Massachusetts
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: Strategies to Address the State Tax Volatility Problem
April 19, 2013 • By ITEP Staff
State revenues plummet in recessions, just when states can least afford the loss. Some proposals to address this flaw in state tax systems would change the systems’ structure — for instance, by replacing state personal income taxes with sales taxes — but wouldn’t solve the problem and would exacerbate others in state tax systems. States […]
WPRI: Labor, liberals push income tax hike on wealthy in RI
March 13, 2013
Paiva Weed, Fox, Chafee skeptical about 7.99% rate Updated: Tuesday, 12 Mar 2013, 10:07 PM EDT Published : Tuesday, 12 Mar 2013, 5:25 PM EDT By Ted Nesi, WPRI.com Reporter PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – A coalition of political progressives and labor leaders renewed their uphill battle to raise affluent Rhode Islanders’ taxes on Tuesday, arguing […]
Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center: Effects of Raising Rates and Exemptions on the State Income Tax
March 12, 2013 • By ITEP Staff
This Facts At A Glance updates MassBudget’s analysis of a reform option that would make changes to the way the Commonwealth taxes wage and salary income as well as investment income. The Department of Revenue (DOR) recently examined this reform option and estimated that the proposal’s combined changes would generate between $1.99 billion and $2.11 […]
Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center: Examining Tax Fairness
March 12, 2013 • By ITEP Staff
Taxes are the primary way we pay for the things that we do together through government. These include things like police and fire protection; public education; roads, bridges and public transportation; a safety net for when people face hard times; and more. Determining how much people at different income levels pay in taxes is important […]
Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center: Possible Reforms to the Governor’s Tax Plan
March 12, 2013 • By ITEP Staff
In his FY 2014 budget, the Governor proposes making significant new investments in education and transportation, as well as limiting cuts to other program areas. He proposes paying for these investments with a tax increase, one that would raise an estimated $1.9 billion in new, annual revenue and would do so in a progressive manner […]
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 […]
USA Today: Time to tweak gas taxes? States weigh options
January 25, 2013
(Original Post) Larry Copeland, USA TODAY7:47a.m. EST January 25, 2013 A great tax debate is breaking out in state capitals from Vermont to Texas: How do we maintain and expand our vital-but-aging networks of roads, bridges and urban transit systems? For nearly a century, the nation has funded projects primarily with revenue from gasoline taxes. […]
Politico: Ambitious governors dominate tax debate
January 23, 2013
(Original Post) By: Rachael BadeJanuary 22, 2013 04:41 PM EST Looking for the next big tax debate? Talk to a governor — preferably one with presidential ambitions. From Louisiana to New York, and Wisconsin to Massachusetts, some of the nation’s most prominent governors in both parties — more than a few of whom have grander […]
Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center: Facts At A Glance – The Income Tax: Another Reform Option
January 14, 2013 • By ITEP Staff
Previous MassBudget fact sheets have examined the Massachusetts personal income tax and a number of reform options (see “Facts At A Glance: The Income Tax”, available at http://www.massbudget.org/768). This Facts At A Glance examines another reform option (currently before the Legislature) that would make changes to the way the Commonwealth taxes wage and salary income […]
Campaign for Our Communities: Support Public Education and Other Vital Services!
January 14, 2013 • By ITEP Staff
“We need to invest in our communities and keep middle-class families working and earning! An Act to Invest in Our Communities – HB 2553 / SB 1416 – does just that. This bill takes a balanced approach to the fiscal crisis by raising revenue to maintain the services we need and value. By asking more […]
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Wisconsin’s tax burden gets lighter but not for all
January 8, 2013
(PDF of Original Post) By Dave Umhoefer of the Journal SentinelPosted: April 12, 2010 | At the end of last year, one Midwestern state emerged carrying its lightest total tax burden since the early 1960s. Only six states nationwide saw a bigger drop in the percentage of taxpayer income taken for government spending over an […]
The Charleston Gazette: N.E. Editorial Roundup
January 8, 2013
(PDF of Original Post) November 30, 2009N.E. Editorial Roundup The Associated Press Rutland Herald, Rutland, Vt., Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2009: The economic recovery is not occurring as quickly as previously hoped, according to the latest economic reports, which means that when legislators convene in January, the job before them will be daunting. Last week legislators […]
Vermont Diggers: Truth Squad- Do Dubie’s tax plans help the rich?
January 8, 2013
(PDF of Original Post) By Anne Galloway on October 21, 2010 Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie, Vermont‘s Republican candidate for governor, has said reducing taxes is his No. 1 priority. To do that, Dubie has proposed capping state spending at 2 percent – after he reduces next year‘s budget by $112 million. Once the caps are […]
The Providence Journal: Study suggests eliminating R.I.’s capital gains tax break
January 7, 2013
(PDF of the Original Post) 01:00 AM EDT on Saturday, March 21, 2009 By NEIL DOWNING Journal Staff Writer Rhode Island could save more than $49 million a year by eliminating the favorable tax treatment that the state currently allows on capital gains, a new report says. Rhode Island is one of only nine states […]
The Providence Journal: Protect income-tax progressivity in R.I.
