Tennessee
Argus Leader: A lose-lose situation
January 7, 2013
(PDF of the Original Post) Karen Kraut • April 25, 2010 Imagine this: Your state has the option of reducing its residents’ combined federal tax bills by hundreds of millions of dollars a year while at the same time substantially reducing state taxes for 80 percent of its residents, but it chooses not to do […]
Northeast Pennsylvania Business Journal: Pennsylvania among ‘Terrible 10’ most regressive tax states
January 7, 2013
(PDF of the Original Post) STAFF REPORTPublished: November 19, 2009 Working families in Pennsylvania pay a far higher share of their income in state and local taxes than their wealthiest counterparts, according to a new study by the Institute on Taxation & Economic Policy (ITEP). In 2007, middle-class earners paid nearly double the share of […]
Las Vegas Review-Journal: Study makes case for state income tax
January 4, 2013
(PDF of Original Post) By ALAN CHOATELAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL Nevada’s lack of an income tax means state taxpayers are paying more than they should in federal income taxes, according to a study released Monday. Seven states that rely on sales taxes instead of an income tax could cut sales taxes while implementing an income tax […]
Columbia Missourian: ‘Fair tax’ gains traction in Missouri legislature
January 4, 2013
(PDF of Original Post) By Spencer WillemsMay 19, 2009 | 12:01 a.m. CDT COLUMBIA — Increasing frustration over Missouri’s 90-year-old income tax has prompted legislators to begin pushing an alternative that to date has been little more than a fringe issue on the national political scene. Although the proposal to let voters decide whether to […]
The St. Louis American: Prop A and the poor: Sinquefield’s tax policies would shift burden to sales tax and low-income
January 4, 2013
(PDF of Original Post) Posted: Friday, October 1, 2010 12:00 am Prop A and the poor: Sinquefield’s tax policies would shift burden to sales tax and low-income By Rebecca S. Rivas of The St. Louis American St. Louis American | 0 comments For Missourians who make $17,000 or less, about six percent of their income […]
Hawaii Independent: Hawaii needs to keep the GET hike proposal on the table
January 4, 2013
(PDF of Original Post) Mar 31, 2011 – 04:26 PM | by Josh Frost A 2009 study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, it was found that in Hawaii, people among the lowest 20 percent of income pay a significantly higher percentage of their income on “Sales and Excise” taxes than the top […]
Arkansas Times: Kicking the Poor Around
January 3, 2013
(PDF of Original Post) Kicking the poor around While Arkansas and five other states might be considered “low tax” states overall, their taxes aren’t low for poor and middle-income families, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a Washington think tank. ITEP looked at data released earlier this summer by the Census Bureau […]
The Birmingham News: Our View: Most Alabamians don’t get to celebrate having the nation’s lowest state and local taxes
December 21, 2012
(PDF of Original Post) By Birmingham News editorial boardNovember 08, 2009, 6:00AM Imagine that Nick Saban’s Alabama Crimson Tide wins the national championship this year, but only the special-team players — and not the majority of the team — get to celebrate. If you can imagine that, you get a better sense of what it […]
Kansas City Star: Momentum grows to swap income tax for sales tax in states
December 21, 2012
By DAVE HELLING Talk about a tax break. While all the attention this summer was focused on the federal debt and tax policy in Washington, some lawmakers and activists closer to home were quietly moving toward achieving a long-term goal: eliminating income taxes in Missouri and Kansas. “The time has come,” said Jonathan Williams, director […]
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Effort to kill Missouri income tax has begun in earnest
December 21, 2012
Original Post September 26, 2011 by Virginia Young JEFFERSON CITY • Wrestling with your state income tax return? Missouri legislators are weighing a plan that would do away with that chore. But before you celebrate, be aware that it’s not a tax cut. While state individual and corporate income taxes would be eliminated, the lost […]
Fox 4 TV News Kansas City: Will Kansas Eliminate Income Tax?
