States
PT Leader: Taxes-Actually, Our State’s Most Unfair of All 50
June 29, 2015
Washington is not, as we are often led to believe, the cat’s meow when it comes to being liberal and progressive—despite its perceived leading role in a growing movement toward a 15% minimum wage. Time did not dream this all up, but was reporting on a study by the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic […]
Garden City Telegram: Wagle’s ‘Win’: Senate President Exhibits More Disconnect With Reality
June 29, 2015
An analysis from the nonpartisan Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy showed the wealthiest 1 percent of Kansans set to pay 1.9 percent less in taxes than in 2012, with the poorest 20 percent to pay 1.5 percent more. Read more
Columbus Dispatch: Gov. Kasich Praises Ohio Budget but Plans to Veto Some Measures
June 29, 2015
Flanked by two men who were not enamored of some of his highest-profile initiatives, Kasich praised Ohio’s new $71.2 billion, two-year budget as “good stuff” on Friday. The latest analysis from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy says the tax package will provide an average annual tax cut of $10,236 for the top 1 […]
NJ Today: Lesniak & Greenstein Propose Legislation to End Corporate Welfare
June 23, 2015
To close a loophole that has allowed multistate corporations to evade their fair share of taxes in New Jersey, Senator Raymond Lesniak and Senator Linda Greenstein today introduced legislation to enact a “combined reporting” tax law to put an end to the “corporate shell game” that costs the state hundreds of millions of dollars in […]
KCUR: Analysis Questions Fairness Of Kansas Tax System
June 23, 2015
Kansas already had the ninth-most regressive tax system in the nation, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The tax increase signed last week by Gov. Sam Brownback to balance the budget and end the longest legislative session in state history will make the system less fair to low- and middle-income Kansans, said […]
Newark Advocate: Tight Budget Deadline Leaves No Time for GOP Feuds
June 22, 2015
But Senate Republicans did add an extra income tax cut for about 1 million business owners. They wouldn’t have to pay income taxes on their first $250,000 in profits and would pay a 3-percent tax on income above that. Senators also added a 40-cent increase on a pack of cigarettes and increased taxes on other […]
Corvallis Gazette-Times: Driving Change: Oregon Will Start Rolling Out an Experimental Road User Fee Next Month
June 22, 2015
Both Congress and state legislatures have been reluctant to increase tax rates. Oregon last raised its gas tax in 2011, while the federal gas tax has been unchanged since 1993. At the same time, transportation construction costs have risen sharply — according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, they’re up 63 percent since […]
Vox: Bobby Jindal and Sam Brownback’s Ridiculous Tax Gimmicks, Explained
June 22, 2015
Brownback has been defiant. “Some would have you believe this bill represents a tax increase, and that is not accurate,” the governor said last week. “When looked at in totality, from 2012 to 2015, as I said at the outset, Kansans are paying less in taxes and continuing to move off income taxes to consumption-based […]
The Atlantic: Where Republicans Went Wrong in Kansas
June 22, 2015
Ask any fiscal expert, and Kansas’s budget crisis demanded a reckoning—either with its tax code or its longterm spending structure. But its government wasn’t up to it. Aligned with conservatives in the Senate, Brownback steadfastly refused to consider a direct reversal of the original tax plan, insisting that the state continue on its path toward […]
Washington Post: States are Racing to See Who Can Give Rich People a Bigger Tax Break on Their Yachts
June 22, 2015
It’s true that lower taxes might bring new customers into the market, which would be great for the yacht industry. Yet every dollar spent on new boats is a dollar that a rich customer isn’t spending on something else. Favoritism for yacht manufacturers and dealers helps them only at the expense of all the other […]
Sun Journal: A North Carolina Tax That is Too Taxing
June 22, 2015
Republican leaders in the state Senate are betting on sales-tax revenues to keep North Carolina’s government afloat for the next few years. It’s a bad bet for most ordinary Tar Heels. According to the nonprofit Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, folks making $40,000 or less per year already pay between 5 and 6 percent […]
Toledo Blade: Race to Budget Bottom
June 22, 2015
The three budget plans are competing to see which can offer the biggest, most unnecessary, and most unfair tax cut. The $71.3 billion budget bill approved this week by the Senate includes $1.7 billion in net income tax reductions for individuals and small businesses — more than the House budget provides, but less than Governor […]
Littleton Independent: Momentum Grows for Earned Income Credit
June 19, 2015
More than one in seven Massachusetts families benefits from the Earned Income Tax Credit, and the impact is even greater in many urban communities. The current state Earned Income Tax Credit in Massachusetts is worth 15 percent of the federal credit, up to $921 for income-eligible taxpayers with three or more children. Among the states […]
