Select Media Mentions
Yahoo Finance: Stock Buybacks Have Surged in the Weeks Since Washington Began Taxing Them
February 13, 2023
A new excise tax on stock buybacks went into effect Jan. 1 and has been followed by what seems to be an unexpected development: corporate share repurchase announcements have exploded. Read more.
CBS News: States are Flush with Cash. It’s Setting Off ‘Tax Cut Fever.’
February 11, 2023
Even as the U.S. economy shows signs of slowing down, many states around the U.S. are flush with cash, with their so-called rainy day funds estimated to reach a record high of $136.8 billion this fiscal year. And lawmakers in more than half of states are responding to their new cash cushions with similar proposals: cutting taxes. […]
FiveThirtyEight: Congress’s U-Turn Has States Thinking About Giving Parents Cash
February 9, 2023
Last year, Congress walked away from what looked like one of the most effective fixes for child poverty in a generation. Now, state legislators are trying to walk it back. Lawmakers in at least 10 states are considering some new version of the expanded child tax credit, a federal program that lifted millions of children out of poverty but […]
Wall Street Journal: Top GOP Tax Legislator Says He’ll Boost Workers, Probe Companies
February 7, 2023
Rep. Jason Smith (R., Mo.), the House’s new top tax writer, is promoting an approach he says would favor working-class Americans over large corporations, a shift in tone from his predecessors that raises questions about companies’ ability to push tax cuts through Congress. Read more.
States Newsroom: States Take Heat for Spending Federal Relief Funds on Tax Cuts, Prisons
February 2, 2023
As states plan how they’ll spend the $25 billion remaining in federal COVID relief funds, some also are facing criticism and renewed scrutiny over how they allocated money already received from the American Rescue Plan Act. Read more.
Kansas Reflector: Analysis Show Kansas Chamber’s Flat Tax Proposal Costs $1.5B, Favors Top 20% of Wage Earners
January 30, 2023
Assessments by the Kansas budget director and an independent tax policy institute Monday showed the flat tax proposal by the Kansas Chamber would reduce the state budget by $1.5 billion per year and primarily benefit the state’s most affluent wage earners. Read more.
Center for Public Integrity: How Will a Divided Government Affect Taxes?
January 27, 2023
House Republicans want tax changes that experts say would increase inequality and aren’t likely to pass the Senate. In a gridlocked federal landscape, states may hold the key. Read more.
Idaho Statesman: A Warning About Cutting Taxes in States Like Idaho That are Flush with Cash
January 27, 2023
During his State of the State address this year, Idaho Gov. Brad Little quoted Lt. Gov. Scott Bedke’s piece of ranch family wisdom. “It won’t be the bad years that put you out of business; it’s what you did in the good years that sets you up for failure or success.” Flush with cash, too […]
The American Prospect: Reanimating the Taxman
January 26, 2023
At its core, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the federal government’s revenue collector and benefits administrator. Yet with Congress inclined to run virtually every function of the government through the tax code in some form, the agency is equivalent to the central processing unit of every electronic device on the planet. Read more.
Wisconsin Examiner: Tax Analyst Says Flat-Rate System Will Benefit Wealthy at the Expense of the Majority
January 26, 2023
The wealthiest Wisconsin residents already pay a smaller share of their incomes in state taxes than the rest of the population, and replacing the state’s current graduated-rate income tax structure with a flat tax would increase that disparity, a national tax expert says. Read more.
Newsweek: The GOP’s 30 Percent Sales Tax Plan Is Tearing the Republican Party Apart
January 26, 2023
Republicans in the House of Representatives appear divided over a proposed national sales tax that would replace income taxes, with Democrats using the issue to attack the GOP. Read more.
Yahoo Money: The Fair Tax Act Aims to Abolish the IRS and Set a National Sales Tax. Here’s How It Would Work
January 25, 2023
Imagine this: Instead of paying federal taxes to the IRS, you pay them to your local cafe every time you buy a latte or to your supermarket when you make a grocery run — or to countless other businesses when you make purchases. Read more.
Yahoo News: Flat Income Taxes: Who Are the Biggest Winners and Losers?
