Select Media Mentions
Wall Street Journal: New Jersey Is Latest State to Push Tax Relief Despite Economic Uncertainty
February 28, 2023
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy on Tuesday will propose another $2 billion in property-tax rebate checks as part of a $53 billion state budget, a state treasury official said, making it the latest state to push ahead with tax-relief proposals despite recession concerns. Measures under discussion in more than a dozen states vary widely but the trend cuts […]
New York Times: I.R.S. Decision Not to Tax Certain Payments Carries Fiscal Cost
February 27, 2023
More than 20 state governments, flush with cash from federal stimulus funds and a rebounding economy, shared their windfalls last year by sending residents one-time payments. This year, the Biden administration added a sweetener, telling tens of millions taxpayers they did not need to pay federal taxes on those payments. Read more.
Kansas Reflector: Kansas Senate Flat Tax Would Cut $1 for Low-Wage Earners, Hand Windfall to Top 1%
February 22, 2023
A flat tax plan moving through the Senate is structured to provide minimal relief to low-income Kansans while granting a windfall to high wage earners. Read more.
Fortune: More Than Half of States are Considering Personal Income Tax Cuts This Year
February 15, 2023
State governments are still flush with cash from federal COVID-19 aid dollars and increased revenues. And more than half are considering using those budget surpluses to institute or accelerate tax cuts for residents. Read more.
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.
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