Vermont
Al Jazeera America: America’s crumbling infrastructure desperately needs funding
January 17, 2014
(Original Post) by Patrick J. Natale January 17, 2014 Congress should act now to avoid a transportation fiscal cliff in 2015 Last month, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon) introduced the Update, Promote and Develop America’s Transportation Essentials (UPDATE) Act. The proposed bill lays out a clear roadmap on how to restore and modernize America’s surface transportation […]
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 […]
Shreveport Times: Taxes – Where is Louisiana?
November 18, 2013
Nov. 15, 2013 Written by Tommy Williams Special to The Times Right now, inflation is not meeting expectations — and that may be a good thing. Critics of the prevailing monetary policy and low interest rates have predicted inflation will rise. Martin Feldstein, president of the National Bureau for Economic Research, explained in 2012 that […]
Gas tax revenues are on an unsustainable course. Over the last five years, Congress has transferred more than $53 billion from the general fund to the transportation fund in order to compensate for lagging gas tax revenues. By 2015, the transportation fund will be insolvent unless an additional $15 billion transfer is made. Larger transfers will be needed in subsequent years.
Washington Post: The state that taxes the poor the most is… a blue one
September 23, 2013
(Original Post) By Niraj Chokshi, Published: September 21 at 10:00 am The state that easily handed President Obama a victory last November while passing voter-approved referendums legalizing same-sex marriage and marijuana consumption also happens to have the nation’s highest tax burden on the poor. Poor families in Washington state pay 16.9 percent of their total […]
New Census Bureau data released this month show that the share of Americans living in poverty remains high, despite other signs of economic recovery. The national 2012 poverty rate of 15 percent is essentially unchanged since 2010 , but still 2.5 percentage points higher than pre-recession levels. This means that in 2012, 46.5 million, or about 1 in 6 Americans, lived in poverty.1 The poverty rate in most states also held steady with five states experiencing an increase in either the number or share of residents living in poverty while only two states saw a decline.2
PBS: How Low Can They Go? Arthur Laffer Defends Slashing State Income Taxes
August 1, 2013
In this 2012 Making Sen$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.
Sales Tax Holidays: An Ineffective Alternative to Real Sales Tax Reform
July 24, 2013 • By Meg Wiehe
Sales taxes are an important revenue source, comprising close to half of all state revenues in 2012. But sales taxes are also inherently regressive because the lower a family's income, the more of its income the family must spend on things subject to the tax.
Stateline: Immigration Overhaul Could Bring States, Localities $2 Billion a Year
July 10, 2013
(Original Post) By Daniel C. Vock, Staff Writer Fiso Kilifi of western Samoa stands for the Pledge of Allegiance during the ceremony to become a U.S. citizen. (AP) States and localities could collect an extra $2 billion a year in taxes from immigrants—on top of $10.6 billion they get already—if Congress overhauls the country’s […]
CNN Money: Just in Time for the Holiday, 8 States Raise Gas Taxes
July 2, 2013
(Original Post) POSTED BY RYAN HOLEYWELL | JULY 1, 2013 Drivers hitting the road for the Independence Day holiday will encounter higher gas taxes in eight states, according to data compiled by Citizens For Tax Justice. While the changes could frustrate drivers — if they notice the slight hikes — there’s a silver lining: many […]
Triangle Business Journal: N.C. gas tax rises to 37.6 cents a gallon
July 1, 2013
(Original Post) Jul 1, 2013, 3:57pm EDT Logistics & Transportation Chris Bagley Staff Writer- Triangle Business Journal North Carolina increased its motor fuels tax to its second-highest level in history on Monday. The increase was small, just one-tenth of a cent per gallon, but the 37.6-cents-per-gallon level is second only to the 38.9 cents per […]
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 […]
MSN News: Two-thirds of Americans oppose gas tax hikes
April 24, 2013
(Original Post) According to Gallup, Americans may object to increasing gas prices while the economy is still unstable. By Douglas Newcomb As state legislatures across the U.S. debate whether to raise gas taxes to repair crumbling roads, a new Gallup poll finds that two-thirds of Americans would vote against gas tax hikes in their home […]
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 […]
Public Assets Institute: Vermont Has Options to Raise Revenue for Smart Investments
March 20, 2013
Gov. Peter Shumlin has the right idea when he says we should invest in expanding the availability of child care for working Vermonters. However, it just doesn’t make sense to take money from low-wage working families to pay for this initiative. Other changes to Vermont’s income tax code could produce about as much revenue as […]
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 […]
WFAE: As N.C. Considers Tax Overhaul, How Does Current System Work?
February 21, 2013
(Original Post) By Michael Tomsic Governor Pat McCrory and state lawmakers are considering major changes to North Carolina’s tax structure. So we decided to take a closer look at a report released Wednesday detailing the effective tax rates currently in place. It’s from the liberal-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy in Washington, D.C. […]
VT Digger: Hoffman- Who pays?
February 21, 2013
(Original Post) by Opinion | February 20, 2013 Editor’s note: This op-ed is by Jack Hoffman, a senior policy analyst at Public Assets Institute, a non-profit, non-partisan organization focusing on state fiscal issues and based in Montpelier. It was first published in the Burlington Free Press on Feb. 14. Vermont has long been known for […]
Times Argus: Jack Hoffman- Who pays?
February 19, 2013
February 18,2013 Vermont has long been known for its progressive income tax system. For a couple of reasons, it makes sense to tax higher incomes at higher rates. Those who benefit most from society have a responsibility to contribute more, and those with more discretionary income — what’s left after covering taxes and necessities — […]
Burlington Free Press: Who pays in Vermont? The bottom
February 15, 2013
Lowest-income Vermonters bear heavier tax burden by percentage, despite progressive income tax system Feb 14, 2013 Written by Jack Hoffman Vermont has long been known for its progressive income tax system. For a couple of reasons, it makes sense to tax higher incomes at higher rates. Those who benefit most from society have a responsibility […]
Montgomery Advertiser: Alabama’s tax system among most regressive in nation, says report
January 30, 2013
State not alone: ‘Virtually every state’s tax system is fundamentally unfair’ Written by Brian Lyman Jan. 30, 2013 11:17 AM, | Alabama’s tax system ranks as one of the ten most regressive in the country, according to a report issued Wednesday by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a non-partisan think tank based in […]
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 […]
The Hill: State tax systems regressive
January 30, 2013
(Original Post) By Bernie Becker – 01/30/13 07:02 AM ET Practically every state charges a higher share of taxes from lower- and middle-class families than the highest earners, a new study from a liberal-leaning group found. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that the bottom 20 percent of earners paid an effective tax […]
USA Today: Time to tweak gas taxes? States weigh options
January 25, 2013
(Original Post) Larry Copeland, USA TODAY7:47a.m. EST January 25, 2013 A great tax debate is breaking out in state capitals from Vermont to Texas: How do we maintain and expand our vital-but-aging networks of roads, bridges and urban transit systems? For nearly a century, the nation has funded projects primarily with revenue from gasoline taxes. […]