January 25, 2023
From Kansas to Wisconsin to Nebraska, the conversation surrounding a flat tax has picked up as of late, with more state legislators pushing for as much. Read more.
KUOW Seattle: WA Democrats Join Nationwide Rollout of ‘Wealth Tax’ Proposals
January 20, 2023
Washington state Democrats Sen. Noel Frame and Rep. My-Linh Thai announced legislation Thursday to create a state wealth tax on financial assets in excess of $250 million. They say it could generate an estimated $3 billion per year to fund housing and education, and decrease the tax burden on working-class people. Read more.
CBS News: As Tax Season Nears, a Backlogged IRS Faces GOP Push to Stamp It Out
January 13, 2023
The IRS is gearing up for another tax season amid a slew of challenges, according to a new report. Most pressing is the need to upgrade its “antiquated” systems and hire more workers to provide better service, a watchdog group within the IRS found. Yet the agency’s leadership also faces another test: repelling the latest […]
Newsweek: Wealthy Tax Cheats Set To Benefit From Republicans’ Defunding of IRS
January 10, 2023
Now that Kevin McCarthy has finally been elected House speaker, and a new congressional term sworn in, the GOP has already voted on one of its key promises made during last year’s midterm elections: to target the Internal Revenue Service. Read more.
Governing: The Biggest Issues to Watch in 2023
January 10, 2023
State coffers are overflowing, but inflation could put a pinch on spending plans and tax cuts. The labor market remains tight just when the demand for more teachers is skyrocketing. And then there are the ongoing culture wars. Welcome to 2023. Read more.
Vox: The Ultrarich are Getting Cozy in America’s Tax Havens at Everyone Else’s Expense
January 4, 2023
More states are slashing or eliminating taxes, lessening the burden mostly for the wealthy. What does that cost the rest of us? Read more.
Los Angeles Times: You’re Not Getting Child Tax Credit Checks Anymore. Here’s Why
January 3, 2023
If you raised children during the pandemic, you probably remember something remarkable: getting checks in the mail, every month, from the federal government. The expanded child tax credit provided a few hundred dollars to help pay for your son’s braces or your daughter’s ballet lessons — or to ease the stress over whether you had […]
The Hill: Trump Tax Returns Raise Alarms About Fairness of US Tax Code
January 3, 2023
A preliminary review of the thousands of pages of Donald Trump’s tax returns released by a key congressional committee on Friday confirms that the former president was using business losses in the tens of millions of dollars to reduce his annual tax liability, in some cases all the way down to zero. Read more.
Albany Times Union: Ending Poverty Will Take a New Look at Wealth, Too
January 2, 2023
We would do well to remember the millions of families in New York that were already experiencing the storms of poverty, inequality and policy violence, not to mention those who have nowhere safe to celebrate the holidays. Read more.
Seattle Times: Proliferation of GoFundMes Reveals a Dirty Little Open Secret
January 2, 2023
This time of year, we find ourselves touched by the generosity, grace and kindness of people helping people. Extending ourselves to others reveals the best of who we are as humans, and that emerges so clearly during the holiday season. Yet as moved as I often am by the ways people show up for each […]
Yahoo Finance: These 23 Companies Got $50 Billion in Tax Breaks Due to a Trump Tax Law
December 24, 2022
The government spending bill that was just passed through the Senate and awaits approval from Congress is estimated to total nearly $1.7 trillion. While it will fund a variety of initiatives like aid to Ukraine and enhanced retirement savings, it will not extend “accelerated depreciation” tax breaks, which were initiated during the Trump administration and seen by […]
Hawaii Public Radio: Report: State could slash child poverty in half with new tax credit
December 20, 2022
The child tax credit has been available at the federal level since 1997. Before 2021, families were able to take advantage of a $2,000 credit per child. Under the American Rescue Plan, the credit was expanded to $3,000 per child between the ages of 6 and 17, and $3,600 for every child under 6 years […]
Pluribus News: States Advance Child Tax Credits as Congress Deliberates
December 15, 2022
Lawmakers in Connecticut, New York and several other states want to expand tax breaks for families with children next year, inspired by a 2021 federal tax credit that dramatically reduced child poverty. Read more.
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