May 22, 2012 03:57 PM By Kelly Davis, Assistant Director of Communications | Permalink | Today, Governor Sam Brownback signed into law a radical tax bill that is projected to cost more than $2 billion over the next five years. It also means the poorest 20 percent of Kansas taxpayers will pay 1.3 percent more […]
May 22, 2012 03:03 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | If your family makes around $60,000 a year and you work for a living, there’s a good chance you pay a larger percentage of your income in federal taxes than Mitt Romney and the other partners at Bain Capital. We have […]
May 21, 2012 05:46 PM By Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy Staff | Permalink | The Minnesota Vikings will get their new stadium and taxpayers are on the losing team. In more sports news, the New Orleans Hornets can thank the Louisiana legislature, who recently voted to give the team a tax break that […]
May 21, 2012 12:57 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | The accounting firm Ernst and Young (E&Y) just released a report, commissioned by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the purpose of which is to show that there are economic benefits for states that offer tax credits to film productions. […]
May 18, 2012 04:21 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner announced Tuesday that he will refuse to approve any increase in the federal debt ceiling without matching spending cuts — essentially threatening to cause the U.S. to default on its debt obligations. During the […]
May 18, 2012 02:17 PM By Kelly Davis, Assistant Director of Communications | Permalink | The fast moving developments over tax and budget policy in Kansas are mostly political, but the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) has generated three separate analyses of recent proposals that helped inform the policy debates. ITEP found […]
May 18, 2012 11:10 AM By Rebecca Wilkins, Senior Counsel, Federal Tax Policy at CTJ | Permalink | Facebook® co-founder Eduardo Saverin is facing mounting public scorn for renouncing his US citizenship, presumably to save some tax money (which he says is not the case). There are even two US Senators after him! He left […]
May 17, 2012 03:39 PM By Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy Staff | Permalink | On the controversial film tax credit front, movie goers should be thanking New Mexico taxpayers who gave away $22 million in tax credits to the Avengers movie – which has earned over $1 billion so far. The state doled […]
May 17, 2012 12:33 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | In February, we noted that Facebook® will get huge federal and state income tax refunds and pay no tax for years to come because of an absurd tax break related to the stock options it granted to employees. When employees exercise […]
May 16, 2012 11:44 AM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | May 16, 2 PM UPDATE: The House has passed SB1302 and it now heads to Gov. O’Malley’s desk, where he is expected to sign it. Maryland lawmakers are on the verge of bucking a national trend. While most of the biggest […]
May 15, 2012 04:38 PM By Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy Staff | Permalink | Michigan Governor Rick Snyder is voicing support for federal legislation that would allow states to collect sales taxes owed on purchases made over the Internet, but he has little interest in pursuing a state-level law that would allow Michigan […]
May 15, 2012 01:00 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell wants to make tax reform a top priority during his upcoming (and final) year as Governor, according to the Associated Press (AP). But while Virginia’s tax code is no doubt in need of reform, it’s hard to […]
May 14, 2012 12:08 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | House Ways and Means chair Paul Ryan’s budget proposal drew plaudits from some observers who didn’t notice its fundamental weakness: its utter failure to specify which tax “loopholes” it would close to pay for deficit reduction. As we’ve noted in the […]
May 11, 2012 03:16 PM By Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy Staff | Permalink | Rhode Island lawmakers are considering legislation that would help the state better evaluate the nearly $1.6 billion in special tax breaks it hands out every year. The way the bill couples evaluations of the tax expenditures and sunsets (i.e. […]
May 10, 2012 07:45 PM By Kelly Davis, Assistant Director of Communications | Permalink | It’s no longer news to most Americans that big, profitable corporations from Apple to General Electric are finding creative ways to zero out their income taxes. Two widely cited recent reports on federal and state taxes from CTJ and ITEP […]
May 10, 2012 07:08 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | The CEOs of 18 large corporations have published an open letter to the Treasury Secretary seeking to extend tax breaks on investment income that overwhelmingly benefit the very wealthy. Barring Congressional intervention, these special breaks for capital gains and dividends will […]
May 10, 2012 12:01 PM By Kelly Davis, Assistant Director of Communications | Permalink | Governor Terry Branstad has made “reforming” (cutting) the property taxes paid by Iowa businesses a top priority since taking office. The good news is that his latest proposal to accomplish that goal seems to have fallen short; unfortunately, this one […]
May 7, 2012 06:31 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | Republican leaders in the Senate claim that they agree with the Democrats’ goal of extending a temporary reduction in interest rates on student loans, but oppose the Democrats’ proposal to offset the costs. But this proposal, which would close the “Newt […]
May 7, 2012 04:26 PM By Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy Staff | Permalink | Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley announced that he will call a special legislative session to start next week. Lawmakers are widely expected to pass a progressive income tax package in order to avoid massive “doomsday” budget cuts. Tennessee’s inheritance tax […]
May 3, 2012 05:40 PM By Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy Staff | Permalink | Florida Governor Rick Scott is attending grand openings of 7-Eleven® stores but a columnist at the Orlando Sentinel observes that “if incentives and low corporate tax rates were working, Florida wouldn’t rank 43rd in employment.” It’s a common sense […]
May 3, 2012 03:34 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | Much of the spending that Americans see in their daily lives is the work of state and local governments, which build the roads, bridges and schools, and hire and train the teachers and police officers. In many ways, the most overlooked […]
May 3, 2012 02:17 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | In a span of less than two weeks, commissions in two very different states – Massachusetts and Oklahoma – have issued remarkably similar recommendations on how to deal with the slews of special tax breaks that evade scrutiny and accountability year […]
May 2, 2012 07:49 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | The history of states subsidizing professional sports stadiums with taxpayer dollars is long and, increasingly, controversial. Maryland provided nearly one hundred percent of the financing for the Orioles’ and Ravens’ shiny new facilities in the 1990s. In 2006, the District of […]
May 2, 2012 07:32 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | Remember the Tea Party? Well, freshman Kentucky Senator Rand Paul is living up to his reputation as the darling of the Taxed Enough Already movement that shook the 2010 elections. Rand Paul, son of Libertarian firebrand and GOP presidential candidate Ron […]
May 1, 2012 04:20 PM By Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy Staff | Permalink | Kansas Governor Brownback’s insistence on steep tax cuts has met more resistance. A group called Traditional Republicans for Common Sense has come out against even a watered down version of Brownback’s vision in the legislature. One of the group’s […]