the Tax Systems in All 50 States, released today by the Washington-based Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) and […]
MSNBC: And the rich pay less
January 30, 2013
(Original Post) By Laura Conaway – Wed Jan 30, 2013 4:05 PM EST Just about every state’s tax system treats the rich better than the poor, writes the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy in a new report today. The Institute says the states with the most regressive (read: unfair) tax plans are Washington State, […]
Arkansas Times: Who pays taxes?
January 30, 2013
(Original Post) Posted by Max Brantley on Wed, Jan 30, 2013 at 9:56 AM Arkansas is on the cusp of a Republican-led charge to reshape taxation. Where they don’t want to cut taxes, they want to dramatically reduce the burden on wealthy taxpayers, by reducing or eliminating the tax on unearned income and by reducing […]
CBS 42: Ala. among ‘Terrible 10’ most regressive tax states
January 30, 2013
(Original Post) BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — Low and middle-income Alabamians pay more than twice as much of their incomes in state and local taxes as the state’s richest households pay, according to a report released by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonpartisan research organization based in Washington, D.C. Alabama’s upside-down tax system […]
