March 21, 2012 03:43 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | On Monday, Apple™ announced that it will distribute tens of billions of its cash holdings as dividends to shareholders, ending speculation over how the company will use the large pile of cash it has been sitting on. CFO Peter Oppenheimer […]
March 21, 2012 01:23 PM By Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy Staff | Permalink | A new report from the Political Economy Research Institute at UMass Amherst examines the research on potential responses to states raising taxes on wealthy households. They conclude that while it can lead to tax planning changes among the more […]
March 20, 2012 02:54 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | Talk about wrong priorities. Earlier this month the Idaho House of Representatives approved a bill that hands the state’s wealthiest 1 percent a tax cut of about $2,600, while giving more than 80 percent of Idaho families precisely nothing. In a […]
March 19, 2012 02:45 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | Oklahoma lawmakers are intent on taking an axe to the state’s only major progressive revenue source: the personal income tax. Last week the Oklahoma House and Senate passed a variety of bills cutting or repealing the tax, and negotiations on a […]
March 16, 2012 11:08 AM By Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy Staff | Permalink | Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval campaigned on a promise of no-new-taxes but is breaking that promise (for a second time!) with his plan to balance the Silver State budget. In an effort to avoid deep cuts in education, Sandoval is […]
March 15, 2012 04:45 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | One of the greatest sources of unfairness in our tax system is the preference for investment income. Specifically, the profits investors enjoy when they sell an asset for more than they paid to acquire it (capital gains) are usually taxed at […]
March 15, 2012 04:21 PM By Kelly Davis, Assistant Director of Communications | Permalink | As a candidate in 2010, Ohio’s now Governor John Kasich made waves by promising to repeal the state’s personal income tax if elected. While this plan proved unrealistic because of the state’s already dire fiscal situation, Governor Kasich now thinks […]
March 14, 2012 03:13 PM By Richard Phillips, Senior Policy Analyst at ITEP | Permalink | The latest monthly statement by the Treasury Department contains a startling revelation: the amount that Treasury expects to collect in corporate taxes in 2012 has been slashed by more than 28 percent, from $333 down to $237 billion. With […]
March 13, 2012 03:58 PM By Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy Staff | Permalink | North Carolina’s two major newspapers, the Raleigh News and Observer and Charlotte Observer, published editorials in support of the state’s estate tax in the wake of a hearing last week called to eliminate it. From the News and Observer: […]
March 13, 2012 12:44 PM By Meg Wiehe, Deputy Director at ITEP | Permalink | Acknowledging he will likely “face accusations of engaging in class warfare,” Rhode Island Representative Scott Guthrie called on wealthy Ocean Staters to pay more in taxes this week to help close the state’s budget gap. From the Representative’s press release: […]
March 8, 2012 04:36 PM By Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy Staff | Permalink | Rising gas prices are making some politicians in Maryland, Michigan, and Iowa back away from courageous proposals to raise their states’ long stagnant gas tax rates. Rather than lose momentum, lawmakers can enact legislation now that will implement a […]
March 6, 2012 05:59 PM By Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy Staff | Permalink | New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez has to decide Wednesday how to respond to mounting public pressure (including 5,000 signatures) to support a new corporate fair tax bill. Supported by small business, it enacts combined reporting, which requires out-of-state companies […]
March 6, 2012 03:52 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | Recently, the Louisiana Legislative Auditor issued a report that found the cost of the corporate income and franchise tax credits for the state was a staggering $3 billion between 2005 and 2010. The total tax liability during that same time was […]
March 1, 2012 02:40 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | General Electric Cites its “Deferred” (Not Yet Paid) Taxes and Taxes Paid to Foreign Governments, Offers No Evidence It Paid More in U.S. Corporate Income Taxes In response to CTJ’s recent finding that GE had an effective federal corporate income tax […]
March 1, 2012 02:13 PM By Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy Staff | Permalink | The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) testified this week in favor of a bill that would reinstate Maryland’s recently expired “millionaires’ tax.” As ITEP explains in its testimony, the millionaires’ tax would make the state’s regressive tax […]
March 1, 2012 01:52 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | After CTJ released its report last week criticizing the President’s corporate tax reform “framework” for not raising revenue and leaving key questions unanswered, CTJ staff spent a couple days speaking out about the framework. Bob McIntyre, CTJ’s director, explained on Reuters […]
March 1, 2012 01:14 PM By Richard Phillips, Senior Policy Analyst at ITEP | Permalink | While poll after poll has long confirmed the overwhelming public support for progressive taxation in principle and increased tax revenues for deficit reduction, some polls that pop up every so often seem to contradict these results. Below we deconstruct […]
February 28, 2012 12:34 PM By Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy Staff | Permalink | Just last year Sears and other companies threatened to leave Illinois after the state’s corporate income tax rate increased. So two months ago, Illinois lawmakers awarded Sears a targeted tax credit to appease them. The company kept their headquarters […]
February 28, 2012 10:36 AM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | Romney: I Have Friends Who Own NASCAR Teams The 2012 NASCAR season kicked off Monday with the Daytona 500. The much-celebrated start to the racing season is a chance to remind Congress and the administration that it’s time to end track […]
February 27, 2012 02:29 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | For Immediate Release: February 27, 2012 (rev. 4/12) Contact: Anne Singer, 202-299-1066, ext. 27 General Electric Paid Only Two Percent Federal Income Tax Rate Over the Past Decade, Citizens for Tax Justice Analysis Finds; Actual Payments Were Probably Lower Washington, DC […]
February 23, 2012 03:43 PM By Richard Phillips, Senior Policy Analyst at ITEP | Permalink | What do Tom Cruise and Florida Senator Bill Nelson have in common? Both have taken advantage of a lax definition of what constitutes farming in order to reap large property tax breaks. The Miami Herald reports that by allowing […]
February 23, 2012 02:08 PM By Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy Staff | Permalink | Two of the country’s largest Big Box retailers, Target and Best Buy, are turning up the pressure on their home state of Minnesota’s legislators to pass a law requiring online businesses to collect sales taxes. Republican lawmakers are divided […]
February 23, 2012 12:09 PM By Meg Wiehe, Deputy Director at ITEP | Permalink | Last month, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie made a bold and reckless promise to cut personal income taxes across the board. Christie used his annual budget address this week to spout conservative talking points to justify his tax cut plan. […]
February 22, 2012 01:11 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | Today the Treasury Department released “The President’s Framework for Business Tax Reform” outlining the Obama Administration’s ideas for corporate tax reform. Citizens for Tax Justice has been generating research on corporate taxes for over 30 years, most recently with its November, […]
February 22, 2012 09:17 AM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | New Mexico legislators took important steps last week to level the playing field between in-state mom and pop stores and multi-state big box stores when they sent Governor Martinez a bill mandating combined reporting, in other words, closing the loophole that […]