Maine Center for Economic Policy: Now is the Time for Tax Reform: Can LD 1088 Deliver?

January 14, 2013

Taxes are central to our individual and collective well-being. Taxes provide the revenue that supports the physical infrastructure, the education, health care, and environmental protections that we have collectively decided are essential to keep our communities and families thriving. Still, the way government collects taxes has significant implications for the reliability and fairness of the […]

Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families: Unbalanced: How the Arkansas Tax and Budget System is Hurting Low-and Middle-Income Families

January 14, 2013

Alabama Arise: The 2009 Tax Fairness Amendment: Answers to Some Common Questions

January 14, 2013

Answers to some frequently asked questions about the 2009 Tax Fairness Amendment. Read the Full Report (PDF)

California Budget Project: Uncharted Waters: Navigating the Social and Economic Context of California’s Budget

January 14, 2013

Read the Original Full Powerpoint

Wisconsin Budget Project: Taxation of Capital Gains Income

January 14, 2013

Wisconsin is one of nine states that provide a broad tax break for capital gains. That tax exclusion has become a key budget issue after the state Senate voted on June 17 to eliminate the tax break for such income, in lieu of creating a new oil company tax. The Governor and Assembly recommended smaller […]

Public Assets Institute: A Balanced Way to Balance the Budget

January 14, 2013

In the end, the Vermont Legislature found a balanced solution to balancing the state budget for fiscal year 2010, which begins July 1. After a gubernatorial veto—the first budget veto in the state’s history—and a dramatic override in a special session on June 2, lawmakers put in place a budget that uses a combination of […]

Oregon Center for Public Policy: Will Poor, Working Families Be Roadkill?

January 14, 2013

The Jobs and Transportation Act’s Regressive Tax and Fee Increases Will Set Back Low-Income Working Families With Children Unless the Legislature Enacts a Modest EITC Expansion Read the Full Report (PDF)

North Carolina Budget and Tax Center: The House Budget: Deteriorating Revenue Picture Forces Tough Decisions

January 14, 2013

Members of the House of Representatives faced a daunting task when they began to craft their proposed two-year budget. In the weeks after the Senate voted on its budget, the revenue forecast for fiscal year 2009-10 (FY09-10) dropped by $1.35 billion. The House’s options for balancing the budget dropped further when Governor Beverly Perdue tapped […]

North Carolina Budget and Tax Center: The Estimated Impact of the Senate’s Proposed Modernization Plan

January 14, 2013

The Senate Finance Committee’s proposed tax modernization plan would require an additional 0.3% of income ($32 average annually) from the lowestincome earners, 0.1% of income ($32 average annually) from middle-income taxpayers and 0.1% of income ($958 average annually) from the highest 1% of income-earners. The plan would improve stability and long-term revenue adequacy, but additional […]

Louisiana Budget Project: Eliminating State Income Tax: Good for Whom?

January 14, 2013

Several bills introduced in the current regular legislative session would eliminate Louisiana’s state income tax, without mandating any replacement revenues. Adoption of any of these measures would be detrimental to the state’s future. Ending the state income tax would cause a reduction in many services provided by the state or to mitigate significant destabilization of […]

Connecticut Voices for Children: Fiddling While Rome Burns: Connecticut’s Multi-Million Dollar, Money Losing Subsidy to the Entertainment Industry

January 14, 2013

While intended to spark a home-grown entertainment industry in Connecticut, Connecticut Voices’ analysis of recently-released data from the Commission on Culture and Tourism shows that the tax credits have largely been subsidizing out-of-state personnel and businesses. Data in a spreadsheet provided to a General Assembly subcommittee looking at tax credits showed that only 11% of […]

North Carolina Budget and Tax Center: The Dead Tax Plan: Just How Regressive Would it Have Been?

January 14, 2013

The proposed $1 billion compromise tax plan released the week of July 20th featured a 1-cent sales tax increase and 2% personal income tax surcharge. This plan, if enacted, would have required three times more, as a share of income, of the state’s lowest-income families than of the state’s top 1% of income-earners. Read the […]

Kansas Action for Children: The Kansas Budget Gap: How Did it Happen and Who Gets Hurt?