The Topeka Capital-Journal: Gov. Sam Brownback: Tax Package Not a Tax Increase
June 18, 2015
The Washington-based Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, which is critical of the policy, said according to its analysis the poorest 20 percent of Kansans will pay about $197 more in taxes in 2015 than they would have without both the 2012 tax cuts and 2015 tax hike. In addition, the analysis found that the […]
Lawrence Journal-World: Brownback Signs Budget; Claims Success in 2015 Session
June 18, 2015
According to the administration, without the tax bills passed this year, Kansans would pay $1.06 billion less in income and sales taxes than they would have before the 2012 tax cuts were enacted. The legislation passed this year raises $338 million in sales and income taxes, leaving a net savings of $729 million. But the […]
Inquisitr: Kansas Raises Taxes On The Poor To Pay For Wealthy Tax Cuts
June 18, 2015
Meg Wiehe from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy told the Washington Post that only the rich have incomes that are growing. “Kansas has really shifted the responsibility for paying for taxes from those at the top with the most income, where income is growing, to those at the very bottom of the income […]
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Kansas Governor Says Deficit Plan is Not a Tax Increase
June 18, 2015
“Brownback, his top aides and their legislative allies have argued repeatedly that cuts in income tax rates benefited all classes of taxpayers. The governor noted that one provision of this year’s tax legislation will exempt 388,000 low-income Kansans, starting in 2016. But a new analysis Tuesday from Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonpartisan […]
KWCH: Brownback Says Tax Plan is Not an Increase, Critics Disagree
June 18, 2015
“The vast majority of 2.8 million Kansans are doing worse,” Ward said. “They’ve had their taxes increased twice in the last three years.” Ward said the sales tax increases in recent years have outweighed any income tax cuts meaning poor people are paying more. A study from The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy out […]
TPM: Brownback: Despite Sales Tax Hike, It’s ‘Not Accurate’ That We’re Raising Taxes
June 18, 2015
Brownback, his top aides and their legislative allies have argued repeatedly that cuts in income tax rates benefited all classes of taxpayers. The governor noted that one provision of this year’s tax legislation will exempt 388,000 low-income Kansans, starting in 2016. But a new analysis Tuesday from Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonpartisan […]
Kansas City Star: Brownback Continues Defense of 2012 Kansas Tax Cuts, Which He Says Exceed 2015 Tax Hikes
June 18, 2015
Brownback contends that all taxpayers have benefited from the cuts. Critics say that wealthier Kansans gained most directly. And an analysis Tuesday from Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonpartisan but left-leaning policy group, said the poorest 20 percent of the state will pay 1.5 percent more in taxes than they did in 2012, […]
KWCH: More Kansans May Need Help Due to Higher Sales Tax Costs
June 18, 2015
Kansans who make the least often pay more of their income on taxes. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy says anyone who make less than $20,000 a year pays about 11% of their income on taxes. The percentage drops a bit for those making up to $94,000. Those who make the most, around $440,000 […]
KWCH: New Tax Law; Who Pays Less, More
June 18, 2015
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonpartisan, left-leaning group based in Washington D.C., ran the numbers and projects the poor will pay more, while the rich will pay less. Here’s how their numbers break down when considering the tax changes in the last four years. The 20 percent of Kansans who make less […]
U.S. News and World Report: Kansas Gov. Brownback Says Sales and Cigarette Tax Rises Are Not Tax Increases
June 18, 2015
But a new analysis Tuesday from Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonpartisan but left-leaning policy group based in Washington, said the cumulative effects of the changes in tax policy since 2012 have benefited the state’s wealthiest residents the most, while increasing taxes for its poorest residents. The analysis posted online said the poorest […]
Wichita Eagle: Brownback Signs Budget and Tax Bills, Defends Tax Policies
June 17, 2015
TOPEKA — Gov. Sam Brownback says a plan increasing sales and other taxes does not count as a tax increase because it comes on the heels of income tax cuts passed three years ago. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a liberal-leaning think tank that has criticized Brownback’s policies, released an analysis hours later […]
Testimony: Adding Sustainability to the Highway Trust Fund
June 17, 2015 • By Carl Davis
The federal Highway Trust Fund (HTF) is the single most important mechanism for funding maintenance and improvements to the nation's transportation infrastructure. Absent Congressional action, however, the HTF will face insolvency at the end of July. Unfortunately, despite the critical importance of infrastructure to the U.S. economy, the condition of the HTF has been allowed to deteriorate to the point that imminent insolvency has become entirely normal.
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