Select Media Mentions
Yahoo Finance: Jeff Bezos Spent $237 Million On Florida Mansions — Billionaires Flock To ‘Upside Down’ Tax Haven Where Rich Pay Less Than Poor
May 20, 2024
The Sunshine State has become a magnet for billionaires seeking tax relief. Among the latest to join the trend is Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who has recently expanded his real estate holdings in Miami’s exclusive Billionaire Bunker area. Bezos’ acquisitions include three properties, bringing his total investment in the neighborhood to $237 million.
Forbes: California Is Not Actually a High-Tax State According To New Study
May 17, 2024
Depending on where you fall on the income scale, California may not actually be that high tax of a state. For many in the middle class and below, California may let you keep more of your hard-earned income than many other states, according to a new study, “Who Pays” from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). While California has the highest marginal tax rate in the nation at 13.3%, only some households pay this rate on their income. That doesn’t stop so-called low-tax states like Texas and Florida from blasting the tax policy of the Golden State.
Hawai’i Public Radio: Concerns Rise for Low-Income Families Over Legislature’s Recent Tax Cut Measure
May 16, 2024
Most Hawaiʻi residents will likely see lower income taxes next year due to a measure recently passed by the state Legislature. However, some advocates are concerned that those changes could also limit tax assistance for those who need it the most. Lawmakers are calling it the biggest tax cut in the state’s history: about $5 billion over the next five years.
WTAE: Commitment 2024: Fact-checking Former President Trump’s Claims in Interview
May 13, 2024
PITTSBURGH — During an interview with WTAE's sister station WGAL, former President Donald Trump made claims of getting record-breaking votes in Pennsylvania's 2024 primary, about the future of abortion in the courts, and concerning who benefited most from his tax cuts.
Mansion Global: Massachusetts Weighs Mansion Tax on $1 Million-Plus Homes
May 9, 2024
Massachusetts could join the growing number of cities and states with a mansion tax on high-value properties, as it considers a proposal to levy an additional transfer fee on commercial and residential sales above $1 million. Read more.
USA Today: Are California’s Taxes Really That High? Not If You’re of ‘Modest Means,’ Report Says
May 1, 2024
Whether it be that all Californians surf, live by the beach or only vote blue, there are a lot of assumptions about residents of the Golden State. Yet a new report is challenging one of the most widely held belief – that Californians shoulder the nation’s highest tax burdens. Read more.
Sacramento Bee: Is California Really a High-Tax State? New Findings Question That Claim
April 25, 2024
Maybe California is not such a high tax state after all — at least for lower income families. “For families of modest means, California is not a high tax state,” says a new study from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a liberal Washington research group. Read more.
NewsRadio WFLA: Poorest Floridians Taxed at Higher Rate than Richest Californians
April 24, 2024
Florida Policy Institute (FPI) and the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) released a study today that found California’s tax system is fairer than Florida’s.
The Atlantic: The Myth of the Mobile Millionaire
April 15, 2024
In 2010, as California was moving forward with plans to raise taxes sharply on million-dollar earners, opponents issued dire warnings that the hike would drive away entrepreneurs and cripple the state economy. “There’s nothing more portable than a millionaire and his money,” warned the ranking Republican on the state Senate’s budget committee. The tax hike passed anyway—and California’s share of the nation’s million-dollar earners actually grew, reaching 18 percent in 2021. (Californians make up just less than 12 percent of the overall population.) And yet, when California recently considered a proposal to impose a wealth tax on mega-rich households, even some Democrats echoed the same…
Yahoo Finance: US Cities’ Mansion Taxes See Mixed Results
April 15, 2024
When Los Angeles voters approved an extra tax last year on home sales over $5 million, officials projected annual revenue of $700 million to help alleviate the city's rampant homelessness crisis.
The American Prospect: The $6 Trillion Decision
April 15, 2024
Enormous amounts of presidential election messaging and coverage will unfurl between now and November 5. You will surely hear a lot about abortion, immigration, and inflation. You will hear about a fight for the future of American democracy. Even more likely, you’ll hear about polls, strategies to attract working-class and minority voters, or what one candidate said or tweeted or posted, or designated a surrogate to say or tweet or post. Oh, and court cases. Lots and lots of court cases. What you might not hear as much about are the stakes of the election’s outcome for all the money…
The Lever: Pfizer’s Massive Tax Dodge
April 15, 2024
While jacking up drug prices, Pfizer recently reported more than $27 billion in revenue from its U.S. sales in 2023. But the Big Pharma titan owes nothing in federal income taxes, despite being one of the most profitable pharmaceutical companies in the world. That’s largely thanks to existing loopholes and a 2017 tax law signed by former President Donald Trump.
