Pennsylvania
The Daily Pennsylvanian:
September 17, 2014
In 2009, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation cancelled a number of drivers’ licenses across the state to comply with a 2002 law change. Their justification was that the licenses were flagged in their databases as possibly fraudulent. For many of these licenses, the reason they appeared fraudulent was that they had been issued to people […]
The Philadelphia Inquirer: As Wealth Shifts, States Struggle to Tax Rich, Poor
September 17, 2014
The growing concentration of income among the richest Americans has made it tougher for states to fund their budgets, because of the way most states fund public services, writes Gabriel J. Petek, San Francisco-based primary credit analyst for Standard & Poor’s Rating Services. Separately, WalletHub, a Washington-based consumer credit data service owned by ex-Capital One […]
Beaver County Times: Taxes May Be Biggest Burden Facing Aliquippa
August 28, 2014
By Tom Davidson, The city still bustles with traffic now and then, although most of it’s just passing through town. On Thursday afternoon, Mayor Dwan Walker and City Manager Sam Gill took a drive through Aliquippa, starting at what they call the east end corridor between the Ohio River and Route 51 where the Jones […]
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.
An updated version of this brief was published on February 9, 2017. Read this report in pdf. Every state levies taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel, usually just called “gas taxes.” These taxes are an important source of state revenue—particularly for transportation—but their poor design has resulted in sluggish revenue growth that fails to […]
The Daily Review: An Overlooked Source of Revenue
May 19, 2014
“Editorial, May 18, 2014 Faced with growing budget deficit partially of its own making, the Corbett administration likely will retreat from its previously planned 3.7 percent increase in state spending this election year and move instead to cut about $800 million from its tentative budget proposal. It’s not yet known whether that will mean a […]
The Times-Tribune: Money Hides in Plain Sight
May 5, 2014
(Original Post) Editorial Board, The Scranton Times Tribune, May 4, 2014 Faced with growing budget deficit partially of its own making, the Corbett administration likely will retreat from its previously planned 3.7 percent increase in state spending this election year and move instead to cut about $800 million from its tentative budget proposal. It’s not […]
Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center: What Our Taxes Support and Why We Need to Close Loopholes
April 15, 2014
With the deadline for filing state and federal tax returns upon us, the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center has put together the following resources to help you understand what your tax dollars support and why it is so important that we close corporate tax loopholes at the state and federal level. Read the Full Report
Wall Street Journal: States Raise Gas Taxes to Pay for Infrastructure
April 7, 2014
(Original Post) As Congress Only Takes Short-Term Steps, Governors Seek More Funds for Roads By JOSH MITCHELL Updated April 4, 2014 7:32 p.m. ET GEORGETOWN, Del.—States and cities desperate to build and repair roads and other infrastructure—but frustrated by inertia in Congress—are raising their own levies and turning to private companies for funding. Six states […]
The federal government and many states are seeing shortfalls in their transportation budgets in part because the gasoline taxes they use to generate those funds are poorly designed. Thirty-two states and the federal government levy "fixed-rate" gas taxes where the tax rate does not change even as the cost of infrastructure materials inevitably increases over time. The federal government's 18.4 cent gas tax, for example, has not increased in over twenty years. And almost half the states (24) have gone a decade or more without a gas tax increase.
The Intelligencer: Total Republican control produces Harrisburg scam
March 27, 2014
(Original Post) Posted: Thursday, March 27, 2014 12:15 am By Joe Frederick The Republicans have been in complete control of Harrisburg since 2011. The governor is a Republican, and both the state House and the state Senate have Republican majorities (and there are no filibusters in the Pennsylvania Constitution). So what have they done with […]
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 […]
Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center: Pa. Companies Like PPL, Heinz Paid Little or Nothing in State Income Taxes
March 20, 2014
Many profitable Fortune 500 companies including Pennsylvania-based PPL, H.J. Heinz, Airgas, Allegheny Technologies, Hershey, and Comcast are paying little or nothing in state income taxes thanks to loopholes, tax breaks, and crafty accounting, according to a new report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) and Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ). Read the […]
USA Today: Needing money for roads, states mull gas tax hikes
March 11, 2014
(Original Post) Larry Copeland, USA TODAY 10:13 a.m. EDT March 11, 2014 The federal gas tax hasn’t been raised in more than two decades The federal gas tax, long used to help states pay for roads and bridges, hasn’t been raised since Bill Clinton was president. The prices of asphalt, steel and heavy machinery — […]
Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center: Many Profitable Corporations Pay Little or No U.S. Income Taxes
February 27, 2014
A comprehensive five-year study of 288 highly profitable Fortune 500 companies finds that 111 of them, including six based in Pennsylvania, paid no federal corporate income tax in at least one of the last five years. Overall, one-third of the corporations studied paid a U.S. tax rate of less than 10 percent over the five-year […]
NHPR: N.H. Legislators Will Make Another Run At Raising Gas Tax
January 22, 2014
(Original Post) By BRIAN WALLSTIN A year after failing to agree on how to pay for a long list of road and bridge improvements, lawmakers will take another shot at bolstering the state’s chronically underfunded infrastructure this session. Several bills are on the table, including one that would channel proceeds from a casino into the […]
Al Jazeera America: America’s crumbling infrastructure desperately needs funding
January 17, 2014
(Original Post) by Patrick J. Natale January 17, 2014 Congress should act now to avoid a transportation fiscal cliff in 2015 Last month, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon) introduced the Update, Promote and Develop America’s Transportation Essentials (UPDATE) Act. The proposed bill lays out a clear roadmap on how to restore and modernize America’s surface transportation […]
Los Angeles Times: Corporations lead taxpayers to the shearing
January 6, 2014
(Original Post) By Michael Hiltzik January 5, 2014, 5:00 a.m. Here’s a business practice likely to keep booming in 2014: corporate extortion. We don’t mean extortion of corporations, as is practiced by Somali pirates or entrepreneurial Russians. We mean extortion by corporations. In this field the victims are taxpayers, and what makes it a beautiful […]
The Orlando Sentinel: Disney triples offshore profits, saving on U.S. taxes
December 10, 2013
(Original Post) December 9, 2013|By Jason Garcia, Orlando Sentinel The Walt Disney Co. has nearly tripled the amount of profit it is keeping in offshore subsidiaries, saving the company $315 million in U.S. income taxes, new regulatory filings show. The move helped Disney, one of the largest taxpayers in Florida, cut its reported effective tax […]
The Davis Enterprise: Snippets of energy news
August 1, 2013
Back in the old days, when you went to the movies, theaters often would show a double feature, and these two movies would be preceded by a cartoon and a newsreel. The double feature is long gone, as is the cartoon, and the newsreel has been replaced with about 20 minutes of previews of coming attractions and, if you get there early enough, a bunch of advertisements.
PBS: How Low Can They Go? Arthur Laffer Defends Slashing State Income Taxes
August 1, 2013
In this 2012 Making Sen$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.
Philadelphia Inquirer:Study shows financial gains if immigrants can work legally
July 11, 2013
With the cost to revamp immigration law looming large in the national debate, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), a left-of-center nonprofit in Washington, released a study Wednesday that estimates big gains in state and local taxes if undocumented immigrants were allowed to work legally. The study estimated that New Jersey would […]
WHYY Radio: Study shows N.J., Pa. and Del. could profit from immigration reform
July 10, 2013
Original Post July 10, 2013By Ann Marie Awad Audio File at the link Immigration legislation pending in Congress could boost revenue for New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware, according to a study released today by the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). ITEP Executive Directer Matt Garder says those who crossed the border illegally […]
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 […]
