Virginia
State tax debates have been very active this week. Efforts to eliminate the income tax continue in West Virginia. Policymakers in many states are responding to revenue shortfalls in very different ways: some in Iowa, Mississippi, and Nebraska seek to dig the hole even deeper with tax cuts, while the Missouri House’s response has been […]
Tax Justice Digest: New Eight-Year Data Reveals Corporations Aren’t Paying Their Fair Share
March 9, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
In the Tax Justice Digest we recap the latest reports, blog posts, and analyses from Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Here’s a rundown of what we’ve been working on lately. New Study Explores the 35 Percent Corporate Tax Myth A comprehensive, eight-year study of profitable Fortune 500 corporations […]
This week brings more news of states considering reforms to their consumption taxes, on everything from gasoline in South Carolina and Tennessee, to marijuana in Pennsylvania, to groceries in Idaho and Utah, and to practically everything in West Virginia. Meanwhile, the fiscal fallout of Kansas’s failed ‘tax experiment’ has new consequences as the state’s Supreme […]
Fayette Tribune: Miss Liberty Needs to Smile Again
March 8, 2017
Over the past two years, the buzz word in the gilded halls has been “economic development.” But “economic development” has been an excuse for more “supply-side” business incentives and tax breaks which are nothing more than subsidies and do little good, according to a study by the institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. What is […]
American Prospect: How States Turn K-12 Scholarships Into Money-Laundering Schemes
March 3, 2017
This article was originally published in The American Prospect. By Carl Davis Politicians have long had a knack for framing policy proposals, however controversial, in terms that make them more palatable to voters. This is why unpopular tax cuts for the wealthy are often sold as plans to “invest” in America or to stimulate “growth.” […]
Connecticut Voices for Children: Testimony Regarding Estate and Gift Taxes and Exempting Retirement Income: SB 5, SB 58, HB 6358, SB 6, SB 272, HB 6558, and HB 5587
March 3, 2017
Exemptions to Pensions and Social Security – Exempting retirement income would not only cause immediate revenue deterioration, but given the state’s aging population, could threaten long-term adequacy of the income tax. According to the University of Virginia’s Demographics’ Research Group, Connecticut’s share of individuals age 65 and older is expected to increase rapidly from 14 […]
State Rundown 3/1: Will Tax Cut Proposals Be “In Like a Lion, Out Like A Lamb”?
March 1, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
Tax cuts have been proposed in many states already this year, but amid so much uncertainty, it remains to be seen how successful those efforts will be. This week saw one dangerous, largely regressive tax cut proposal move in Georgia, new budget proposals in Louisiana and New Jersey, a new plan to close West Virginia‘s […]
Undocumented Immigrants’ State & Local Tax Contributions
March 1, 2017 • By Lisa Christensen Gee, Meg Wiehe, Misha Hill
Public debates over federal immigration reform, specifically around undocumented immigrants, often suffer from insufficient and inaccurate information about the tax contributions of undocumented immigrants, particularly at the state level. The truth is that undocumented immigrants living in the United States paybillions of dollars each year in state and local taxes. Further, these tax contributions would increase significantly if all undocumented immigrants currently living in the United States were granted a pathway to citizenship as part of comprehensive immigration reform. Or put in the reverse, if undocumented immigrants are deported in high numbers, state and local revenues could take a substantial…
Evidence Counts: A Marriage Not Made in Heaven: A State EITC Without an Income Tax
February 28, 2017
Last Friday, the Senate Select Committee on Tax Reform explored the idea of amending SB 335 to include a version of a refundable state Earned Income Tax Credit. As noted previously, SB 335 would replace the personal and corporate income tax, along with the sales and use tax, with a general consumption tax of 8 […]
A recently introduced Senate Bill in West Virginia (SB 335) would ultimately eliminate the state’s personal and corporate income taxes, do away with the sales and use tax, and reduce the state’s severance tax. Under the plan, the revenue lost from this assortment of diverse taxes would be replaced by an 8 percent broad-based general […]
Tax Justice Digest: The Problems with a Border Adjustment Tax
February 24, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
In the Tax Justice Digest we recap the latest reports, blog posts, and analyses from Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Here’s a rundown of what we’ve been working on lately. Regressive and Loophole-Ridden: Issues with the House GOP Border Adjustment Tax Proposal In recent weeks, the Republican congressional […]
This week saw a nearly successful attempt to right the fiscal ship in Kansas; regressive tax proposals introduced in WestVirginia, Georgia, and Missouri; ongoing gas tax fights in Indiana, South Carolina, and Tennessee; and further tax and budget wrangling in Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and beyond. — Meg Wiehe, ITEP State Policy Director, @megwiehe Both […]
West Virginia Metro News: Debate Over Repealing W. Va’s Income Tax Begins
February 22, 2017
States best equipped to make a move like this are those that have an influx of wealth, said Carl Davis, an analyst for the national Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. “Unless you’re in a situation like Alaska and you manage to stumble onto a huge pot of new tax revenue, income tax repeal involves […]
West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy: Income Tax Elimination is a Poor Growth Strategy
February 20, 2017
Unfazed by a $600 million looming budget deficit, plans by some lawmakers to reduce or eliminate West Virginia’s state income tax — which would mostly benefit the wealthiest residents — and replace it with a sales tax hike are unlikely to produce the economic growth supporter’s claim. Instead it would dramatically shift tax responsibilities from […]
Evidence Counts: Replacing Income Taxes with a General Consumption Tax is Radical and Regressive (SB 335)
February 20, 2017
Senate leadership introduced SB 335 which would abolish the personal income tax and sales and use tax, phase out the corporate income tax, lower the severance tax, and replace these taxes with an 8 percent broad-based general consumption or sales tax. While it is unclear whether this tax shift would be revenue neutral, it would dramatically […]
West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy: What Would Eliminating the Income Tax Mean for West Virginia?
