June 11, 2015 11:54 AM By Meg Wiehe, Deputy Director at ITEP | Permalink | Connecticut’s legislature approved a two-year $40 billion budget last week with wide-ranging tax increases to help close a $1 billion budget gap. The changes include fully applying the sales tax to all clothes purchases and reducing a targeted property tax […]
June 10, 2015 11:07 AM By Carl Davis, Research Director at ITEP | Permalink | One of the main arguments used against efforts to crack down on online sales tax evasion just got a little bit weaker. For years, e-retailers have been claiming that state and local sales tax laws are too complicated for them […]
June 8, 2015 03:11 PM By Sebastian Johnson, State Policy Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | Click Here to sign up to receive the State Rundown in your inbox. As legislative sessions across the country enter the final stretch, many states are buzzing with activity around tax policy. Lawmakers in Kansas and Maine are still working on […]
June 4, 2015 01:26 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | If his 2012 presidential campaign is any indication, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry will continue making a pitch in his 2016 presidential campaign for regressive tax policies and cuts in essential public services to fund tax breaks for the wealthy and […]
June 2, 2015 05:45 PM By Kelly Davis, Assistant Director of Communications | Permalink | It’s been clear for more than a year that Kansas must make significant policy changes to address its severe budget shortfall. Now, legislative developments are moving quickly as Gov. Sam Brownback and lawmakers try to hammer out a plan to […]
June 2, 2015 05:03 PM By Sebastian Johnson, State Policy Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | This week looks like an active one for states that are entering the final stretches of their legislative sessions. Stay tuned to the State Rundown for updates on the tax policy battles happening across the country. Click Here to sign […]
June 2, 2015 11:24 AM By Carl Davis, Research Director at ITEP | Permalink | On July 1, up to 5,000 Oregon residents can sign up for a program that indefinitely exempts them from the state’s gasoline tax. Instead, these drivers will pay a flat 1.5-cent tax on each mile that they drive. On one […]
May 30, 2015 09:56 AM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | At a time when many governors stubbornly rejected new revenues despite their states’ weak fiscal positions, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley’s was one of only a few governors who championed tax increases to preserve his state’s public investments even during the […]
May 28, 2015 05:43 PM By Sebastian Johnson, State Policy Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | Click Here to sign up to receive the State Rundown in your inbox. Efforts to tie property taxes to household income face long odds in New York. Back in January, Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed a $1.7 billion property tax circuit breaker […]
May 28, 2015 04:22 PM By Sebastian Johnson, State Policy Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | Most Americans learned in their grade school government and civics classes about the three branches of federal and state government. Perhaps kids in Louisiana should also learn about a fourth branch, Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), […]
May 27, 2015 12:42 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | Former Pennsylvania senator and now Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum has long touted himself as a champion of the “blue-collar” crowd, yet his record on tax policy indicates he’s more interested in championing hedge-fund moguls. During his time in the U.S. […]
May 26, 2015 10:20 AM By Sebastian Johnson, State Policy Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | Earned Income Tax Credits (EITCs) are one of the most popular and effective tools available for fighting poverty through the tax code. In 2013 alone, the federal EITC helped lift 6.2 million working families, including 3.2 million children, out […]
May 22, 2015 12:52 PM By Sebastian Johnson, State Policy Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | Click Here to sign up to receive the State Rundown in your inbox. A Louisiana Senate committee passed a package of eleven bills that would raise an additional $615 in revenue next fiscal year. If passed, the package will raise the […]
May 20, 2015 11:49 AM By Richard Phillips, Senior Policy Analyst at ITEP | Permalink | House Republicans today are planning to pass a deficit-financed tax cut that mainly benefits already profitable big businesses under the premise that the tax cut will spur innovation. The bill, which has bipartisan support, would expand and make permanent […]
May 20, 2015 09:54 AM By Carl Davis, Research Director at ITEP | Permalink | Congress seems to be nearing agreement on a plan to extend transportation infrastructure spending for another two months, but it also appears to be at a loss for ideas on how to continue these critical investments after the fund becomes […]
May 18, 2015 04:02 PM By Sebastian Johnson, State Policy Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | Click Here to sign up to receive the State Rundown in your inbox. State leaders in North Carolina are crowing about an unexpected budget surplus of $400 million, but the surge in new money will likely be a one-time occurrence. Meanwhile, […]
May 15, 2015 04:00 PM By Sebastian Johnson, State Policy Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | When faced with crisis and a need for new revenue, our 16th president passed the first federal income tax in America’s history. But today, in the Land of Lincoln, Illinois state leaders have taken a drastically different approach. Gov. […]
May 14, 2015 05:21 PM By Sebastian Johnson, State Policy Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | Click Here to sign up to receive the State Rundown in your inbox. California Gov. Jerry Brown included a new state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) in his revised budget plan this week, responding to critics who claim he has not […]
May 13, 2015 03:53 PM By Jenice Robinson, Communications Director | Permalink | The issue of how to improve the lot of poor and moderate-income folks has traditionally been the terrain of Democrats. But earlier this year, Republican leadership decided they should get on the band wagon and start talking about income inequality, particularly as […]
May 12, 2015 02:08 PM By Bob McIntyre, Director of Citizens for Tax Justice | Permalink | Within hours of each other today, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio along with U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren will propose two very different tax plans. Christie’s plan resembles the budget-busting tax giveaway […]
May 11, 2015 05:04 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | Former Hewlett-Packard (HP) CEO and now presidential candidate Carly Fiorina says she should be president because she knows how the economy works. She entreated those who “believe that it’s time for citizens to stand up to the political class and say […]
May 11, 2015 04:47 PM By Sebastian Johnson, State Policy Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | Click Here to sign up to receive the State Rundown in your inbox. Kansas lawmakers continue to clash with Gov. Sam Brownback over the efficacy of his tax break on business pass-through income, this time in the House. State Rep. Mark […]
May 10, 2015 09:59 AM By Carl Davis, Research Director at ITEP | Permalink | UPDATE: A total of eighteen states have now taken action on the gas tax since 2013. On July 15, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed legislation raising the state’s gas and diesel taxes by 11.9 cents. The increase takes effect in […]
May 8, 2015 01:18 PM By Sebastian Johnson, State Policy Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | Click Here to sign up to receive the State Rundown in your inbox. Conservative leaders in the South Carolina Senate proposed a road funding bill Thursday that reforms the Department of Transportation (DOT), increases the gas tax and reduces income taxes […]
May 7, 2015 02:13 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | Despite having a relatively moderate record on tax policy as the governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee has wholeheartedly embraced a radically regressive tax plan as a central plank of his presidential candidate platform. For years, Huckabee has been one of the […]