February 5, 2016 11:33 AM By Carl Davis, Research Director at ITEP | Permalink | In the coming days, President Obama will officially unveil a plan to fund major enhancements to transit, rail, and other infrastructure projects with a $10 tax per barrel of crude oil. While the tax would initially fall on oil companies, […]
February 2, 2016 02:40 PM By Sebastian Johnson, State Policy Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | Thanks for reading this Groundhog day edition of the State Rundown. Today we are taking a close look at developments in Oklahoma, Kansas, and Indiana. There’s a link below to an especially good editorial in The Witchita Eagle outlining critiques of Kansas Governor Brownback’s […]
February 1, 2016 04:28 PM By Dylan Grundman, Senior Analyst at ITEP | Permalink | This is the second installment of our six part series on 2016 state tax trends. An overview of the various tax policy trends included in this series is here. A number of states are experiencing much-welcome revenue surpluses this year, […]
February 1, 2016 04:07 PM By Matt Gardner, Senior Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | Is offshore tax avoidance a victimless crime? That was the question underlying my recent visit to the Cayman Islands, where I spent a whirlwind weekend helping to film a BBC2 documentary on the real-world impact of tax havens on economic […]
January 29, 2016 12:16 PM By Kelly Davis, Assistant Director of Communications | Permalink | Read the Tax Justice Digest for recent reports, posts, and analyses from Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Our office survived the blizzard and got busy analyzing tax policies far and wide – take a […]
January 29, 2016 11:31 AM By Matt Gardner, Senior Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | Tax laws were good to the International Speedway in 2015. The company released its annual report this week, which reveals it’s just as fine a purveyor of tax dodging as it is race car driving. The company reports earning $73 […]
January 28, 2016 04:51 PM By Jenice Robinson, Communications Director | Permalink | The Michigan legislature just approved a $28 million appropriation to provide immediate aid in response to the water crisis in Flint, Mich., where vulnerable children and families have been poisoned by toxic lead. This avoidable crisis partly has roots in the misguided […]
January 28, 2016 03:01 PM By Aidan Russell Davis, Senior Analyst at ITEP | Permalink | CTJ and ITEP are joining in the effort to promote the EITC Awareness Day outreach campaign as it celebrates its 10th anniversary. Over the past decade, the IRS has joined partners nationwide to ensure that low- and moderate-income workers […]
January 28, 2016 01:53 PM By Sebastian Johnson, State Policy Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | Click Here to sign up to receive the State Rundown in your inbox. New Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin delivered his first State of the Commonwealth address on Tuesday, forgoing tax cuts he promised during the campaign because in his words, the state “can’t afford them […]
January 28, 2016 09:18 AM By Carl Davis, Research Director at ITEP | Permalink | Starting Monday February 1st, Amazon.com will begin collecting sales tax from its customers in Colorado. Once this happens, the company will be collecting sales tax in a total of 28 states—including 19 of the 20 most populous states in the country. […]
January 26, 2016 03:13 PM By Meg Wiehe, Deputy Director at ITEP | Permalink | State legislative sessions are about to begin in earnest.We expect tax policies to get major playin statehouses across the nation this year with many states facing revenue surpluses for the first time in years and others having to grapple with closing […]
January 26, 2016 12:06 PM By Matt Gardner, Senior Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | As the nation’s capital remained blanketed in nearly two feet of powdery snow Monday, Wisconsin-based manufacturer Johnson Controls announced its own attempt at a snow job: a proposed corporate inversion with Ireland-based Tyco (yes, that Tyco), which would move Johnson’s […]
January 25, 2016 02:58 PM By Sebastian Johnson, State Policy Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin proposed two tax increases in his State of the State address to help close a projected revenue gap of more than $350 million in the current fiscal year. The governor plans to ask lawmakers to increase the tax on tobacco […]
January 25, 2016 12:42 PM By Meg Wiehe, Deputy Director at ITEP | Permalink | By now, the budget crisis in Louisiana is the stuff of legend. Driven by former Gov. Bobby Jindal’s nearsighted tax policies (all cuts and no investments) and exacerbated by anemic oil and gas revenues, the state faces a $750 million shortfall […]
January 22, 2016 03:34 PM By Matt Gardner, Senior Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | While most computer users are likely familiar with Adobe products, they are probably not aware of the company’s tax-dodging practices. The maker of the ubiquitous PDF reader and Flash software earlier this week released its annual report, which revealed the […]
January 20, 2016 12:04 PM By Matt Gardner, Senior Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Tuesday provided a sneak preview of its forecast for the nation’s finances over the next decade. And the news isn’t good. The CBO projects that, after years of shrinking, the federal deficit will grow in […]
January 14, 2016 03:15 PM By Matt Gardner, Senior Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | Ending months of media speculation, General Electric announced this week that the company will relocate its headquarters from Fairfield, Conn., to Boston, Mass.The company’s press release announcing the move explained that its choice is driven by amenities Boston and the state […]
January 14, 2016 12:42 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | Hillary Clinton on Tuesday released a series of new proposals that she says would help restore “basic fairness to our tax code.” The proposals, which she estimates would raise about $500 billion over the next decade, include a multi-millionaire income tax […]
January 12, 2016 06:12 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | Late last year, the New York Times published an article revealing the disturbing but not surprising news that the nation has separate and unequal tax systems: one for the rich and powerful who have created a cottage “income defense industry” and […]
January 7, 2016 03:38 PM By Sebastian Johnson, State Policy Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | Click Here to sign up to receive the State Rundown in your inbox. The revenue crisis in Louisiana is worse than anticipated, according to Gov.-elect John Bel Edwards. The state is short $750 million this fiscal year, which must be accounted […]
January 7, 2016 12:21 PM By Matt Gardner, Senior Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | Media giant Viacom is being sued by a former senior executive who claims she was fired for objecting to an unethical, and possibly illegal, offshore corporate tax dodge. Viacom allegedly sought to avoid paying U.S. income taxes on the licensing […]
January 6, 2016 03:12 PM By Matt Gardner, Senior Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | Presidential candidate Ben Carson, who had previously outlined his general support for a flat tax based on the biblical “tithe,” laid out more details of his tax plan earlier this week. The plan’s $9.6 trillion 10-year cost puts it squarely […]
December 23, 2015 02:06 PM By Matt Gardner, Senior Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | Last year we reported that the Netflix corporation had given itself the ultimate Christmas gift, using a stock option tax break to zero out every last dime of income taxes on its $159 million in US profits. Now there is at […]
December 23, 2015 12:59 PM By Carl Davis, Research Director at ITEP | Permalink | Since 2013, eighteen states have enacted laws either increasing or reforming their gas taxes to boost funding for transportation infrastructure. A snapshot of gas tax rate changes scheduled to occur this upcoming January 1st, however, reveals that five states will […]
December 22, 2015 05:55 PM By Kelly Davis, Assistant Director of Communications | Permalink | Read the Tax Justice Digest for recent reports, posts, and analyses from Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Happy Holidays! We wish you and yours a cookie filled and relaxing end to your 2015. Sit […]