December 5, 2012 01:52 PM By Richard Phillips, Senior Policy Analyst at ITEP | Permalink | While most of the IRS’s various statistical reports tend to inspire little excitement in the public and media, the agency’s latest report,“Individual Income Tax Returns, 2010” is something of a barnburner, in part because it confirms several troubling trends […]
December 5, 2012 10:14 AM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | Recent reports and opinion pieces in two states caution lawmakers about the affordability and fairness implications of excessive tax cuts. In Indiana the Associated Press is reporting on “apprehension about [Governor Elect] Pence’s call for a 10 percent cut in the […]
November 29, 2012 05:16 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | A cynic might think it’s a little bit of theater we’re witnessing, political pantomime deliberately staged to make Republicans look like they’ve gone all reasonable and are willing to raise taxes. Others see this week’s headlines as the meticulously orchestrated end […]
November 28, 2012 11:21 AM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | An Oklahoma Congressman who chaired the National Republican Congressional Committee is the first person in Washington to speak clearly about the debate over the looming expiration of tax cuts first enacted under President George W. Bush. Politico reports that Rep. Tom […]
November 27, 2012 06:47 PM By Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy Staff | Permalink | Kansas First Lady Mary Brownback has been appointed an unofficial advisor to a task force addressing childhood poverty in the state. The Hays Daily News predicts that this could lead to some uncomfortable conversations between Governor Sam Brownback and […]
November 20, 2012 04:41 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | The collective investments the taxes we all pay allow us to make in our communities, our states and country. Whether it’s providing public education, clean air and water, well-connected road and public transit systems, safe streets, affordable health care, or income supports […]
November 16, 2012 02:58 PM By Richard Phillips, Senior Policy Analyst at ITEP | Permalink | We’ve known for a while that government subsidies and tax breaks for sports stadiums are a raw deal for taxpayers. But a new book by Harvard University urban planning professor Judith Grant Long reveals that the costs are worse […]
November 16, 2012 02:49 PM By Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy Staff | Permalink | A non-partisan group called “TBD Colorado” spent much of 2012 talking to Coloradans about the state’s long-term problems, and now has some sensible things to say about the state’s tax policies. While light on specifics, TBD urges (PDF) lawmakers […]
November 15, 2012 06:10 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | On Saturday, a stretch of the legendary I-495 Beltway encircling Washington, DC will grow from eight lanes to twelve. But this modest expansion of the region’s famously inadequate transportation network isn’t designed to benefit everyone. With so many federal and state […]
November 15, 2012 02:27 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | President and Lawmakers Should Resist Proposals to Extend Income Tax Cuts for $1 Million of Income The idea that Democrats and Republicans might “compromise” by extending the Bush income tax cuts for the first $1 million a taxpayer makes is back […]
November 15, 2012 01:04 PM By Richard Phillips, Senior Policy Analyst at ITEP | Permalink | Leading up to the election, prominent Democrats like Rep. Chris Van Hollen, ranking member of the House Budget Committee, were pushing to renew the payroll tax holiday in 2013, an idea that seemed all but dead in Congress just […]
November 15, 2012 11:28 AM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | If Congress departs from its annual tradition of steeply reducing the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), 57 percent of the tax will be paid by the richest five percent of Americans and 91 percent of the tax will be paid by the […]
November 14, 2012 12:16 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | There have been a lot of contradictory statements coming from Washington these days about how employment levels would be affected by President Obama’s proposal to allow the expiration of the Bush-era income tax rate reductions for the top two income tax […]
November 9, 2012 03:12 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | For Immediate Release: November 9, 2012 Obama’s Proposed Extension of the Bush Tax Cuts Is Costly, But Can Be Followed with Real Revenue-Raising Tax Reforms Citizens for Tax Justice Responds to President’s Fiscal Cliff Remarks Today Washington, DC — Arguing that […]
November 9, 2012 12:07 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | According to the official exit polls on Election Day a combined 60 percent of voters support increasing taxes, with 47 percent supporting an increase in taxes on those making over $250,000 and 13 percent supporting a tax increase on everyone. Barely […]
November 8, 2012 03:32 PM By Richard Phillips, Senior Policy Analyst at ITEP | Permalink | For years, conservatives and many moderates have believed that signing Grover Norquist’s no-tax pledge was a ticket to electoral success. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t. But on election night 2012, it began to look like the pledge was […]
November 8, 2012 02:30 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | Speaker Boehner Uses Different Words to Repeat Unchanged Opposition to Giving Up Tax Cuts for the Rich On Wednesday, Republican House Speaker John Boehner repeated his stance that his caucus would not approve any increase in tax revenue except for a […]
November 7, 2012 02:45 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | Last night Americans in states from coast to coast cast their ballots on a wide range of tax and budget issues. On the whole, they should feel proud of their choices. Generally, just as voters nationally favored a presidential candidate who […]
November 7, 2012 12:03 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | If yesterday’s election was a referendum on taxes, what voters rejected was the tired oldargument that cutting taxes is good for an ailing economy, and that is a welcome development. For his part, President Obama has said winning would give him […]
November 6, 2012 01:04 PM By Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy Staff | Permalink | A Missouri child advocacy group is planning on lobbying for an extension of the “Children in Crisis” tax credit during the upcoming legislative session. But Missouri doesn’t need more tax breaks, even if they are designed with noble causes […]
November 2, 2012 03:00 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | A new report from Citizens for Tax Justice shows that the Making Work Pay Credit, a tax credit that was in effect in 2009 and 2010, is better targeted towards low- and middle-income families than the payroll tax cut in effect today, […]
November 2, 2012 11:07 AM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | Local governments in Ohio have taken tremendous fiscal hits in recent years and now many are resorting to the ballot box to close their budget gaps. Next week Ohio voters will be voting on 194 school levies, including 123 for additional […]
November 1, 2012 02:10 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | In a 60 Minutes interview after his 2011 tax returns were released, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was asked if his federal income tax rate was fair. CBS’s Scott Pelley: And you paid 14 percent in federal taxes. That’s the capital […]
October 31, 2012 12:48 PM By Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy Staff | Permalink | Happy Halloween to our readers! In honor of the spookiest of all holidays, we want to start by sharing this recent Wall Street Journal piece called Meet One of the Super-PAC Men which profiles Missouri’s Rex Sinquefield, the masked […]
October 26, 2012 01:33 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | Presidential candidate Mitt Romney has proposed to make permanent the Bush tax cuts without offsetting the costs and also enact new, additional tax cuts that would be paid for by limiting tax expenditures (special breaks or loopholes in the tax code). […]