State Rundown 3/28: All’s Well That Ends Well

Thanks for reading the State Rundown! Here’s a sneak peek: Georgia and Idaho lawmakers say no to income tax cuts. The Vermont House passes a budget and tax package. Maryland’s Senate fails to move on manufacturing tax cuts. Nebraska’s legislature advances the governor’s property tax proposal with amendments.

– Carl Davis, ITEP Research Director

Georgia lawmakers ended their legislative session last week without passing a regressive package of income tax cuts. The Senate had passed two bills that together would have cut the top state income tax rate by more than 10 percent, but the House never took the bills up after Gov. Nathan Deal refused to support them. Deal argued that the cutting the income tax, the state’s largest revenue generator, would lead credit agencies to downgrade Georgia’s AAA bond rating. An ITEP analysis also revealed (PDF) that over half the cuts would have gone to the top one-fifth of Georgia earners.

Idaho lawmakers rejected a lopsided income tax cut of their own last week. On Friday the state legislature adjourned without passing any reductions to the state’s graduated income tax rates. Earlier this year an ITEP analysis of one such proposal revealed that while most Idahoans would have seen their taxes fall by $35 or less under the plan, high-income households would have received a benefit of over $800. Ultimately, the legislature prioritized enhanced funding for education over tax cuts.

The Vermont House passed a package of budget and tax bills for FY 2017 last week, sending the state budget to their colleagues in the Senate for consideration. The $5.77 billion budget includes investments in the state college system, access to child care, and community health services. Lawmakers passed a 3.3 percent provider tax on ambulance agencies to pay for an increase in reimbursement rates for ambulance services under Medicaid. An effort to impose a 92 percent tax on e-cigarettes passed out of committee but died on the floor.

Efforts to create tax incentives for manufacturers in Maryland failed this session despite backing from the governor and senior legislators. SB 181, sponsored by Sen. Roger Manno, and SB 386, championed by Gov. Larry Hogan, would have established Manufacturing Development Zones. Under the bills, new manufacturers who located in the zones would pay no corporate income tax and new employees earning less than $65,000 would pay no personal income tax for a designated period of time. New manufacturers could also apply to counties for a property tax waiver. Hogan’s bill would have applied only to poorer jurisdictions, while Manno’s measure would have been piloted in seven counties. Both bills failed to move out of the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee after established manufacturers complained the provisions would hurt their business.

Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts’ plan to cut property taxes got a boost this week when an overhauled version passed the Revenue Committee on a unanimous vote. The proposal would increase property tax credits for farm and ranchland owners by $30 million next fiscal year. The bill has received criticism from both sides. Organizations representing farmers and rural interests said the bill doesn’t go far enough, while Renee Fry of the OpenSky Policy Institute (and ITEP’s Board of Directors) warned that it would reduce state revenues and hamper education funding.

If you like what you are seeing in the Rundown (or even if you don’t) please send any feedback or tips for future posts to Sebastian Johnson at sdpjohnson@itep.org. Click here to sign up to receive the Rundown via email.