
January 30, 2014 • By ITEP Staff
In the wake of the recession, policymakers at all levels of government adopted policies aimed at hastening the recovery and increasing financial security and opportunity. Cities, counties and states created programs that connected the “unbanked” to the financial mainstream, raised the minimum wage and even encouraged poor children to save for college—significantly increasing the […]
January 30, 2014
(Original Post) Health & Science 4:32 PM TUE JANUARY 28, 2014 By LYNN HATTER The Florida Retail Federation is gearing up for the 2014 legislative session by throwing its support behind a series of proposed sales tax holidays and proposals to expand the duties of pharmacists. Vice President Randy Miller says the group is behind […]
January 29, 2014
(Original Post) Posted: Saturday, January 25, 2014 6:45 am Brian Carlton [email protected] According to the Internal Revenue Service, an estimated 4 million teachers spent more than $1 billion paying for school supplies between 2010 and 2013. When those teachers go to fill out federal income tax forms next year, they won’t be able to include […]
January 27, 2014
(Original Post) That group pays more, would gain most from property tax trim By Jason Stein and Patrick Marley of the Journal Sentinel Jan. 24, 2014 Madison — The top 20% of Wisconsin wage earners — those making more than $88,000 a year and paying the most in taxes now — would receive 44% of […]
January 27, 2014
(Original Post) BETH BRAVERMAN The Fiscal Times January 24, 2014 Anyone who has a head start on tax planning this year knows that many Americans – particularly high earners – are paying a lot more in taxes this year. But while there’s no dodging federal taxes, the pinch of additional levies varies greatly depending on […]
January 27, 2014 • By ITEP Staff
The distribution of the tax cuts proposed by the Governor isn’t our chief concern about how he would use the projected state surplus. We’re primarily concerned that Governor Walker’s plan ignores holes in the current budget, and creates a deeper hole in the next one – boosting the structural deficit in 2013-15 to about $825 […]
January 24, 2014 • By ITEP Staff
The Missouri Senate Ways & Means Committee will hear three major tax bills this week. Though they differ in their components, each would drastically reduce state revenue, disproportionately benefit Missourians with the highest incomes, and fail to create jobs. MBP’s full analysis of the bills shows it would cost state services between $500 million and […]
January 24, 2014 • By ITEP Staff
Middle-income Nebraskans pay relatively low taxes compared to their counterparts in eight nearby states with similar economies and tax structures. A family earning the median family income in Nebraska ($63,442) would pay less in taxes than a similar family in all but two of these states – Colorado and Kansas. (Table 1) The other comparable […]
January 22, 2014
(Original Post) 18 JANUARY 2014 Compiled by Courier Staff It’s no secret that Wisconsin is in poor economic shape. Recent numbers indicate that the state is 38th in private sector job growth in the last two years. Despite Governor Scott Walker’s insistence that his Tea Party reforms are working, families in Milwaukee and across the […]
January 22, 2014
Jason Bailey Special to The Courier-Journal Gov. Steve Beshear announced in his State of the Commonwealth Address that he will propose a specific tax reform plan to the General Assembly. His leadership is welcome and is essential to building support for such an important issue. The big question now concerns the specifics of a […]
January 22, 2014
(Original Post) By BRIAN WALLSTIN A year after failing to agree on how to pay for a long list of road and bridge improvements, lawmakers will take another shot at bolstering the state’s chronically underfunded infrastructure this session. Several bills are on the table, including one that would channel proceeds from a casino into the […]
January 17, 2014
(Original Post) By Victor Geminiani 01/16/2014 Hawaii taxes our residents in poverty more heavily than all but three other states in the nation. Most of this regressivity is caused by our heavy reliance on the General Excise Tax (GET), which generates half of all revenues collected by the state. Sales and excise taxes are the […]
January 17, 2014
