Washington
Washington State Budget and Policy Center: The Working Families Tax Rebate
January 14, 2013
Washington State is in a deep economic recession. Working families are struggling to make ends meet as more and more people lose their jobs, their homes, and their health insurance. Businesses are struggling to survive as consumer spending plummets. An unprecedented state budget deficit threatens to make the situation worse. Legislators have responded to the […]
Economic Opportunity Institute: An Income Tax for Washington: Questions and Answers
January 14, 2013
Washington State has been losing ground on education for 15 years, slipping towards the bottom of national rankings in class size and school funding. Our children, workers, and businesses deserve better. The recession highlights how difficult it is to raise additional revenues to maintain and improve public services, given Washington’s outmoded and regressive tax structure. […]
Washington State Budget and Policy Center: Balancing Adequacy and Equity in Washington State’s Property Tax
January 14, 2013
Public education, fire protection, emergency medical services, parks, criminal justice, hospitals: all highpriority public services that are funded by the property tax. Washington can ensure adequate funding for these programs the public demands and address the inequities in the system. Read the Original Full Report
Washington State Budget and Policy Center: Increasing the Sales Tax and Funding the Working Families Tax Rebate
January 14, 2013
In our new Policy Brief, the Budget & Policy Center recommends temporarily increasing the sales tax and fully funding the Working Families Tax Rebate. If enacted, this proposal would help maintain our shared investments in education, health care, the environment, and safer communities, while reducing costs for low-income working families. Read the Full Report (PDF)
Washington State Budget & Policy Center: A Capital Reform
January 14, 2013
To create jobs, spur long-term economic growth, and foster prosperity, Washington state desperately needs to rebuild its eroding education, public health, and community safety infrastructure. Our state has a powerful, but untapped resource to accomplish this: capital gains. A modest tax on some capital gains would help fuel economic recovery and opportunity for future generations […]
Lewiston Morning Tribune: Slapped Down
January 8, 2013
(PDF of Original Post) LEWISTON MORNING TRIBUNE, IDAHO | Fri, Mar 12, 11:16 AM Mar. 12–CHEERS … to Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire. When Idaho Gov. C.L. (Butch) Otter ridiculed the Evergreen State’s refusal to gut every last program in the name of avoiding any and all tax increases, Gregoire slapped him down. With good cause. […]
Olympia Newswire: Tax Relief Without Budget Cuts?- New Report Details How WA Taxpayers Could Save Hundreds of Millions
January 8, 2013
(PDF of Original Post) By Trevor Griffey • on April 15, 2010 Washington state taxpayers are paying hundreds of millions more in taxes than they need to, according to a new study from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy and United for a Fair Economy. The report, “Leaving Money on the Table,” which was […]
The Seattle Times: Initiative 1077 would make state taxes fairer and create opportunity
January 8, 2013
(PDF of Original Post) By Bill Gates SrSpecial to The Times THIS year, a typical middle-class family in our state will pay more than 11 percent of its hard-earned income in state and local taxes. Poor families will pay at an even higher rate. Hundreds of thousands of small businesses, already struggling in the current […]
The Seattle Examiner: A fix to Washington’s broken revenue system
January 8, 2013
(PDF of Original Post) May 24, 7:42 PM · Russ Lehman – Seattle Public Policy Examiner Examiner 5/24/10 There’s a proposed state initiative out getting signatures right now striving to qualify for the fall ballot. The measure, I-1098, is intended to, as the sponsors say, “make our tax code more fair”. Bill Gates, Sr., the […]
The News Tribune: Ballot measure gives us chance to fix budget for good
January 8, 2013
(PDF of Original Post) KATIE BAIRD Last updated: August 15th, 2010 12:02 PM (PDT) Should we be upset that Congress has just promised Washington an extra $526 million? Not I nor, I think, will others whose kids go to our public schools, who use Medicaid for health insurance or have a parent in a nursing […]
The Olympian: Piecemeal tax approach doesn’t go far enough to fix system
January 8, 2013
(PDF of Original Post) THE OLYMPIAN Ten years ago Bill Gates Sr., father of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Jr., headed an independent commission that recommended an income tax for Washington state. That study has rested on some shelf gathering dust for the last decade. Lawmakers have ignored it in the belief that an income tax […]
McClatchy Washington Bureau: One rich guy who wants to pay higher taxes: Bill Gates Sr.
