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report
July 15, 2012
Four Tax Ideas for Jobs-Focused Governors
As the nation’s governors gather in Williamsburg, Virginia this week, their focus is on their Chairman’s initiative, Growing State Economies. Too often, however, a governor’s knee-jerk response to a lagging economy is to start cutting taxes, even though state tax cuts offer a demonstrably low economic bang-for-the-buck, for a number of reasons.
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brief
July 1, 2012
The Progressive Income Tax: An Essential Element of Fair and Sustainable State Tax Systems
A few vocal critics have pointed to state personal income taxes as the source of a variety of fiscal and economic problems- arguing that it has enabled wasteful spending, fueled the volatility of revenue collections, or even stifled job-creation. Accordingly, some of these critics have called for the outright repeal of the income tax, while others have suggested making it significantly less progressive. Such proposals, if acted upon, would make it all but impossible for state tax systems to produce revenue in a fair and sustainable fashion.
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brief
July 1, 2012
Sales Tax Holidays: A Boondoggle
Sales taxes are among the most important–and most unfair–taxes levied by state governments. Sales taxes accounted for a third of state taxes in 2011, but sales taxes are regressive, falling far more heavily on low- and middle- income taxpayers than on the wealthy. In recent years, lawmakers thinking they might lessen the impact of these taxes have enacted “sales tax holidays” that provide temporary sales tax breaks for purchases of clothing, computers, and other items. This policy brief looks at sales tax holidays as a tax reduction device.
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report
May 24, 2012
Tax Bill Signed by Governor Brownback Makes Kansas an Outlier
Kansas Governor Sam Brownback recently signed into law Senate Substitute for HB 2117, a tax bill that dramatically changes the Kansas income tax structure. The… -
report
May 17, 2012
Latest Kansas Tax Bill Carries $680 Million Price Tag and Raises Taxes on Those Least Able to Pay
A joint House-Senate conference committ ee is poised to approve a revised version of the tax bill recently sent to the Governor by the House… -
report
May 10, 2012
Three Strategies for Making Enacted Kansas Tax Plan Less Unfair and Less Costly
Yesterday, the Kansas House of Representatives passed, and sent to Governor Sam Brownback, a tax plan, Senate Substitute for House Bill 2117, that had been… -
report
May 8, 2012
Kansas Tax Bill Would Cost $600 Million a Year While Hiking Taxes on Low-Income Families
Kansas legislators are set to vote on a tax bill recently approved by a joint House-Senate conference committee. An ITEP analysis of the agreed-upon tax… -
report
April 25, 2012
How Federal Tax Reform Can Help or Hurt State and Local Governments
Federal tax reform can affect state and local taxes in several ways. The federal government can create, repeal or change tax expenditures in a way… -
report
April 24, 2012
Regarding Proposals to Increase Taxes on Upper-Income Rhode Islanders
My testimony focuses in general on the slate of bills in front of the committee today that would raise taxes on wealthy Rhode Islanders. These… -
report
April 1, 2012
Repealing Estate Tax Will Not Create An Economic Boom
Since Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam proposed reducing the state’s estate tax in February, Tennessee lawmakers have shown increasing interest in this idea. Recently, a House…
