Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP)

Maryland

USA Today: The most tax-friendly states for business

October 15, 2013

(Original Post) Charley Blaine, 24/7 Wall St. 11 a.m. EDT October 12, 2013 Taxes are necessary for a functioning government, but according to one group, many states are crippling regional business growth with tax structures that are too expensive or complex. The Tax Foundation’s 2014 State Business Tax Climate Index graded all 50 states based […]

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A Federal Gas Tax for the Future

September 23, 2013 • By Carl Davis

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.

Washington Post: The state that taxes the poor the most is… a blue one

September 23, 2013

(Original Post) By Niraj Chokshi, Published: September 21 at 10:00 am The state that easily handed President Obama a victory last November while passing voter-approved referendums legalizing same-sex marriage and marijuana consumption also happens to have the nation’s highest tax burden on the poor. Poor families in Washington state pay 16.9 percent of their total […]

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State Tax Codes As Poverty Fighting Tools

September 19, 2013 • By Meg Wiehe

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

The Washington Times: Uneven results with changes to gas tax in Md., Va.

August 21, 2013

An 18-cent disparity in the cost of a gallon of gas between Maryland and Virginia appears to support predictions of radical price changes after lawmakers in both states took widely different approaches to raising transportation funding through gas taxes this year.

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 […]

The Oregonian: Unions and taxes- A combustible issue with readers

August 12, 2013

My Wednesday post about the latest tax proposals from Our Oregon -- a political group closely associated with the state's public employee unions -- has drawn more comments than almost any other story on Oregonlive.

Sales taxes are an important revenue source, comprising close to half of all state revenues in 2012. But sales taxes are also inherently regressive because the lower a family's income, the more of its income the family must spend on things subject to the tax.

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 […]

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 […]

MSN Money: 8 states where the gas tax just went up

July 3, 2013

(Original Post) From Connecticut to Wyoming, lawmakers are turning to these hikes to fund long overdue road and infrastructure projects. By Bruce Kennedy It’s the summer driving season, and while gas prices traditionally rise this time of year, they’ve been falling of late. But July 1 was the start of a new fiscal year for […]

CNN Money: Just in Time for the Holiday, 8 States Raise Gas Taxes

July 2, 2013

(Original Post) POSTED BY RYAN HOLEYWELL | JULY 1, 2013 Drivers hitting the road for the Independence Day holiday will encounter higher gas taxes in eight states, according to data compiled by Citizens For Tax Justice. While the changes could frustrate drivers — if they notice the slight hikes — there’s a silver lining: many […]

Triangle Business Journal: N.C. gas tax rises to 37.6 cents a gallon

July 1, 2013

(Original Post)  Jul 1, 2013, 3:57pm EDT Logistics & Transportation Chris Bagley Staff Writer- Triangle Business Journal North Carolina increased its motor fuels tax to its second-highest level in history on Monday. The increase was small, just one-tenth of a cent per gallon, but the 37.6-cents-per-gallon level is second only to the 38.9 cents per […]

The Barre Montpelier Times Argus: Kids count

June 28, 2013

  June 28,2013 Once again Vermont finished high in the ranking of children’s well-being released earlier this week by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The foundation’s Kids Count survey of the states measures children’s well-being in 16 categories relating to economic well-being, health, education and family and community. These include categories such as the number […]

The American Prospect: You’ve Got Sales Tax

May 6, 2013

(Original Post) Jeff Saginor May 6, 2013 The Marketplace Fairness Act, which would finally require online retailers to charge sales tax, is hitting the Senate floor this week. In 1984, CompuServe launched the first “Electronic Mall,” a Pleistocene-era Amazon with which owners of a TRS-80 personal computer could browse and buy goods over the Internet. […]

MSN News: Two-thirds of Americans oppose gas tax hikes

April 24, 2013

(Original Post) According to Gallup, Americans may object to increasing gas prices while the economy is still unstable. By Douglas Newcomb As state legislatures across the U.S. debate whether to raise gas taxes to repair crumbling roads, a new Gallup poll finds that two-thirds of Americans would vote against gas tax hikes in their home […]

The Motley Fool: The 7 States With the Lowest Gasoline Taxes

April 22, 2013

(Original Post) The price of gasoline is constantly on people’s minds. The prices you see on those gas-station signs everywhere you drive are tough enough to swallow, but what you may not know is the extent to which gas taxes contribute to those prices. The federal tax is $0.184 per gallon, and states add their […]

Southern Maryland Online: Business Owners Say They’ll Suffer with Higher Gas Taxes

April 2, 2013

(Original Post) Posted on March 31, 2013 By AMBER LARKINS ANNAPOLIS — Charlie Kidwell, who has owned FreeState Auto and Truck Service in Capitol Heights for nearly 25 years, said his business will be hurt by Gov. Martin O’Malley’s gas tax hike, which passed the Senate Friday. The Infrastructure Investment Act of 2013, which passed […]

Public News Service: Pump Prices Could Increase By Summer

March 21, 2013

(Original Post) March 21, 2013 ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Proposals to increase the gas tax in Maryland appear to be gaining steam. The House of Representatives is debating legislation this week that could increase the tax by nearly four cents a gallon by this summer. Tax policy analyst Carl Davis is with the Institute on Taxation […]

Reuters: Road funds on empty; more states weigh gasoline tax hikes

March 14, 2013

(Original Post) By Nanette Byrnes Thu Mar 14, 2013 11:50am EDT (Reuters) – Tight state budgets and jammed roadways this year are prompting some state governments to make one of the most politically unpopular moves imaginable: raising gasoline taxes. Because they hit everyone, gas taxes are widely disliked and rarely increased. But after decades of […]

The Star Democrat: Jacobs reports on busy session

March 13, 2013

(Original Post) Posted: Wednesday, March 13, 2013 12:41 pm By CRAIG O’DONNELL [email protected] ANNAPOLIS – When the week began, there was just one month left in the General Assembly session. On Monday, Del. Jay Jacobs, R-36-Kent, summed up the session. “Looking at what we have to deal with … it’s undoable, almost,” he said. “This […]

New York Times: The Alluring Myth of the Tax-Fleeing Millionaire

February 15, 2013

(Original Post) By JAMES B. STEWARTPublished: February 15, 2013 Last month, Vladimir V. Putin hugged his newly minted fellow Russian citizen, the actor Gerard Depardieu, posing for cameras at the Black Sea port of Sochi. “I adore your country,” Mr. Depardieu gushed — especially its 13 percent flat tax on personal income. Sochi may not […]

The Atlantic: Do D.C. Residents Pay More Taxes Than Their Neighbors?

February 7, 2013

(Original Post) Katherine Toran11:55 AM ET  I recently had a conversation with a friend who was moving and said she preferred to live in Maryland than in D.C. because D.C. residents pay higher taxes. She wasn’t the first local to tell me that. But is this claim true? It appears in this case, conventional wisdom […]

The Philadelphia Post: When it Comes to Taxes in Pennsylvania, It’s Good to be Rich

January 31, 2013

(Original Post) When everybody comes out to vote, (i.e. presidential elections) Pennsylvania’s a blue state. And at least in certain pockets, it behaves much like the northeastern liberal states the surround it, like New Jersey, Maryland, and New York. When it comes to taxation, however, it looks a lot more like Texas or Alabama. According […]