Just Taxes Blog by ITEP

State Rundown 7/27: State Legislative Debates Winding Down but Tax Talk Continues

July 27, 2017


While only a few states still remain mired in overtime budget debates, there is plenty of budget and tax news from around the country this week. Efforts are underway to repeal gas tax increases in California and challenge a local income tax in Seattle, Washington. And New Jersey legislators’ law to modernize its tax code to tax Airbnb rentals has been vetoed for now.

— Meg Wiehe, ITEP Deputy Director, @megwiehe

What We’re Reading…

  • Taxes on sugary beverages are “popping up all over the country,” the Chicago Sun-Times While the implementation of the Cook County tax has been delayed due to pending legal action, new soda taxes have gone into effect in Boulder, CO and Oakland, CA as of July 1 and are scheduled to go into effect on January 1, 2018 in Seattle, WA and San Francisco, CA.
  • Pew’s Stateline reports on the number of states raising the gas tax over the past 4 years—it’s over half (26). Even in conservative states like Tennessee and South Carolina, lawmakers are letting their concerns about crumbling infrastructure overcome their concerns about potential political unpopularity.
  • A new working paper out of the National Bureau of Economic Research concludes that the income tax deduction for mortgage interest payments does not increase homeownership, but merely increases the size and price of homes bought by people who would have bought homes anyway.

If you like what you are seeing in the Rundown (or even if you don’t) please send any feedback or tips for future posts to Meg Wiehe at [email protected]. Click here to sign up to receive the Rundown via email.

 

 






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