Publication Search Results
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report March 6, 2012 Alaska Senate State Affairs Committee Regarding SB 29, The Alaska Tax Break Transparency Act
My testimony today deals with Senate Bill 29, which would take an important first step toward achieving these goals by requiring regular scrutiny of Alaska “tax expenditures”—that is, the various… -
report February 29, 2012 Testimony on Reinstating Maryland’s “Millionaires’ Tax”
SB 249 would permanently reinstate the “millionaires’ tax” that expired at the end of 2010. This testimony emphasizes that the “millionaires’ tax” makes Maryland’s tax system at least somewhat less… -
report February 15, 2012 Arthur Laffer Regression Analysis is Fundamentally Flawed, Offers No Support for Economic Growth Claims
A November 2011 report from the Oklahoma Council for Public Affairs (OCPA) in partnership with Arduin, Laffer & Moore, a consulting group headed by Arthur Laffer, explains the method that… -
report February 8, 2012 “High Rate” Income Tax States Are Outperforming No-Tax States
Don’t Be Fooled by Junk Economics With the economy lagging, lawmakers seeking to reduce or eliminate state personal income taxes are touting their proposals as tools for boosting economic growth.… -
report January 11, 2012 Kansas Governor Tax Proposal: Wealthy Kansans Pay Less, Poor and Middle-Income Kansans Pay More
Kansas Governor Sam Brownback unveiled his long anticipated tax plan last week. Sweeping changes to reduce the state’s reliance on its progressive personal income tax are at the core of… -
report December 14, 2011 Building a Better Gas Tax
State gas taxes are currently levied in every state, and are the most important source of transportation revenue under the control of state lawmakers. In recent years, however, state gas… -
report December 7, 2011 Corporate Tax Dodging In the Fifty States, 2008-2010
In October, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley suggested that gradually repealing the state’s corporate income tax should be a priority for lawmakers in 2012. Haley’s idea was alarming, but hardly… -
report November 13, 2011 Corporate Taxpayers & Corporate Tax Dodgers
Earlier this year, Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett made headlines by publicly decrying the stark inequity between his own effective federal tax rate (about 17 percent, by his estimate) and… -
report October 4, 2011 Costs of Personal Income Tax Repeal in Kansas
Given the challenging fiscal climate facing Kansas, the proposed income tax plan should be thought of not simply as a tax cut but as a tax swap. News reports confirm… -
brief October 1, 2011 Tax Expenditures: Spending By Another Name
Lawmakers often provide targeted tax cuts to groups of individuals or corporations in the form of special tax breaks–including exemptions, deductions, exclusions, credits, deferrals, and preferential tax rates. These tax breaks have long been called “tax expenditures” because they are essentially government spending programs that happen to be administered through the tax code. However, tax expenditures are usually less visible than other types of public spending and are therefore harder for policymakers and the public to evaluate. This policy brief surveys the difficulties created by tax expenditures, and describes options for better integrating them into the normal budget process.