Connecticut
Hartford Business Journal: Legislative Panel Aims to Rethink CT’s Tax Code
November 17, 2014
But if the rich feel slighted, consider this: A study last year by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that lower- and middle-income residents pay a higher percentage of their wages to the income tax than do the wealthy. As if the panel’s charge wasn’t broad enough, it has one more thing to […]
Bloomberg BNA: Survey Says Higher Income Households Should Pay More
September 30, 2014
Using data from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), WalletHub then compared what Americans think is fair to the structure of state and local tax systems. ITEP estimates the total state and local tax burden of households at seven different points in the income distributions of each state (e.g., bottom 20 percent or […]
The Day: Tax-Free Shopping Starts Sunday in Connecticut
August 20, 2014
Connecticut’s annual sales-tax holiday coinciding with back-to-school shopping kicks off Sunday and runs through Aug. 23. The tax holiday primarily applies to clothing and footwear costing less than $300 per item. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, in an appearance to promote the tax holiday, said this week that the idea is to boost retail sales while […]
For much of the last century, estate and inheritance taxes have played an important role in helping states to adequately fund public services in a way that improves the progressivity of state tax systems. While many of the taxes levied by state and local governments fall most heavily on low-income families, only the very wealthy pay estate and inheritance taxes. Recent changes in the federal estate tax, however, culminating in the "fiscal cliff " deal of early 2013, have forced states to reevaluate the structure of their estate and inheritance taxes. Unfortunately, the trend of late has tended toward weakening…
The gasoline tax is the single largest source of funding for transportation infrastructure in the United States, but the tax is on an unsustainable course. Sluggish gas tax revenue growth has put strain on transportation budgets at the federal and state levels, and has led to countless debates around the country about how best to pay for America's infrastructure.
Connecticut Voices for Children: Making Children Visible in Connecticut’s Tax Code
May 21, 2014
This issue brief from the Fiscal Policy Center at Connecticut Voices for Children identifies a feature of the Connecticut tax system that effectively penalizes households with children, relative to households without kids. Across the country, nearly all states that have enacted an income tax have also enacted some form of tax exemption, deduction or credit […]
Connecticut Voices for Children: Pro-Family Tax Reform in Connecticut: A Roadmap for Improvement
May 16, 2014
This report from the Fiscal Policy Center at Connecticut Voices for Children compares Connecticut’s tax system to those of other states and finds: Connecticut is nearly alone among states in not making broad-based tax adjustments for families with dependent children. More than half of states with an income tax (24 of 41 states) offset the […]
The Record: The 5-cent solution – gas tax for New Jersey
March 24, 2014
(Original Post) MARCH 21, 2014, 4:53 PM LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 2014, 4:53 PM BY CARL DAVIS THE RECORD Carl Davis is senior policy analyst at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that works on federal, state and local tax policy issues. IF YOU WERE to ask five […]
The Day: Six firms paid less than 3% in state taxes
March 21, 2014
(Original Post) Published 03/21/2014 12:00 AMUpdated 03/20/2014 11:42 PM Six Connecticut-based companies, including General Electric, United Technologies, Northeast Utilities and Aetna, paid state taxes totaling less than 3 percent of their profits over the past few years, according to a new report. The report by Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute of Taxation and […]
The Garden Island: Licensed to drive
February 3, 2014
(Original Post) Bill would allow undocumented residents to acquire driver’s license Posted: Monday, February 3, 2014 2:00 am Tom LaVenture – The Garden Island LIHUE — Proposed legislation would amend state requirements to allow undocumented residents to qualify for a driver’s license in the interest of public safety, identification and insurance coverage. The “Safe and […]
Go Local Worcester: MA Residents Face Among Highest Transportation Costs in US
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, […]
Bloomberg: The Worldwide Leader’s Taxing Hypocrisy
December 30, 2013
(Original Post) By Kavitha A. Davidson Dec 27, 2013 4:38 PM ET What does Governor Dannel Malloy really get from keeping ESPN in Connecticut? It turns out professional teams and leagues aren’t the only billion-dollar sports entities getting big breaks on their tax bills. The New York Times reports that ESPN, the self-proclaimed “worldwide leader […]
Shreveport Times: Taxes – Where is Louisiana?