January 7, 2013
(PDF of the Original Post) 01:00 AM EST on Sunday, November 16, 2008JEFF McLYNCH WASHINGTON IT ISN’T VERY OFTEN that one of life’s maxims can be applied to state tax policy. Many hands make for . . . a lot of exemptions? A penny saved is a penny . . . deducted? Yet, judging from […]
LPIB: Tanzi bill would close corporate tax loophole
January 7, 2013
(PDF of the Original Post) STATE HOUSE – Rep. Teresa Tanzi is pushing for legislation that would close a loophole that large, multi-state and international corporations use to avoid paying state taxes. Representative Tanzi (D-Dist. 34, South Kingstown, Narragansett) is sponsoring legislation (2011-H 5738) that would enact combined reporting. One of the tricks many multi-state […]
Narragansett Patch: Tanzi- Bill Proposed to Close Corporate Tax Loophole
January 7, 2013
(PDF of the Original Post) Rep. Teresa Tanzi has proposed a bill that would close the state’s corporate tax loophole. June 2, 2011 STATE HOUSE – Rep. Teresa Tanzi is pushing for legislation that would close a loophole that large, multi-state and international corporations use to avoid paying state taxes. Representative Tanzi (D-Dist. 34, South […]
Concord Monitor: Estate tax would be a fair way to raise revenue
January 4, 2013
(PDF of Original Post) The rich will still move here and remain here By MICHAEL MARSH For the Monitor April 04, 2009 New Hampshire is known for low taxes and frugal government, but our low taxes don’t extend to everyone. Working people here pay four times more of their income in state and local taxes […]
Las Vegas Review-Journal: Study makes case for state income tax
January 4, 2013
(PDF of Original Post) By ALAN CHOATELAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL Nevada’s lack of an income tax means state taxpayers are paying more than they should in federal income taxes, according to a study released Monday. Seven states that rely on sales taxes instead of an income tax could cut sales taxes while implementing an income tax […]
Labor Notes: Who Pays Taxes?
January 4, 2013
(PDF of Original Post) Bruce Boccardy | October 27, 2010 A mountain of literature documents the unfairness in our tax system. Laws in the majority of states are rife with dodges that permit large corporations to avoid paying tax on a significant share of their profits. These dodges include depreciation rules, exemptions, deductions, credits, tax […]
Daily Hampshire Gazette: Fair taxation one budget fix
January 4, 2013
(PDF of Original Post) Saturday, March 26, 2011 EASTHAMPTON – The middle class is disappearing in America. We hear it over and over again. Instead of watching helplessly while it slips away, a few brave members of the state Legislature, lead sponsors state Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz and Rep. Jim O’Day, have filed “An Act to […]
NBC Chicago: How to Soak the Rich Without Soaking the Poor, Too
January 4, 2013
(PDF of Original Post) The two-point (or more) tax increase making its way through the state legislature has one thing to recommend it. Right now, the super-rich in Illinois — Oprah Winfrey, the Ty Beanie Baby guy, anyone named Pritzker — pay a lower proportion of their income than in any state that levies taxes. […]
Hartford Courant: State Tax Exemptions In The Cross Hairs
January 3, 2013
(PDF of Original Post) By CHRISTOPHER KEATING, ckeating@courant.com The Hartford Courant 7:00 PM EST, January 26, 2011 HARTFORD — In flush economic times, the legislature could leave untouched the huge number of exemptions from the state’s 6 percent sales tax: haircuts, prescription drugs, boat repairs, car washes, and food purchased at supermarkets, to name a […]
CNN: By the Numbers- Politics in 2013
January 3, 2013
(Original Post) By Amy Roberts, CNN Libraryupdated 11:14 AM EST, Thu January 3, 2013 (CNN) — Two-thousand-thirteen promises to be an interesting political year — with two governors races that will be closely watched, the very real possibility of another special Senate election in Massachusetts, a possible debate in Washington over immigration reform as the […]
New Haven Advocate: Connecticut Can Still Raise Taxes on the Rich, Even if Washington Doesn’t
December 21, 2012
Original Post By Mark EnglerMay 24, 2011 In 2009, when then-New York Gov. David Paterson signed a temporary tax increase on the state’s wealthiest individuals — one of the so-called “millionaire’s taxes” that have passed in recent years in select states across the country — at least one multimillionaire was not happy. Rush Limbaugh proclaimed […]
