We retired Tax Justice Blog in April 2017. For new content on issues related to tax justice, go to www.justtaxesblog.org
Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin is not backing down from her quest to phase out the Sooner State’s personal income tax. Despite her best efforts, lawmakers adjourned earlier this summer after defeating every single tax cut proposal (more than half a dozen serious versions) debated during the session. But in an interview with the Wall Street Journal’s Stephen Moore (a frequent collaborator with Governor Fallin’s tax advisor, supply-sider Arthur Laffer) the governor vowed, “[w]e are going to get that tax cut done next year.”
Hear, Hear! The Cleveland Plain Dealer editorializes that Ohio Governor John Kasich shouldn’t reduce income taxes anymore and should “leave Ohio’s income tax alone.” The Governor first tried (and failed) to pay for income tax cuts through increased fracking taxes, and now through increases in the sales tax. The progressive income tax (PDF) is the only major revenue source directly linked to a taxpayer’s ability to pay and the income tax can help to offset regressive sales and property taxes.
Wyoming’s gas tax is low by historical standards and shrinking, but perhaps not for long. Members of an interim legislative committee on revenues approved a draft bill to increase the rate from 14 to 24 cents per gallon, which would raise an additional $72 million annually for road construction and repair. It’s only one of several fixes Wyoming should make to restructure its gas tax, including, as the experts at Equality State Policy Center point out, provisions to “reduce the effect on lower-income residents in Wyoming” of a gas tax increase.