January 8, 2013
(PDF of Original Post) Brad Shannon | Tacoma News Tribune last updated: January 18, 2011 07:24:02 PM Bill Gates Sr., the retired lawyer and wealthy father of the Microsoft co-founder, thinks Washington state’s tax system is out of whack and needs repair. The poor pay too much tax, the rich pay too little, Gates says. […]
KEPR TV: WA Pays Highest Cell Phone Tax in Nation
January 8, 2013
(PDF of Original Post) By Chelsea Kopta Story Published: Jan 25, 2011 at 5:46 PM PST PASCO, Wash. — Perhaps nothing is certain in Washington State but taxes and complaining about taxes. Now there’s a new hike to gripe about: your cell phone. Cell phones are the tax man’s latest target. And if you didn’t […]
The Charleston Gazette: N.E. Editorial Roundup
January 8, 2013
(PDF of Original Post) November 30, 2009N.E. Editorial Roundup The Associated Press Rutland Herald, Rutland, Vt., Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2009: The economic recovery is not occurring as quickly as previously hoped, according to the latest economic reports, which means that when legislators convene in January, the job before them will be daunting. Last week legislators […]
Richmond Times-Dispatch: States Taxing the Rich: A Very Bad or Good Idea
January 8, 2013
(PDF of Original Post) NEAL PEIRCE © WASHINGTON POST WRITERS GROUPPublished: September 20, 2009 WASHINGTON In a dramatic break from tax trends of recent decades, eight states have voted this year to push up the percentages of income that their wealthiest citizens must pay. Connecticut is the latest to take this step, following Delaware, Hawaii, […]
Rutland Herald: Tax inequities
January 8, 2013
(PDF of Original Post) The economic recovery is not occurring as quickly as previously hoped, according to the latest economic reports, which means that when legislators convene in January, the job before them will be daunting. Last week legislators acknowledged that state government faces an $88 million deficit in the coming budget cycle, even without […]
Salt Lake City Weekly: 9 Reasons the Rich Get Richer
January 8, 2013
(PDF of Original Post) A tax expert’s story on tax myths may not be sexy, but it could arouse you—and not in a good way. By David Cay Johnston Posted // April 13,2011 – For three decades, we have conducted a massive economic experiment, testing a theory known as supply-side economics. The theory goes like […]
Dallas Morning News: Report: Poor Texans shoulder heavy tax burden
January 8, 2013
(PDF of Original Post) 07:44 AM CST on Thursday, November 19, 2009 By ROBERT T. GARRETT / The Dallas Morning [email protected] AUSTIN – Texas’ low-income residents bear heavier tax burdens than their counterparts in all but four other states, a new study shows. The bottom fifth of Texas earners pay just over 12 percent of […]
Politifact: Paul Krugman says poorest 40 percent of Texans pay more in Texas than national average
January 8, 2013
(PDF of Original Post) Paul Krugman on Monday, February 28th, 2011 in an op-ed column. Paul Krugman says poorest 40 percent of Texans pay more in Texas than national average New York Times columnist Paul Krugman sees Texas as a model for how things might be going wrong across the nation and in his latest […]
The Commercial Appeal: Report says Tennessee’s tax system among nation’s most regressive
January 8, 2013
(PDF of Original Post) By Richard Locker Originally published 11:28 a.m., November 18, 2009Updated 12:07 a.m., November 19, 2009 NASHVILLE — The Tennessee tax system is the fourth most regressive among the states, with lower-income families paying a higher portion of their income in state and local taxes than do more affluent households, according to […]
Chattanooga Times Free Press: Liberal group raps state tax regressivity
January 7, 2013
(PDF of Original Post) By: Andy Sher Thursday, November 19, 2009 NASHVILLE — The Tennessee and Alabama tax systems are among the nation’s worst when it comes to favoring the rich over the poor and middle class, according to a study by a Washington-based research organization. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a liberalleaning […]
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 […]
The Times and Democrat: Taxation impact to be considered on all levels
January 7, 2013
(PDF of the Original Post) Monday, November 30, 2009 ISSUE: S.C. taxes OUR VIEW: Impact across the spectrum must be considered Talk of tax reform is an annual event ahead of the Legislature’s return in January. Gov. Mark Sanford has consistently called for lowering the income tax by increasing the tax on cigarettes. He will […]
Providence Business News: Op-Ed: Governor’s plan is irresponsible
January 7, 2013
(PDF of the Original Post) Guest Column: Jeff McLynch In recent remarks, first to a gathering of the nation’s mayors and then again before a collection of governors from across the country, President Barack Obama issued stern warnings to local officials about the use of the billions of dollars in federal stimulus funds they 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 […]
