We retired Tax Justice Blog in April 2017. For new content on issues related to tax justice, go to www.justtaxesblog.org
We’ve written a lot about plans to eliminate Missouri’s income tax and boost the sales tax instead, spearheaded by anti-tax mastermind Rex Sinquefield. He had hoped to put this radical plan before voters this November but the initiative’s advocates aren’t sure they can use the signatures they’ve gathered because of legal challenges. The awful policy implications of the Sinquefield plan aside, this article explains how the ballot initiative process in Missouri has gone kablooey in recent years. The 22 versions of the anti-income-tax initiative filed with the Secretary of State is in some ways an indictment of Missouri’s elected officials who have repeatedly refused to participate in serious tax reform debates.
With tax day just around the corner, Wisconsin Budget Project reminds us that working Wisconsinites who qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit will actually see fewer benefits this year thanks to draconian cuts in the credit passed in the 2011-13 budget.
Maryland’s Senate President says that lawmakers “have an agreement” on a package of progressive personal income tax increases, but that they simply ran out of time to pass that package before last night’s midnight deadline. Gov. O’Malley is expected to call a special session so that the increases can be enacted, but he has not done so yet.
Here’s a great read from The American Prospect that talks about the need to reform regressive state and local tax structures, citing ITEP research.