February 17, 2017
Eliminating the income tax is a strategy that has been tried over and over in other states with little or nothing to show, other than revenue erosion that brings cuts in support for schools, transportation and other true building blocks of broad prosperity. A better course for West Virginia would be to reform the tax […]
West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy: Replacing Income Tax with Sales Tax is a Boon for the Wealthy
February 15, 2017
Scale back income tax exemptions – Every taxpayer regardless of income receives a $2,000 exemption for each dependent. Phase it out between $150,000-$200,000, and eliminate it for those over $200,000, and it would increase revenue by an estimated $10 million. PowerPoint presentation available here
What to Watch in the States: Modernizing Sales Taxes for a 21st Century Economy
February 15, 2017 • By Misha Hill
This is the fourth installment of our six-part series on 2017 state tax trends. The introduction to this series is available here. State lawmakers often find themselves looking for ways to raise revenue to fund vital public services, fill budget gaps, or pay for the elimination or weakening of progressive taxes. Lately, that search has […]
This week we are following a number of significant proposals being debated or introduced including reinstating the income tax in Alaska and eliminating the tax in West Virginia, establishing a regressive tax-cut trigger in Nebraska, restructuring the Illinois sales tax, moving New Mexico to a flat income tax and broader gross receipts tax, and updating […]
West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy: Income Tax Cuts and Shifting to Sales Tax a Poor Strategy for Growing West Virginia’s Economy
February 15, 2017
Even though faced with a $600 million budget deficit, some West Virginia lawmakers are proposing reducing or eliminating the state’s income tax, and replacing that lost revenue with an increase in the sales tax. This plan is unlikely to produce the economic growth, instead it dramatically shifts tax responsibility responsibilities from the wealthy onto low […]
State Rundown 2/8: Lessons of Kansas Tax-Cut Disaster Taking Hold in Kansas, Still Lost on Some in Other States
February 8, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
This week we bring news of Kansas lawmakers attempting to fix ill-advised tax cuts that have wreaked havoc on the state’s budget and schools, while their counterparts in Nebraska and Idaho debate bills that would create similar problems for their own states, as well as tax cuts in Arkansas that were proven unaffordable within one […]
This is the second installment of our six part series on 2017 state tax trends. The introduction to this series is available here. State tax policy can be a divisive issue, but no area has generated more agreement among lawmakers across the country than the need to raise new revenues to fund infrastructure improvements. The […]
What to Watch in the States: Further Attempts to Weaken or Eliminate Progressive Taxes
February 2, 2017 • By Aidan Davis
This is the third installment of our six-part series on 2017 state tax trends. The introduction to this series is available here. As we described last week, many states are gearing up for challenging budget debates this year. But the need to address revenue shortfalls has not stopped lawmakers in many states from pursuing harmful […]
Below is a list of notable resources for information on state taxes and revenues: Alabama Alabama Department of Revenue Alabama Department of Finance – Executive Budget Office Alabama Department of Revenue – Tax Incentives for Industry Alabama Legislative Fiscal Office Alaska Alaska Department of Revenue – Tax Division Alaska Office of Management & Budget Alaska […]
Over the next few weeks we will be blogging about what we’re watching in state tax policy during 2017 legislative sessions. In this “What to Watch in the States” series, we will look at the following: State responses to short- and long-term revenue deficits Boosting funding for infrastructure, though sometimes at the expense of other […]
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