November 18, 2013
Nov. 15, 2013 Written by Tommy Williams Special to The Times Right now, inflation is not meeting expectations — and that may be a good thing. Critics of the prevailing monetary policy and low interest rates have predicted inflation will rise. Martin Feldstein, president of the National Bureau for Economic Research, explained in 2012 that […]
Personal Income Tax Reform: Improving the Fairness of Taxes in the District of Columbia
November 12, 2013 • By Carl Davis
DC's tax system is markedly regressive. This is driven largely by the regressive impact of the city's sales, excise, and property taxes. The personal income tax is the only effective tool that DC has available for offsetting this regressivity. In the comments below I discuss four options for fine-tuning DC's income tax to lessen its impact on moderate- and middle-income taxpayers. I also describe four options for funding those tax cuts with policies that would increase upper-income taxpayers' effective tax rates to be more in line with those paid by their less affluent neighbors.
Gas tax revenues are on an unsustainable course. Over the last five years, Congress has transferred more than $53 billion from the general fund to the transportation fund in order to compensate for lagging gas tax revenues. By 2015, the transportation fund will be insolvent unless an additional $15 billion transfer is made. Larger transfers will be needed in subsequent years.
New Census Bureau data released this month show that the share of Americans living in poverty remains high, despite other signs of economic recovery. The national 2012 poverty rate of 15 percent is essentially unchanged since 2010 , but still 2.5 percentage points higher than pre-recession levels. This means that in 2012, 46.5 million, or about 1 in 6 Americans, lived in poverty.1 The poverty rate in most states also held steady with five states experiencing an increase in either the number or share of residents living in poverty while only two states saw a decline.2
CT News Junkie: The Important Message of the Sales-Tax Holiday
August 16, 2013
It's that time of year again, folks. Not only are my kids gearing up for a much-needed return to school, but sales tax holidays are sprouting up like weeds across the land of the free.
The Middletown Press: States could see millions more in tax revenues with immigration reform
August 14, 2013
Throughout the past year, Connecticut was faced with tough choices in passing its budget, and it was forced to do so with tens of millions of dollars less in tax revenue than the state would have had if its undocumented immigrants had been part of the mainstream population.
The Boston Globe: Tax break is no holiday for Mass.
August 12, 2013
(Original Post) By Tom Keane | GLOBE CORRESPONDENT AUGUST 06, 2013 THERE ARE certain things our elected officials do that make easy pickings for a columnist, and right at the top of the list is the Bay State’s annual sales tax holiday. (Make that mostly annual; we skipped 2009). As July waned, the […]
Stateline: MA Joins Sales Tax Holiday Parade
August 2, 2013
Massachusetts is the 18th state to join the back-to-school tax holiday parade this year. The legislature has authorized a tax-free weekend to begin Aug. 10.
PBS: How Low Can They Go? Arthur Laffer Defends Slashing State Income Taxes
August 1, 2013
In this 2012 Making Sen$e report, former Reagan White House economic adviser Arthur Laffer drew his famous curve on a napkin -- just the way he did for the Ford administration -- and explained how it works.
McClatchy-Tribune: States expand sales tax holidays beyond back-to-school items
July 22, 2013
Many states with back-to-school sales tax “holidays” are expanding them to cover almost any purchase, in addition to the usual kids’ clothing, shoes, books and school supplies. As schools and students replace ink and paper with pixels, some states are expanding their holidays to cover sales taxes on low-cost computers and tablets. These electronics […]
New Haven Register: Reconfigure tax system for transportation
July 10, 2013
(Original Post) Published: Tuesday, July 09, 2013 Some middle-class and wealthy Connecticut people point to government aid programs and services and say that poor people get a lot for nothing. But the working poor pay about 11 percent of their income in taxes compared to a little less than that for middle-income payers and just […]
Stateline: States Expand Sales Tax Holidays Beyond Back-to-School Items
July 10, 2013
(Original Post) By Elaine S. Povich, Staff Writer A crowd of about 100 line up outside of the Apple Store in the Saddle Creek shopping center in Germantown, Tenn., to get a head start on last year’s tax free weekend. (AP) Many states with back-to-school sales tax “holidays” are expanding them to cover almost […]
The Philadelphia Inquirer: N.J. highways cost most, study says
July 8, 2013
(Original Post) By Paul Nussbaum, Inquirer Staff Writer POSTED: July 05, 2013 New Jersey’s roads may not be paved with gold, but they certainly are expensive. The state ranks highest in the nation in the cost of maintaining its roads, spending almost twice as much per mile as the number-two state, California, according to a […]