December 21, 2012
October 25, 2011 by John Pepitone and Christie Walton A new group wants Kansas to join nine other states that don’t have an individual income tax. Supporters claim states like Texas, Tennessee and Florida are growing faster and creating new jobs because they don’t have an income tax. A proposal to eliminate the state […]
Memphis Commercial Appeal: Study on corporate tax ‘dodgers’ names Memphis-based FedEx, Int’l Paper
December 19, 2012
WASHINGTON — Memphis-based FedEx Corp. paid no corporate income taxes in 2008 and International Paper Co. paid none last year, according to a study by Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy released Friday. By Bartholomew Sullivan Posted November 4, 2011 at 5:26 p.m., updated November 4, 2011 at 9:51 […]
Chattanooga Times: EDITORIAL: U.S. taxes unfair on multiple levels
December 19, 2012
So the issue isn’t so much whether there should be taxes at all, but whether our taxes are spent wisely and according to the limits laid down by the U.S. Constitution. Too often, of course, they aren’t. But many people also question whether taxes are levied fairly. Nearly half of American households pay no federal […]
Newsday: Cyber Monday is bad biz for states
December 19, 2012
(Original Post) Originally published: November 25, 2011 3:41 PM Updated: November 28, 2011 12:01 AM By MATTHEW GARDNER Matthew Gardner is executive director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization in Washington. With the holiday season now in full swing, why are so many Main Street retailers down in […]
The Tennessean: Dollar General, Community Health are tax dodgers, report says
December 19, 2012
Dollar General Corp. and Community Health Systems are among Fortune 500 companies in Tennessee using loopholes to avoid paying their fair share of state corporate income taxes, according to a new report from two tax policy think tanks. Nationwide, corporate tax avoidance by 265 corporations cost all states $42 billion in lost revenues in the […]
Nashville Scene: Memphis Multinational Company Skirts Taxes
December 19, 2012
(Original Post) Posted by Jonathan Meador on Wed, Dec 7, 2011 at 12:44 PM Memphis-based International Pulp and Paper paid no state income taxes in 2008 and 2010, according to data released today by the nonprofit Citizens for Tax Justice. The data, included in the CTJ’s “Corporate Tax Dodging in the Fifty States, 2008-2010″ report, […]
The American Independent: Arthur Laffer’s dynamic roadshow
December 18, 2012
(Original Post) Siddhartha Mahanta | 12.18.12 | 1:24 pm | Republishposted in Economy/Finance | Government Accountability/Reform | Politics On January 19 of this year, Kansas state Sen. Julia Lynn offered an exuberant greeting to renowned tax-cutting enthusiast Arthur Laffer. “What an honor and privilege to have you here in Kansas,” Lynn said, welcoming the fabled […]
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 […]
The Tennessean: Activists hold bake sale to make point about Tennessee taxes
December 17, 2012
(Original Post) Posted on April 17, 2012 by Chas Sisk Tennesseans for Fair Taxation, a group that advocates a state income tax, never seems to give up. The legislature may be no mood to consider an income tax (video), but TFT was outside Legislative Plaza today with a ploy to win them over. Members of […]
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 […]
Think Progress: Having No Income Tax Gives States No Economic Boost
December 17, 2012
(Original Post) By Pat Garofalo on Jun 26, 2012 at 10:30 am According to a report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, states without an income tax received no discernible boost in growth over the last decade compared to states with relatively high income taxes. Lacking an income tax provided no boost to […]
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 […]
Since Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam proposed reducing the state’s estate tax in February, Tennessee lawmakers have shown increasing interest in this idea. Recently, a House subcommittee one-upped the governor by approving a bill that would gradually repeal the tax outright. House Speaker Beth Harwell explained this move by noting that “[w]e know this tax drives […]
Tennessee is a Low Tax State, But Not for Families Living in Poverty
August 14, 2011 • By Meg Wiehe
Data from the Census Bureau shows that overall, Tennessee could be considered a “low tax state.” However, families living near or below the poverty line generally do not experience Tennessee as a low tax state — instead, they pay more than their fair share of state and local taxes. Read the Full Report (PDF)
States Should Not Allow Amazon.com to Bully Them into Forgoing Sales Tax Reform
April 14, 2011 • By Carl Davis
In just the last few weeks, Arkansas and Illinois joined New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island in enacting legislation requiring some online retailers, like Amazon.com, to collect sales taxes on purchases made by their state’s residents. Vermont’s House of Representatives recently passed similar legislation, and Arizona, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New […]
