Maine
Personal Income Tax Reform: Improving the Fairness of Taxes in the District of Columbia
November 12, 2013 • By Carl Davis
DC's tax system is markedly regressive. This is driven largely by the regressive impact of the city's sales, excise, and property taxes. The personal income tax is the only effective tool that DC has available for offsetting this regressivity. In the comments below I discuss four options for fine-tuning DC's income tax to lessen its impact on moderate- and middle-income taxpayers. I also describe four options for funding those tax cuts with policies that would increase upper-income taxpayers' effective tax rates to be more in line with those paid by their less affluent neighbors.
Bangor Daily News: Higher Sales Tax Hurts Maine’s Poor
October 15, 2013
(Original Post) The Left in Maine take pride in their self-proclaimed “caring for the poor.” However, rhetoric aside, their actions speak louder than their words. Earlier this year, the Democratically-controlled legislature enacted a budget, over Governor LePage’s veto, that raised the sales tax by 10 percent (to 5.5 percent from 5 percent) and the meals […]
New Census Bureau data released this month show that the share of Americans living in poverty remains high, despite other signs of economic recovery. The national 2012 poverty rate of 15 percent is essentially unchanged since 2010 , but still 2.5 percentage points higher than pre-recession levels. This means that in 2012, 46.5 million, or about 1 in 6 Americans, lived in poverty.1 The poverty rate in most states also held steady with five states experiencing an increase in either the number or share of residents living in poverty while only two states saw a decline.2
Portland Press Herald: Immigration reform, a boon for all, should be embraced, not feared
August 12, 2013
(Original Post) By TOM GAWARKIEWICZ Special to the Press Herald AUGUSTA — Historically, immigrants from Canada came to Maine seeking better job opportunities in the mills. Now Canada is the country attracting immigrants, luring entrepreneurs and high-skill workers to enhance its economic competitiveness. Canada recently unveiled a new startup visa program, which offers foreign entrepreneurs […]
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.
Off the Charts: Getting the Whole Story in State Tax Debates
July 10, 2013
(Original Post) July 8, 2013 at 9:02 am Posted by: Nicholas Johnson This year’s state tax debates have revealed a very important flaw in how states typically make tax policy. Fortunately, it’s a flaw that can be fixed. In most states, policymakers lack sufficient information on how tax changes will affect the after-tax distribution of […]
The Morning Sentinel: Bipartisan plan to overhaul state income taxes unveiled today
May 10, 2013
(Original Post) By Steve Mistler [email protected] House Bureau AUGUSTA — A Maine family of four earning $50,000 a year would save about $647 on its state income taxes under a sweeping tax reform proposal to be aired in a public hearing today before the Legislature’s Taxation Committee. However, that same family also would pay hundreds […]
The Times-Picayune: Behind Jindal’s tax plan, an old debate that still rages
April 8, 2013
(Original Post) By Andrew Vanacore, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune In pushing for an end to income taxes in Louisiana, Gov. Bobby Jindal is calling upon an economic theory about taxes and economic growth that is almost four decades old. So you might assume the case for or against “supply-side” or “trickle-down” economics would be about […]
The Austinist: Texas Economy Trails Slowly Behind Income Tax States
March 11, 2013
(Original Post) A new report just released by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy shows the Lone Star State economy lagging far behind states that have income taxes. Reviewing economic data over the past decade In measures of growth per capita, median household income growth, and average annual unemployment rates, the study show Texas […]
Maine Center for Economic Policy: Now is the Time for Tax Reform: Can LD 1088 Deliver?
January 14, 2013
Taxes are central to our individual and collective well-being. Taxes provide the revenue that supports the physical infrastructure, the education, health care, and environmental protections that we have collectively decided are essential to keep our communities and families thriving. Still, the way government collects taxes has significant implications for the reliability and fairness of the […]
Maine Center for Economic Policy: TABOR II: A Danger to Maine’s Economy, Communities, and People
January 14, 2013
After soundly rejecting TABOR I in 2006, this November Maine voters will face another TABOR initiative. Despite claims by proponents that TABOR I’s many flaws have been corrected, TABOR II contains all of the central elements that made the original proposal so dangerous for Maine’s economy, communities, and people. In fact, in important respects, TABOR […]
Maine Center for Economic Policy: MECEP Urges Legislature to Expand and Simplify Maine’s Property Tax “Circuit Breaker”
January 14, 2013
The Maine Center for Economic Policy (MECEP)today urged the members of the Legislature’s Joint Standing Committee on Taxation to support L.D. 474, “An Act to Reduce the Property Tax Burden and Improve the Circuit Breaker Program.” The Maine Residents Property Tax and Rent Refund Program, popularly known as the “Circuit Breaker,” provides eligible Maine residents […]
Vermont Diggers: Truth Squad- Do Dubie’s tax plans help the rich?
