March 15, 2013 09:55 AM By Kelly Davis, Assistant Director of Communications | Permalink | Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal today announced some details of his long-awaited “tax swap” plan. He proposes to repeal the state’s personal and corporate income taxes in a “revenue-neutral” way—that is, the revenue loss from repealing these taxes would have to […]
March 14, 2013 04:01 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | The bottom line on the revenue proposals in the three budget plans in Congress today can be stated simply: The Congressional Progressive Caucus’s plan (for which CTJ provided some estimates) is sensible. House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan’s plan is absurd, and […]
March 14, 2013 12:40 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | The nation is watching Indiana’s tax debate, according to Tim Phillips, national president of the anti-tax group Americans for Prosperity. But the outcome that Phillips is looking for —a regressive cut in the state’s personal income tax—is facing an uphill battle. […]
March 13, 2013 06:49 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | Read CTJ’s new report on the latest budget plan from House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan. Paul Ryan’s budget plan for fiscal year 2014 and beyond includes a specific package of tax cuts (including reducing income tax rates to 25 percent and […]
March 13, 2013 10:41 AM By Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy Staff | Permalink | Need further proof that the poor are often taxed more heavily than wealthier folks? Take a look at this recent New York Times piece by sociologist Katherine Newman based on her book. She writes that “tax policy is particularly […]
March 12, 2013 05:13 PM By Kelly Davis, Assistant Director of Communications | Permalink | The Missouri Senate preliminarily approved legislation that would slash the state’s revenues because it is stacked with tax cuts. Though a preliminary legislative step, it’s worth noting that if the law does get implemented, restoring the lost revenues would be […]
March 11, 2013 12:32 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | The “sequester” that went into effect on March 1st is another clear indication of the stranglehold that anti-tax zealots still have over Washington. While lawmakers across the political spectrum (and particularly those outside the Beltway) oppose the sequester’s $85 billion in […]
March 7, 2013 11:41 AM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | A group of so far undisclosed corporations are forming a lobbying coalition called Let’s Invest for Tomorrow (LIFT) to press Congress to enact a “territorial” tax system. The coalition should be named Let’s Invest Elsewhere (LIE), because that’s exactly what American […]
March 6, 2013 06:42 PM By Meg Wiehe, Deputy Director at ITEP | Permalink | Conspicuously absent from New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s new 2014 fiscal year spending plan were the across-the-board personal income tax cuts he defended so vehemently just last year. Governor Christie now wants Garden State residents to believe Democrats in the […]
March 6, 2013 06:29 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley recently unveiled his plan to raise and reform his state’s gasoline tax. Local TV stations predictably responded by interviewing drivers unhappy with the high price of gas, while (also predictably) failing to explain that Maryland’s gas taxes […]
February 28, 2013 02:44 PM By Richard Phillips, Senior Policy Analyst at ITEP | Permalink | PetersonPyramid.org The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), creator of the indispensible wiki, SourceWatch, recently launched a new wiki resource allowing users to explore the funding, leadership, partner groups and lobbyists that make up the Campaign to Fix the […]
February 28, 2013 01:18 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | Lawmakers looking for an excuse to cut their personal income taxes regularly claim that doing so will trigger an economic boom. To support this claim, many cite an analysis by supply-side economist Arthur Laffer that our partner organization, the Institute on […]
February 27, 2013 12:50 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | A new talking point from tax cut snake oil salesman Arthur Laffer is making the rounds. It’s been seen in the pages of The Wall Street Journal and cited by Indiana Governor Mike Pence, Iowa House Majority Whip Chris Hagenow, and […]
February 26, 2013 02:17 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | A new report from the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) explores the shortcomings and potential reforms of tax breaks that are intended to expand access to postsecondary education. “While delivering student aid through the tax system is a ‘second […]
February 26, 2013 12:16 PM By Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy Staff | Permalink | In 2011, Michigan lawmakers enacted a huge “tax swap” that cut taxes dramatically for businesses and raised them on individuals – especially lower-income and elderly families. Given that many of these changes went into effect at the beginning of […]
February 25, 2013 12:34 PM By Carl Davis, Research Director at ITEP | Permalink | UPDATE: On April 3, 2013 Governor McDonnell signed the package described below with only minor changes. Those changes are discussed at the end of this article. If Governor Bob McDonnell signs the transportation bill just passed by his state’s legislature, […]
February 25, 2013 11:15 AM By Kelly Davis, Assistant Director of Communications | Permalink | In his budget address this week, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker followed through on his promise to provide middle class tax cuts. His proposal reduces the bottom three income tax rates and costs $343 million over two years. The Institute on […]
February 22, 2013 02:17 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | We’ve been closely following tax proposals in Nebraska and have been especially concerned that both of Governor Heineman’s plans were of the tax swap variety – reductions in progressive taxes paid for by increases in regressive sales taxes. This scathing op-ed […]
February 22, 2013 11:35 AM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | After a year in which tax issues dominated national policy debates, President Barack Obama has signaled that immigration issues will be at the forefront of his legislative agenda in 2013. With immigration reform evidently gaining momentum, some old tax-related bugaboos are […]
February 21, 2013 04:11 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | The only thing worse than giving Amazon an unfair advantage over local businesses is creating that advantage by facilitating tax evasion. And that’s exactly what the Supreme Court did in the early 1990s when it decided that the Commerce Clause of […]
February 21, 2013 12:36 PM By Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy Staff | Permalink | Note to Readers: This is the fifth of a six part series on tax reform trends in the states, written by The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). Previous posts in this series have provided an overview of […]
February 20, 2013 06:11 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | Former White House chief of staff Erskine Bowles and former Senator Alan Simpson, co-chairs of President Obama’s ill-fated fiscal commission, have a new proposal for a “grand bargain” to reduce the budget deficit. Their newest idea is to raise less revenue […]
February 20, 2013 05:57 PM By Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy Staff | Permalink | A new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) outlines the anti-tax agenda of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and ALEC scholar and economist, Arthur Laffer. It explains the multitude of problems with their policy […]
February 14, 2013 03:15 PM By Richard Phillips, Senior Policy Analyst at ITEP | Permalink | With the fiscal cliff deal passed and with lawmakers looking to replace the sequester, the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) newest budget and economic outlook provides the clearest picture yet of our new fiscal landscape. Here are the most important […]
February 14, 2013 02:16 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | If confirmed, Jack Lew, the President’s nominee for Treasury Secretary, will oversee IRS enforcement of tax laws and will oversee the development and analysis of tax proposals, among other things. It would therefore be reassuring if Lew did not seem unaware […]