(Original Post) January 15, 2014 8:20PM Updated: January 16, 2014 7:28AM Those who think that offering tax incentives to corporations to keep them in our state should look at a study by the non-profit Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The study concludes that tax incentives not only are too costly for states but provide […]
January 17, 2014
(Original Post) by Patrick J. Natale January 17, 2014 Congress should act now to avoid a transportation fiscal cliff in 2015 Last month, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon) introduced the Update, Promote and Develop America’s Transportation Essentials (UPDATE) Act. The proposed bill lays out a clear roadmap on how to restore and modernize America’s surface transportation […]
January 15, 2014 • By ITEP Staff
Across-the-board income tax cuts will not boost Michigan’s economy but would contribute to rising income inequality, and further drain resources from public schools, community colleges, universities, health care and public safety—the very services that fuel economic growth. Despite claims that income tax cuts create economic growth, there is no evidence that they generate the […]
January 13, 2014 • By ITEP Staff
An across-the-board state income tax cut would be detrimental to New Jersey’s future because it would do nothing to create jobs and grow the economy while disproportionately helping those who need it least and eroding public capacity to invest in the true building blocks of job growth and a strong economy. The state’s finances are […]
January 13, 2014
(Original Post) BY JASON BAILEY January 12, 2014 Gov. Steve Beshear announced in his State of the Commonwealth address that he will propose a specific tax reform plan to the General Assembly in the coming weeks. His leadership is welcome and is essential to building support for such an important issue. The big question now […]
January 13, 2014
(Original Post) by WOLF D. FUHRIG Tax shelters are investments that reduce a person’s income tax liability. Home ownership, pension plans, and Individual Retirement Accounts may be interpreted as “tax shelters,” as long as funds in them are not taxed and if they are held within the required amount of time. The Internal Revenue Service […]
January 9, 2014
(Original Post) Thursday, January 09, 2014 Zeke Wright, GoLocalWorcester Contibutor While Massachusetts contributes a high percentage of transportation-related revenue toward roads, a new report show that road-related taxes and fees can’t keep pace with cost of upkeep in the Commonwealth. According to the data compiled by the Tax Foundation, tolls and user fees, fuel taxes, […]
January 6, 2014
(Original Post) January 02, 2014 12:00 am • By Doug Ross Indiana Gov. Mike Pence wants to eliminate the personal property tax for businesses, perhaps paying for it by increasing county income taxes. He’s also talking about a very modest state income tax break. At the same time, Indiana’s revenues haven’t kept pace with expectations. […]
January 6, 2014
Logan T. Carlson Central Wisconsin Sunday As the calendar flips to another year, there are rumblings in the State Capitol of Gov. Scott Walker considering idea of eliminating the state’s income tax in favor of shifting the state’s revenue toward a sales tax. No official proposal has been developed or released by Walker, but […]
January 6, 2014
(Original Post) By Michael Hiltzik January 5, 2014, 5:00 a.m. Here’s a business practice likely to keep booming in 2014: corporate extortion. We don’t mean extortion of corporations, as is practiced by Somali pirates or entrepreneurial Russians. We mean extortion by corporations. In this field the victims are taxpayers, and what makes it a beautiful […]
January 3, 2014 • By ITEP Staff
Governor Walker has said he is interested in eliminating the state’s income tax and raising the sales tax to make up for lost revenue, a move that would result in a tax increase for all but the wealthiest taxpayers. To replace the revenue lost by the income tax, the state sales tax rate would […]
January 3, 2014 • By ITEP Staff
The state budget approved in June limits eligibility for Ohio’s homestead exemption, but doesn’t do enough to focus the property-tax break on seniors who need it most. Read the Full Report
December 30, 2013
(Original Post) Without congressional action to extend state and federal tax deductions, 11 million taxpayers will lose $17 billion. By Jo Erickson | December 26, 2013 As the year ends nine federal tax provisions will expire, causing some to pay more in state and local sales taxes. Most critics agree that state and federal taxes […]