January 8, 2013
(PDF of Original Post) By Anne Galloway on October 21, 2010 Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie, Vermont‘s Republican candidate for governor, has said reducing taxes is his No. 1 priority. To do that, Dubie has proposed capping state spending at 2 percent – after he reduces next year‘s budget by $112 million. Once the caps are […]
LPIB: Tanzi bill would close corporate tax loophole
January 7, 2013
(PDF of the Original Post) STATE HOUSE – Rep. Teresa Tanzi is pushing for legislation that would close a loophole that large, multi-state and international corporations use to avoid paying state taxes. Representative Tanzi (D-Dist. 34, South Kingstown, Narragansett) is sponsoring legislation (2011-H 5738) that would enact combined reporting. One of the tricks many multi-state […]
Narragansett Patch: Tanzi- Bill Proposed to Close Corporate Tax Loophole
January 7, 2013
(PDF of the Original Post) Rep. Teresa Tanzi has proposed a bill that would close the state’s corporate tax loophole. June 2, 2011 STATE HOUSE – Rep. Teresa Tanzi is pushing for legislation that would close a loophole that large, multi-state and international corporations use to avoid paying state taxes. Representative Tanzi (D-Dist. 34, South […]
Concord Monitor: Estate tax would be a fair way to raise revenue
January 4, 2013
(PDF of Original Post) The rich will still move here and remain here By MICHAEL MARSH For the Monitor April 04, 2009 New Hampshire is known for low taxes and frugal government, but our low taxes don’t extend to everyone. Working people here pay four times more of their income in state and local taxes […]
NBC Chicago: How to Soak the Rich Without Soaking the Poor, Too
January 4, 2013
(PDF of Original Post) The two-point (or more) tax increase making its way through the state legislature has one thing to recommend it. Right now, the super-rich in Illinois — Oprah Winfrey, the Ty Beanie Baby guy, anyone named Pritzker — pay a lower proportion of their income than in any state that levies taxes. […]
Huffington Post: Poverty Is Rising, But State Tax Systems Burden The Poor, While Rich Get Off Easy
December 21, 2012
Original Post September 27, 2011 by Tyler Kingkade WASHINGTON — Newly released U.S. Census data reveal that poverty levels have skyrocketed, but in most states, the tax systems disproportionally burden the poor. Most states also impose tax structures similar to what current Republican presidential candidates are advocating, and experts warn these should serve as cautionary […]
Chicago Tribune: The case for a graduated income tax in Illinois
December 17, 2012
(Original Post) Tuesday, February 28, 2012 If Illinois were to adopt the same graduated income tax rate structure as Iowa, Illinois would raise $6.3 billion more in revenue than it does from its current five percent flat rate, while 54 percent—over half—of all taxpayers would pay less in state income taxes…from The Case for Creating […]
Truthout: States to Residents- Forget Promises to Restore School Funding
December 17, 2012
(Original Post) Saturday, 09 June 2012 11:12 By Mike Alberti, Remapping Debate | News Analysis When Wichita Public Schools Superintendent John Allison learned that, thanks to rising revenues, Kansas was projected to have a budget surplus of more than $300 million at the end of the year – the state’s first surplus since the recession […]
Bloomberg: States Lacking Income Tax Get No Boost in Growth
December 17, 2012
(Original Post) By Brian Chappatta on June 25, 2012 Governors seeking to expand their economies by eliminating income taxes find little support for the idea in the record of U.S. states that lack such a levy. The BGOV Barometer shows the nine states with the highest personal income taxes on residents outperformed or kept pace […]
NPR’s State Impact: Recent Study Questions “New Hampshire Advantage”
December 17, 2012
(Original Post) June 29, 2012 | 11:23 AMBy Emily Corwin A couple of weeks ago, Arthur Laffer — an economist made famous for his work in the Reagan administration — co-wrote an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal warning that the expiration of federal tax cuts in January puts the country on the verge […]
The Portland Press Herald: Bush-era tax cuts? Maine candidates have range of opinion
December 17, 2012
(Original Post) Posted: August 1Updated: Today at 7:06 AM By John Richardson [email protected] House Bureau It will likely be one of the first orders of business for Maine’s next U.S. senator: extend the Bush tax cuts or let them expire? With Congress deadlocked so far on which cuts to keep, the winner of the election […]
Washington Post: The teetotalers’ solution to the austerity crisis
December 17, 2012
(Original Post) Posted by Dylan Matthews on December 3, 2012 at 1:49 pm It’s basically a given at this point that any austerity crisis deal will involve new sources of revenue, be it in the form of higher rates for top earners, pared back tax expenditures, or a new tax altogether. Speculation around the third […]
Low-wage workers often face a dual challenge as they struggle to make ends meet. In many instances, the wages they earn are insufficient to encourage additional hours of work or long-term attachment to the labor force. At the same time, most state and local tax systems impose greater responsibilities on poor families than on wealthy ones, making it even harder for low-wage workers to move above the poverty line and achieve meaningful economic security. The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is designed to help low-wage workers meet both those challenges. This policy brief explains how the credit works at the…
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