We retired Tax Justice Blog in April 2017. For new content on issues related to tax justice, go to www.justtaxesblog.org
The Orlando Sentinel’s editorial board explains the “slow-motion disaster” that is Florida’s tax system, cataloging the lack of sales taxes on services (PDF) and online shopping taxes (PDF), and gasoline tax shortfalls (PDF), among others.
Special tax breaks for businesses frequently reward behavior that would have occurred anyway. The most recent examples come from Florida, where Publix, CSX, TECO Energy, NextEra Energy, and Mosaic Co. are seeking millions in tax breaks for capital spending they were already planning to undertake.
Online shopping in the DC-Metro area is about to become more expensive, according to this Washington Post article. Here’s why that’s a good thing for tax fairness, the Marketplace Fairness Act and state coffers.
Advocates for increasing the Arkansas severance tax rate on natural gas from 5 to 7 percent and eliminating exemptions turned in nearly 70,000 signatures on Friday. If the Secretary of State verifies enough signatures, the long overdue rate increase worth $250 million in annual revenues will be put on the November ballot.
Check out New Jersey Governor’s Chris Christie talk at the Brookings Institution today on “Restoring Fiscal Integrity and Accountability”. Christie used the first several minutes to give his view on the current tax cut standoff in the Garden State, claiming Democrats were playing politics by holding up his tax cut proposal (when in fact what they’re doing is the right thing).