February 26, 2015 03:55 PM By Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy Staff | Permalink | Just last week we wrote about the trend of tax shifts sweeping the nation. Policy makers in Ohio, Maine, Idaho, Michigan, South Carolina, and New Jersey are seriously considering regressive tax proposals that would shift taxes away from higher-income […]
February 26, 2015 03:39 PM By Matt Gardner, Senior Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | One of the many problems with the copious tax breaks that Congress showers on corporations is that they provide perverse incentives for businesses to expand the definition of what they do so they can claim certain tax deductions, even if […]
February 25, 2015 03:59 PM By Matt Gardner, Senior Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | Goldman Sachs’s latest financial report shows that the company avoided paying federal income taxes on almost half its United States profits in 2014. In fact, the company paid an effective tax rate of just 18.6 percent on $6.8 billion in […]
February 20, 2015 11:28 AM By Matt Gardner, Senior Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | Another year, another pass from the federal income tax for the profitable California-based utility giant Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E). The company’s annual report released earlier this week discloses it earned $1.8 billion in U.S. profits in 2014—and didn’t pay […]
February 19, 2015 04:49 PM By Sebastian Johnson, State Policy Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | Click Here to sign up to receive the State Rundown in your inbox. Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner unveiled his budget on Wednesday to mixed reviews. The proposal does not include any new revenues despite a $7 billion budget gap, and relies […]
February 19, 2015 02:38 PM By Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy Staff | Permalink | Shell games have been with us since ancient times, and the tax shift proposals of today indicate that the basic concept has a long shelf life. A “conjurer” who makes fantastic claims that are later found too good to […]
February 13, 2015 11:59 AM By Sebastian Johnson, State Policy Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | Click Here to sign up to receive the State Rundown in your inbox. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker is facing a blizzard of criticism in the wake of a series of massive snowstorms that have revealed the inadequacy of public transit in […]
February 12, 2015 01:44 PM By Amber Erickson, Intern at ITEP | Permalink | In a testament to the power of health industry lobbying, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have expressed support for repealing the medical device tax, a levy created as part of the Affordable Care Act that is expected to raise […]
February 11, 2015 05:22 PM By Sebastian Johnson, State Policy Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | The tax plan recently proposed by Ohio Gov. John Kasich would be a massive tax shift away from well-off taxpayers to the middle-class and working poor, according to a new report released by Policy Matters Ohio that incorporates ITEP […]
February 11, 2015 10:40 AM By Carl Davis, Research Director at ITEP | Permalink | With at least twelve states looking seriously at gas tax increases this year, now is a good time to survey the landscape of state gas tax policies. Two new briefs from ITEP do exactly that. While the cost of asphalt, […]
February 10, 2015 11:46 AM By Sebastian Johnson, State Policy Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | Click Here to sign up to receive the State Rundown in your inbox. Rumors abound in Springfield that a gas tax increase could be in the works. Though Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner has downplayed reports that he supports such a measure, […]
February 5, 2015 05:25 PM By Sebastian Johnson, State Policy Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | Click Here to sign up to receive the State Rundown in your inbox. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan fleshed out his plans to cut taxes in his state of the state address this Wednesday, vowing to seek reductions for small businesses, some […]
February 5, 2015 03:23 PM By Carl Davis, Research Director at ITEP | Permalink | Some lawmakers and advocates in Idaho have been pushing a tax swap under which Idaho’s $100 per person Grocery Credit Refund would be eliminated in favor of exempting all grocery purchases from the sales tax. But a new ITEP report […]
February 4, 2015 04:04 PM By Sebastian Johnson, State Policy Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | Lotteries have been with us since the early years of the Republic. They were corrupt and a poor way to raise revenue then, and today they’re not much better. Cohens v. Virgina, an 1821 Supreme Court case, concerns the […]
February 3, 2015 03:53 PM By Amber Erickson, Intern at ITEP | Permalink | In the run-up to the State of the Union, President Barack Obama proposed a slew of new tax reform ideas designed to benefit low- and middle-income families. One of his proposed reforms is to consolidate and simplify higher education tax breaks […]
February 2, 2015 06:03 PM By Sebastian Johnson, State Policy Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | Click Here to sign up to receive the State Rundown in your inbox. Maine Gov. Paul LePage plans to borrow from the Sam Brownback playbook, announcing his intention to eliminate his state’s income tax in three steps (we saw how that […]
February 2, 2015 01:49 PM By Richard Phillips, Senior Policy Analyst at ITEP | Permalink | Investors were jubilant last week as Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer announced the company is moving forward with a plan to unload its $40 billion stake in Chinese company Alibaba without paying the $16 billion it would otherwise owe in […]
January 30, 2015 01:31 PM By Matt Gardner, Senior Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | Facebook reduced its federal and state taxes by a record-breaking $1.87 billion in 2014 by granting lavish stock options to its executives. The company has used this tax break in the past to zero out its federal and state income-tax […]
January 30, 2015 12:49 PM By Sebastian Johnson, State Policy Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | The year was 1975, when bellbottoms were king, everyone’s favorite pet was a small rock, and no one would go to the beach thanks to Stephen Spielberg. But the most momentous occasion that year – outshining even the birth […]
January 29, 2015 04:09 PM By Sebastian Johnson, State Policy Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | Click Here to sign up to receive the State Rundown in your inbox. In the latest twist out of Arkansas, a House committee stripped Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s proposed middle-class tax cut of a capital gains tax measure added just last week […]
January 29, 2015 02:09 PM By Carl Davis, Research Director at ITEP | Permalink | When it comes to paying for infrastructure, the gasoline tax is the single most important source of revenue collected at both the state and federal levels. As a result, funding large scale improvements, or maintenance, to transportation networks usually means […]
January 29, 2015 11:02 AM By Matt Gardner, Senior Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | New IRS data released this month reveal that the nation’s 400 richest people paid their second-lowest average tax rate in the past quarter century. These tax filers paid just 16.7 percent of their adjusted gross income (AGI) in federal income […]
January 27, 2015 04:40 PM By Richard Phillips, Senior Policy Analyst at ITEP | Permalink | Each year U.S. multinational corporations avoid an astounding $90 billion in corporate income taxes by booking their profits on paper through international tax havens. At a time of growing inequality and budget austerity, it is outrageous that we allow […]
January 27, 2015 12:39 PM By Sebastian Johnson, State Policy Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | Click Here to sign up to receive the State Rundown in your inbox. Some North Carolina lawmakers may push to eliminate the state’s capital gains tax under the guise of promoting economic growth, according to a recent report by the North […]
January 26, 2015 05:33 PM By Sebastian Johnson, State Policy Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | Little did Kansas voters know that in reelecting Sam Brownback they were actually voting for a vengeful old sea captain obsessed with one issue above all others – eliminating the state’s personal income tax. How else to explain the […]