New Hampshire
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 — […]
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 […]
Go Local Worcester: MA Residents Face Among Highest Transportation Costs in US
January 9, 2014
(Original Post) Thursday, January 09, 2014 Zeke Wright, GoLocalWorcester Contibutor While Massachusetts contributes a high percentage of transportation-related revenue toward roads, a new report show that road-related taxes and fees can’t keep pace with cost of upkeep in the Commonwealth. According to the data compiled by the Tax Foundation, tolls and user fees, fuel taxes, […]
Mint Press News: Expiring Tax Deductions Prompt Talk Of Reform For State, Federal Tax System
December 30, 2013
(Original Post) Without congressional action to extend state and federal tax deductions, 11 million taxpayers will lose $17 billion. By Jo Erickson | December 26, 2013 As the year ends nine federal tax provisions will expire, causing some to pay more in state and local sales taxes. Most critics agree that state and federal taxes […]
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 […]
USA Today: The most tax-friendly states for business
October 15, 2013
(Original Post) Charley Blaine, 24/7 Wall St. 11 a.m. EDT October 12, 2013 Taxes are necessary for a functioning government, but according to one group, many states are crippling regional business growth with tax structures that are too expensive or complex. The Tax Foundation’s 2014 State Business Tax Climate Index graded all 50 states based […]
Washington Post: The state that taxes the poor the most is… a blue one
September 23, 2013
(Original Post) By Niraj Chokshi, Published: September 21 at 10:00 am The state that easily handed President Obama a victory last November while passing voter-approved referendums legalizing same-sex marriage and marijuana consumption also happens to have the nation’s highest tax burden on the poor. Poor families in Washington state pay 16.9 percent of their total […]
The Worcester Telegram: Retailers hopeful to cash in on tax-free weekend
August 5, 2013
Original Post August 5, 2013 By Alli Knothe Retailers are hopeful that the upcoming tax free weekend will be the incentive needed for shoppers to buy new appliances, furniture and other staples. “All you have is tax tax tax tax tax so for two days you’re going to get a break,” said Alan Lavine, whose […]
Stateline: MA Joins Sales Tax Holiday Parade
August 2, 2013
Massachusetts is the 18th state to join the back-to-school tax holiday parade this year. The legislature has authorized a tax-free weekend to begin Aug. 10.
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.
McClatchy-Tribune: States expand sales tax holidays beyond back-to-school items
July 22, 2013
Many states with back-to-school sales tax “holidays” are expanding them to cover almost any purchase, in addition to the usual kids’ clothing, shoes, books and school supplies. As schools and students replace ink and paper with pixels, some states are expanding their holidays to cover sales taxes on low-cost computers and tablets. These electronics […]
Bloomberg BNA: Sales Tax Slice: Attention Shoppers – A Sales Tax Holiday is Occurring in a State Near You
July 15, 2013
(Original Post) Thursday, July 11, 2013 by Rebecca Helmes Your kids may have just finished school for the summer, but it’s time to start devising your back-to-school shopping plan. A break from sales taxes may come as a welcome respite for consumers and retailers. But these tax vacations have been consistently panned from a fiscal […]
Stateline: States Expand Sales Tax Holidays Beyond Back-to-School Items
July 10, 2013
(Original Post) By Elaine S. Povich, Staff Writer A crowd of about 100 line up outside of the Apple Store in the Saddle Creek shopping center in Germantown, Tenn., to get a head start on last year’s tax free weekend. (AP) Many states with back-to-school sales tax “holidays” are expanding them to cover almost […]
The Barre Montpelier Times Argus: Kids count
June 28, 2013
June 28,2013 Once again Vermont finished high in the ranking of children’s well-being released earlier this week by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The foundation’s Kids Count survey of the states measures children’s well-being in 16 categories relating to economic well-being, health, education and family and community. These include categories such as the number […]
The Motley Fool: The 7 States With the Lowest Gasoline Taxes
April 22, 2013
(Original Post) The price of gasoline is constantly on people’s minds. The prices you see on those gas-station signs everywhere you drive are tough enough to swallow, but what you may not know is the extent to which gas taxes contribute to those prices. The federal tax is $0.184 per gallon, and states add their […]
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 […]
MSNBC: Jindal’s radical tax plan not yet dead
April 4, 2013
(Original Post) By Steve Benen – Wed Apr 3, 2013 11:45 AM EDT It’s been about three months since Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) unveiled his plan to eliminate all income taxes and corporate taxes in the state, replacing the lost revenue through a combination of spending cuts, higher sales taxes, and new business taxes. […]
The Washington Post: Paul Ryan wants to cut income taxes. Bobby Jindal wants to kill them dead.
March 20, 2013
(Original Post) Posted by Dylan Matthews on March 20, 2013 at 11:45 am Most conservative policymakers at the federal level just want to sharply reduce the income tax, not eliminate it entirely. But more and more Republican-controlled states are deciding to go big or go home. So far, Govs. Bobby Jindal (R-LA), Dave Heineman (R-NE), […]
Reuters: Road funds on empty; more states weigh gasoline tax hikes
March 14, 2013
(Original Post) By Nanette Byrnes Thu Mar 14, 2013 11:50am EDT (Reuters) – Tight state budgets and jammed roadways this year are prompting some state governments to make one of the most politically unpopular moves imaginable: raising gasoline taxes. Because they hit everyone, gas taxes are widely disliked and rarely increased. But after decades of […]
Steamboat Pilot and Today: Steamboat joins growing group of cities looking to grow their stake in the outdoor manufacturing industry
March 11, 2013
(Original Post) By Scott Franz Sunday, March 10, 2013 There’s nothing modest about Outdoor Retailer’s winter trade show in Salt Lake City. #For four days in January, the downtown Salt Palace Convention Center becomes a dizzying labyrinth of booths manned by the world’s most famous outdoor manufacturers. #It’s a place where a large SmartWool banner […]
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 […]
Think Progress: Contrary To GOP Rhetoric, Low-Tax States Have Worse Economic Growth
March 1, 2013
(Original Post) By Pat Garofalo on Feb 28, 2013 at 3:45 pm Republicans love to claim that low-tax states such as Texas enjoy a disproportionate amount of economic success, while higher-tax states like California are economic basket cases. Republican governors in several states are using that rationale to propose gutting their state income taxes (and, […]
Laffer’s New Job Growth Factoid is All Rhetoric and No Substance
February 27, 2013 • By Carl Davis
A new talking point printed on the opinion page of The Wall Street Journal is proving irresistible to state lawmakers looking for an excuse to reduce or eliminate their states' income taxes: A new analysis by economist Art Laffer for the American Legislative Exchange Council finds that, from 2002 to 2012, 62% of the three million net new jobs in America were created in the nine states without an income tax, though these states account for only about 20% of the national population.
The Town Talk: Jindal’s plan to drop state income tax stirs debate
February 5, 2013
Feb 4, 2013 Written by Mike Hasten Gannett Louisiana BATON ROUGE — If legislators agree with Gov. Bobby Jindal’s plan to switch from personal and corporate income taxes, Louisiana would be in line with several states showing job growth. But it could prove to be costly for those not on the high end of the […]
Chicago Magazine: Illinois- The Fourth Most Regressive Taxes in America
January 30, 2013
(Original Post) Posted today at 11:21 a.m.By Whet Moser One of the ongoing complaints about Illinois’s tax system—besides general complaints about it being too high for everything—is its prairie flatness, which is unusual among states. One complaint is that it hits low-income taxpayers hardest (Naomi Jakobsson, D-Urbana, has proposed a graduated tax); the other is […]
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