January 14, 2013

As is the case in any state, Kansas revenue and budget circumstances vary from year to year depending on a number of factors, including the health of the economy, the cost of providing state services and unforeseen expenses due to natural disasters or litigation. However, the budget shortfalls seen in Kansas recently are the result […]

Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center: Keeping Score: More Pennsylvania Businesses are Losers Under the Single Sales Factor

January 14, 2013

Budget negotiators are considering adopting the Single Sales Factor (SSF)1, a targeted tax break promoted by a small group of Pennsylvania corporations. The SSF would cost the Pennsylvania Treasury around $100 million, when the state has a billion dollar deficit, and is facing large cuts in libraries, hospitals and services for children and vulnerable people. […]

New Mexico Voices for Children: Revenue Generators

January 14, 2013

The current debate over immigration – and particularly over immigrants without legal residency status – often centers on whether or not this group of people contributes to the economy or diminishes it. A 2006 Fiscal Policy Project report, “Undocumented Immigrants in New Mexico: State Tax Contributions and Fiscal Concerns,” concluded that undocumented immigrants contribute more […]

Maine Center for Economic Policy: TABOR II: A Danger to Maine’s Economy, Communities, and People

January 14, 2013

After soundly rejecting TABOR I in 2006, this November Maine voters will face another TABOR initiative. Despite claims by proponents that TABOR I’s many flaws have been corrected, TABOR II contains all of the central elements that made the original proposal so dangerous for Maine’s economy, communities, and people. In fact, in important respects, TABOR […]

Connecticut Voices for Children: Connecticut’s Unified Gift and Estate Tax: A Key Source of Revenue That Makes Connecticut’s Tax System More Fair

January 14, 2013

The Governor has proposed eliminating the unified gift and estate tax. As part of her most recent package of proposed budget changes to balance the State Fiscal Year 2010-2011 (SFY 10-11) budgets, the Governor has proposed eliminating the “inheritance tax” effective January 2010. 1 This repeal not only would reduce General Fund revenues by $85 […]

Rhode Island Poverty Institute: Tax Incentive Disclosure and Accountability

January 14, 2013

“During the 2008 General Assembly session, legislation was enacted to require greater disclosure and accountability of tax credits received by corporations. The legislation required that information about six tax credits be released in three phases. Phase One, just released for the second year in a row by the Rhode Island Department of Revenue, lists the […]

Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center: Sales Taxation of Admission to Cultural Events Across the U.S.

January 14, 2013

The 2009-10 Pennsylvania state budget agreement announced in principle by the lawmakers includes a proposal to eliminate the sales tax exemption currently in place for admissions to cultural events (live theater, concerts, opera, ballet, museums and other similar activities).1 Removing this exemption is projected to raise approximately $100 million per year in new tax revenue. […]

California Budget Project: COTCE Proposals Would Increase Budget Gaps, Tax Low- and Middle-Income Californians

January 14, 2013

The core of the COTCE proposals would reduce the state’s reliance on the personal income tax by reducing the number of rates and the maximum tax rate, eliminate the corporate income tax and the state’s share of the sales and use tax, and replace the revenues lost by imposing a new business net receipts tax […]

California Budget Project: Fatally Flawed: What Would the Commission on the 21st Century Economy’s Recommendations Mean for California?

January 14, 2013

Read the Original Power Point Presentation

DC Fiscal Policy Institute: Expanding the District’s Sales Tax Can Raise Revenue, While Increasing Tax Fairness

January 14, 2013

In response to the most recent revenue shortfall, the DC Council voted in July 2009 to raise the District’s sales tax rate from 5.75 percent to 6 percent. Raising revenue is important to ensure that DC can continue to provide education, transportation, and other critical services during this economic downturn. As policymakers approach future revenue […]

Oregon Center for Public Policy: A Step Toward Balance: Measures 66 and 67 Move Oregon Closer to a Tax System Based on Ability to Pay

January 14, 2013

Today, low-income Oregonians pay a larger share of their income in state and local taxes than wealthy Oregonians. In fact, the highest-income Oregonians pay the lowest share of their income in state and local taxes. In addition to raising needed revenue, Measures 66 and 67 begin to address this imbalance. Facing a revenue crisis brought […]

Policy Matters Ohio: Tapping Top Earners to Meet Ohio’s Needs

January 14, 2013

In order to balance the Ohio state budget, Gov. Ted Strickland has proposed temporarily restoring the last year of a five-year, 21 percent income-tax cut approved in 2005. This October 2009 report examines the effects of implementing the governor’s proposal together with two other measures that would raise income-tax rates on the most affluent: Restoring […]

DC Fiscal Policy Institute: Tell It Like It Is: Combined Reporting Improves DC’s Tax System By Making Corporations Disclose Their Profits and Pay Their Fair Share

January 14, 2013

Mayor Fenty and the DC Council recently approved an important reform to the District’s corporate income tax which will prevent large corporations from avoiding taxes. The law, known as “combined reporting,” is recognized by economists and tax experts as the most comprehensive way for states to stop corporations from abusing tax shelters. A majority of […]