Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP)

Kansas

Alabama 13: Taxing the Dinner Table

May 10, 2013

Posted: May 09, 2013 6:25 PM EDT Updated: May 09, 2013 11:10 PM EDT By Jon Paepcke BIRMINGHAM, AL – With every bar code swipe, the numbers add up in Alabama. Did you know that for every dollar you spend on groceries four cents goes to the state? It’s true. Did you also know we […]

Chattanooga Times Free Press: Some lawmakers say they may kill Georgia’s income tax next year, but there would be a cost

May 6, 2013

(Original Post) published Sunday, May 5th, 2013 by Tim Omarzu A group of Republican lawmakers in Atlanta wants to do away with Georgia’s 6 percent income tax and replace it — mainly by increasing taxes on sales and services. State Rep. Tom Kirby, R-Loganville, set the stage for what could be a sweeping change to […]

The American Prospect: You’ve Got Sales Tax

May 6, 2013

(Original Post) Jeff Saginor May 6, 2013 The Marketplace Fairness Act, which would finally require online retailers to charge sales tax, is hitting the Senate floor this week. In 1984, CompuServe launched the first “Electronic Mall,” a Pleistocene-era Amazon with which owners of a TRS-80 personal computer could browse and buy goods over the Internet. […]

Reuters: State tax reform efforts snarled by politics but backers persist

April 24, 2013

(Original Post) By Nanette Byrnes Tue Apr 23, 2013 2:19pm EDT (Reuters) – From Louisiana to Ohio, Massachusetts and Nebraska, bold proposals to upend state tax laws are losing momentum in the face of political squabbles and special interest opposition. Just a short time ago, it looked as if several state leaders would show gridlocked […]

Indianapolis Star: Indiana suffers from bad tax system, bad tax cuts

April 22, 2013

Written by Dan Carpenter Do Hoosiers even want Gov. Mike Pence’s income tax cut? And should they, considering that Indiana has one of the most regressive, elitist, tax systems in the nation, and what’s on the table will only make matters worse? The first question was put to Pence in a recent meeting with The […]

The Wichita Eagle: Brownback ‘tax swap’ plan facing stiff opposition

April 22, 2013

(Original Post) By Brad CooperKansas City Star Published Sunday, April 21, 2013, at 6:54 a.m. Eliminating or slashing the income tax is a romantic idea for many politicians. Getting there is much less dreamy. Just ask Republican Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback and a handful of other GOP governors who want income tax cuts but propose […]

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: Strategies to Address the State Tax Volatility Problem

April 19, 2013

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 […]

The Kansas City Star: Kansas legislation would cost the poor most, critics say

April 15, 2013

April 12 By BRAD COOPER The Kansas City Star TOPEKA — This could be, for better or worse, the year of the poor in Kansas. The dominant powers in the Statehouse — Republicans controlling the legislative and executive branches — regularly press bold measures calculated to jet-charge the economy and put more people to work. […]

Earlier this year, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback proposed another round of personal income tax cuts (on top of those he signed into law last year).1 The House and Senate each responded with their own tax cut plans and are expected to reconcile their differences this week. To date, much attention has been given to the major difference between the House and Senate plans -- the Senate bill includes permanently preserving a sales tax rate hike that was set to expire this summer while the House plan would allow the rate hike to expire. However, the long term impact of either…

Missouri Budget Project: Racing to the Bottom

March 12, 2013

Senate Gives Initial Approval to Extreme Tax Cut Bill Which Would Devastate Missouri Services, Infrastructure, and the State’s Economy An extreme tax cut proposal, perfected this week by the Missouri Senate would slash Missouri’s general revenue budget by nearly $1 billion when fully implemented, resulting in devastating cuts to services throughout the state. Further, the […]

The Lawrence Journal-World: ITEP report says race to no income tax based on flawed theory

March 6, 2013

(Original Post) Sunday, March 3, 2013 By SCOTT ROTHSCHILD, The Lawrence Journal-World The effort by Gov. Sam Brownback and several other Republican governors to eliminate personal state income taxes is based on an economic theory that is “extremely flawed,” a new report by a non-partisan research group says. Brownback has depended on the claims of […]

The Daily Kos: Republican tax shifters wrong about states with no income taxes performing better

March 1, 2013

(Original Post) Meteor Blades for Daily Kos Economics Across the South and Midwest—in Georgia, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Louisiana, Indiana, Kansas and elsewhere—Republican-dominated states seek to eliminate income taxes and replace part of them with regressive sales taxes. Thus would be the tax burden be shifted to people in the lower earning tiers of the economy […]