Mother Jones: America’s 806 Billionaires Are Now Richer Than Half the Population Combined—a Lot Richer
April 11, 2024
Are you better off now than you were when Donald Trump was president? That’s a dumb question for Republicans to pose, because the answer by most measures would be, “Oh, heck yes!” But plenty of people feel otherwise, either because they are down a right-wing rabbit hole or because the poorer half of the population wasn’t doing […]
Money: These States Are Using Their Budget Surpluses to Give Tax Breaks to Residents
April 8, 2024
The most impactful changes in state taxes this year have come in the form of new or expanded tax credits targeted at families with children, according to Aidan Davis, state policy director at the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), a nonprofit, nonpartisan tax policy organization. “The first really incredible — and, I would say, positive — trend was that 18 states created or enhanced child tax credits or income tax credits in their states,” Davis says. Three of those states (Minnesota, Oregon and Utah) launched brand-new child tax credits, she says, with the remainder altering, and usually improving, existing credits.
Associated Press: Lawmakers in GOP-Led Nebraska Advance Bill To Raise Sales Tax
April 3, 2024
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — With no votes to spare, Nebraska lawmakers advanced a bill that would raise the state’s sales tax by 1 cent to 6.5% on every taxable dollar spent — which would make it among the highest in the country.
Capital & Main: Extreme Wealth Is on the Ballot This Year — Will Americans Vote to Tax the Rich?
April 3, 2024
On March 7, President Joe Biden reintroduced proposals to increase taxes on the wealthiest Americans and the nation’s most profitable corporations. The move virtually ensures that the nation’s extreme wealth inequality — more than one in four dollars in the country is held by a tiny sliver of households with a net worth over $30 million — will be part of the national election debate. But excessive wealth may take center stage in at least 10 states, ranging from Democratic bastions such as California, Hawaii and New York to swing states such as Nevada and Pennsylvania.
The Nation: Biden Should Channel His Inner FDR and Soak the Rich
March 13, 2024
There’s no risk and everything to gain politically. According to a Navigator Research poll from last month, 79 percent of registered voters favor higher taxes on billionaires and corporations. Only 16 percent are opposed. Democrats favor wealth taxes on billionaires by a 94-2 margin, independents by a 78-15 margin, Republicans by a 63-30 margin.
Sacramento Bee: California Families Could Save Thousands of Dollars From Proposed Child Tax Break. Here’s Why
March 12, 2024
President Joe Biden’s child tax credit plan would benefit millions of California parents, saving eligible families an average of $2,980, according to data from Washington’s Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.
Newsweek: What a Second Trump Term Means for Taxes
March 12, 2024
A second Donald Trump presidency would likely see another round of tax cuts targeted at the wealthy, similar to his 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, according to a prominent taxation expert and lawyer.
USA Today: What President Joe Biden Got Wrong (and Right)
March 11, 2024
Though President Joe Biden largely stuck to the facts during his third State of the Union address Thursday, on several occasions he overstated the truth, left out key context or was simply wrong.
Washington Post: Biden: Ban Deductions for Firms Paying Executives More Than $1 Million
March 7, 2024
President Biden will call for blocking corporations from deducting the costs of paying salaries over $1 million from their federal taxes in Thursday night’s State of the Union address, part of populist-oriented tax proposals in the speech as the 2024 campaign kicks off in earnest. Read more.
Yahoo Finance: Trump-Era Corporate Tax Cuts Boosted Investment, but Did Not Pay for Themselves
March 6, 2024
The corporate tax cuts included in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act helped boost business investment while delivering a small increase in worker pay, according to a new analysis published by the Bureau of Economic Research. The tax cuts did not, however, come anywhere close to paying for themselves, as their Republican proponents in Congress and the Trump administration insisted they would, and instead are costing the federal government more than $100 billion per year in lost revenues.
Route Fifty: States Move to Cut Grocery Taxes
March 4, 2024
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt on Tuesday signed a bill to eliminate the state’s sales tax on groceries. With the 4.5% tax gone, that leaves 11 states that impose a grocery tax—a number that is swiftly shrinking. Stitt called it the largest single-year tax cut in state history. Oklahoma will see more than $415 million less in revenue a year.
Deseret News: The Utah Legislature Approved Another Tax Cut. Here’s What Taxpayers Need to Know
March 4, 2024
Utah lawmakers dropped the state’s income tax rate again this year. The reduction in the individual and corporate state income tax rate from 4.65% to 4.55% adds up to nearly $170 million, slightly more than the amount set aside in December for an unspecified tax cut by the powerful Executive Appropriations Committee made up of legislative leadership. The higher price tag is due to updated revenue forecasts showing an anticipated increase in income tax collections and the Legislature’s longtime Republican supermajority left little doubt they intended to continue to lower the state income tax rate. A tax cut was announced as a top…
The Guardian: Private Equity Prepares for a Boon From Congress
March 4, 2024
Some of largest and most profitable companies in the US are primed to save billions of dollars from a congressional tax deal that critics say gives “billions in tax credits to the biggest corporations while giving pennies to middle-class children and families”. And private equity funds could be among the deal’s biggest beneficiaries, a Guardian analysis suggests. The tax cuts passed the House of Representatives at the end of January as part of an agreement that pairs handouts for businesses with a moderate expansion of the child tax credit. The Senate could vote on the bill over the coming weeks, and the White House has indicated that Joe…
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