We retired Tax Justice Blog in April 2017. For new content on issues related to tax justice, go to www.justtaxesblog.org
A Missouri child advocacy group is planning on lobbying for an extension of the “Children in Crisis” tax credit during the upcoming legislative session. But Missouri doesn’t need more tax breaks, even if they are designed with noble causes in mind. Instead, lawmakers should be looking at ways to sustainably raise enough revenue to adequately support children’s programs so they don’t have to resort to special tax breaks.
Some Wisconsin lawmakers continue to insist that Wisconsin’s progressive income taxes are too complex and unfair and that the best remedy is a flatter tax structure with a single rate. But this post from the Wisconsin Budget Project reminds us that moving to a flatter income tax structure “would benefit the biggest earners and could raise taxes for people in the working class.” Flatter does not mean fairer.
In their brief arguing for increasing the state’s earned income tax credit, the Louisiana Budget Project (LBP) cites Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) data showing how the state’s tax structure asks low income families to pay more taxes as a share of their income than wealthier Louisianans. LBP advocates doubling the state’s current 3.5 percent tax credit saying, “the benefits for Louisiana families and children are proven.”
We’ve made the case for why tax breaks for big oil and gas companies should be repealed at the federal level, and now the Oklahoma Policy Institute has weighed in with their take on why state tax breaks for oil and gas should be jettisoned as well. According to the Institute, “Oklahoma’s oil and gas companies have ranked tax incentives as the least important factor affecting drilling decisions,” and offering these breaks is therefore unnecessarily “squeezing out resources for schools, roads, public safety, and other keys to long-term economic growth.”