The Huffington Post: States Without Personal Income Tax Experience Slower Growth

March 1, 2013

(Original Post) By Bonnie Kavoussi    Posted: 02/28/2013 5:47 pm EST  |  Updated: 03/01/2013 12:21 am EST Small-government advocates often claim that high taxes hold the economy back. But a new report finds that states without a personal income tax have experienced slower economic growth than states with high income tax rates. The report, from the […]

Campus Progress: What ALEC’s Arthur Laffer Wants to Do To Your Tax Code

February 27, 2013

(Original Post) Posted Tuesday, February 26, 2013 by Chris Lewis Arthur Laffer might just be the Doctor Nick of taxes—all that’s missing is a degree from Upstairs Economics College. Earlier this month, we reported on the “Brownback Experiment,” a wild plan by Gov. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) to cut the state’s income tax. Brownback said he […]

Charlotte Observer: State Sen. Bob Rucho says North Carolina tax system needs an overhaul

February 21, 2013

By Jim Morrill [email protected] Posted: Saturday, Feb. 02, 2013 RALEIGH Republican state Sen. Bob Rucho is screening his PowerPoint to yet another audience, watching slide after slide build a case for changing North Carolina tax law. All the charts and numbers add up to one conclusion: A tax system built during the Great Depression doesn’t […]

The Star-Ledger: Sticking to the Republican playbook

February 21, 2013

(Original Post) By Star-Ledger Editorial Boardon February 15, 2013 at 6:30 AM, updated February 15, 2013 at 10:58 AM New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (left) with then-Ohio gubernatorial candidate John Kasich as they sit at a lunch counter during a live webcast Q&A session at a campaign stop for Kasich outside Cincinnati. Andrew Mills/The Star-Ledger […]

Tulsa World: Fallin Hopes to KISS tax issue goodbye

February 4, 2013

BY WAYNE GREENE World Senior Writer Sunday, February 03, 2013 2/3/2013 6:10:41 AM In the debate over state personal income tax rates this year, look for Gov. Mary Fallin to adopt the KISS method – Keep It Simple, Senator. Last year, her proposal seemed like it had more moving parts than a whirligig factory. She […]

Kansas Governor Sam Brownback proposed, for the second straight year, major tax changes during his State of the State speech. These new changes include lowering the tax rates to 1.9 and 3.5 percent, eliminating itemized deductions for mortgage interest and property taxes paid, and raising the sales tax.

Kake TV: KS Revenue Chief Not Moved By National Tax Study

February 1, 2013

Friday, February 1, 2013 Kansas Revenue Secretary Nick Jordan says he doesn’t put much stock in a recent study from a non-partisan research group suggesting the state’s tax system is unfair to the poor. Jordan said Thursday the Washington-based Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy praises states that rely heavily on personal income taxes for […]

The Kansas City Star: With state tax reform, first do no harm

February 1, 2013

February 1 By MATTHEW GARDNER After a presidential election campaign during which tax fairness debates figured prominently, the battle has now emphatically shifted to the states. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, for instance, recently announced his support for a “flatter, fairer” tax code, and lawmakers in more than a dozen other states are poised to grapple […]

The Examiner: Poorer Kansans pay higher percentage of taxes than wealthier Kansans

February 1, 2013

(Original Post) January 31, 2013By: James Jordan A study by a non-partisan research group says the poorest Kansans pay a higher percentage of their income in state and local taxes than do the state’s wealthiest residents. The study, released Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013, shows a national trend in this direction. The Institute on Taxation and […]

Bloomberg: How Republican Governors Are Pretending to Cut Taxes

January 31, 2013

(Original Post) By Deborah Solomon Jan 31, 2013 10:37 AM ET Republican governors across the U.S. are engaged in an income tax-cutting frenzy, moving to reduce or even eliminate individual income taxes in their states. The changes will increase economic growth and reduce the size of government, they say, and their plans are drawing strong […]

Daily Kos: The Republican Land of Oz

January 31, 2013

(Original Post) Thu Jan 31, 2013 at 05:44 AM PST I am sure that Kansas is a wonderful place, but if Leavenworth Penitentiary is your best known landmark and a fictitious 12 year old girl from the “Land of Oz” is your most famous resident…then you might want to question why you are living in […]

CBS 42: Ala. among ‘Terrible 10’ most regressive tax states

January 30, 2013

(Original Post) BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — Low and middle-income Alabamians pay more than twice as much of their incomes in state and local taxes as the state’s richest households pay, according to a report released by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonpartisan research organization based in Washington, D.C. Alabama’s upside-down tax system […]

Wichita Eagle: Poor Kansans hit harder by taxes than rich

January 30, 2013

(Original Post) Published Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013, at 9:23 a.m. TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – A new study by a non-partisan Washington research group says the poorest Kansans pay a much higher percentage of their incomes in state and local taxes than do the state’s wealthiest residents. Wednesday’s report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic […]